So what is a good exposure? Simply put, it's an image that is an accurate and artistically satisfying recording of what you saw when you took the picture.

Every pixel that lives on your camera's image sensor records either red, green or blue, each measured in increments of 0-255.  0 = black and 255 = white with every shade inbetween.  It's those numbers that make up a digital photograph.

In fact, your images are natively recorded in a color mode that your computer understands as RGB, referring to - you guessed it - red, green and blue.  This will be important later when you bring your images into your computer... but for now, let's get back to exposure.

If too much light is let into your camera and allowed to land on the pixels that make up your image sensor, then you will get pictures that are a sea of white! Those tiny little pixels were slammed with more light than they could handle, so they recorded 255 (all white!) and BOOM - you lose important color information.  This is called an overexposed photo - your image sensor was over exposed to light!

Anyone wanna play spot the child in this overexposed picture on the left?

Clearly, so much light was let into the camera that the pixels were all "blown out" (that's cool speak for pushed to 255 or all white). Not all examples are this extreme - think of when a blue sky appears white instead of blue, or when just part of your little one's nose or cheek gets lost in a sea of white. There was too much light let into the camera for the sensor to give you an accurate representation of what your eye saw so the actual color information is lost!

Compare that photo to one taken just a few seconds later on the right - this time with different camera adjustments.

It's your job (and sometimes your camera's) to determine how much light is allowed in. This is done by adjusting your aperture, shutter and image sensor settings to prevent images like this from happening.  But before we get to how we determine what those settings should be, we need to look at what happens when not enough light gets into your image sensor.

So what happens when too little light is let in?  The pixels lose out on information too - just to the opposite end of the spectrum.  All the important information for your image gets lost in a sea of black!  Your picture becomes underexposed - your image sensor was under exposed to the amount of light it needed to make the picture!

We weren't going for a silhouette of a rocking chair in this photo!  There wasn't enough light let in the camera to accurately record these sweetie-pies' faces (or much else).  So most of the pixels on the camera's image sensor recorded 0 - or black.

How then, do you control how much light hits the sensor?  By finding the right combination of settings for the three most important parts of your camera.  Again  - aperture, shutter and image sensor.

Sounds simple right?  Well, it's not. There are an infinite number of combinations and finding the right one for your situation can be really daunting at first.

We'll get to the part where we walk you through how to find the right settings for you, but first, we've got some learnin' to do.  Specifically about aperture, shutter speed and your image sensor.

Placeholder for the Golden Hour

If backlighting is what happens when your subject is lit from behind while you expose for their face, then silhouettes are what happen when a subject is lit mostly from behind and you expose for the light.

Silhouettes are created in extreme lighting situations when the light behind your subject is bright and the light on and in front of your subject is low. When you expose for the bright background, you render your foreground and suject to be darker, giving you a silhouette.  It's a great storytelling trick that puts just the form or the "idea" of your subject completely in context with it's background.  Just look at this story told at the beach near sunset...

When using a point and shoot camera or shooting in automatic, turn off your flash and the camera will do the work for you - automatically exposing for the brightest part of the image (the backlight). When shooting in manual, spot meter for the background (the brightest light) by pointing your camera at the backlight and get your settings from there!

One of the best things about Silhouettes? They're easy to accomplish with just a little bit of trial and error and they go a long way to help you understand how your camera handles exposure.  Artsy and informative - what's not to love?!?

It's one of those things. You probably nailed it on accident once or twice and had no idea how to do it again. You've certainly seen in some really jaw-dropping photos but you could never put your finger on exactly what was going on. But wow, once you understand how backlighting works you can reap it's benefits and rock it in your own photos!

Backlighting is easy to describe. It's that beautiful light that shines from behind your subject, illuminating them to the point where they quite literally glow! It can truly take your breath away when done well. But it's not always the easiest effect to acheive - it's one of those lighting opportunities you have to be on the lookout for, and then know how to take advantage of it!

Generally, backlighting works when the light behind your subject is far brighter than the light in front of them. Momtographers will likely find when the late afternoon sun is low in the sky, there's plenty of opportunity for backlighting. Just position your tot facing away from the sun (look for that glowing rim around their hair!) get infront of them, and snap away.  They don't have to be directly between your lens and the sun, in fact, it's better if the sun hits them more at an angle. And you'll have to be on the lookout for lens flare depending on how much light is directly entering your lens. It's a practice that takes, well, practice. But it's an effort that pays off in glorious images.

But once you find your backlighting - you still have to get your camera settings right. This can be tricky in and of itself. Backlighting creates a dynamic lighting situation that can be hard to meter for. Where do you meter?  The face? The hair? And what mode do you meter in? Spot? Center? (Yes, yes, we promised simple, but you said you wanted "serious snap" so it's time we start asking some of photography's harder questions).

We suggest starting with spot metering and going off your child's face. You're going to get lots of blown exposure around the hair and in the sky - but that's part of what makes this look work. In fact, you're just going to have to learn to accept that with backlit photos, you will end up with some overexposed, blown out backgrounds. Because unless your cutie is a glowing ball of brightness like your light source, chances are their skin is go ing to be darker than the background. You can try slightly underexposing thier face to maintain more detail in the background area - you can always play with it in post processing to brighten up the face or bring the background down further. This is what we've found works best most of the time. Well, that and learning to live with overexposed, blown-out backgrounds in exchange for an illuminated glowing angel child!

There's one final challenge with a backlit photo... that's getting nice light on the face and a catchlight in the eye! Why?  Well, the light's BEHIND them. But, if you have them facing a reflective source like a reflector, a body of water or a bright wall bouncing light at them, well then, voila!

Placeholder for Indoor light

We love love love window light! There is just something about it! We said it before in Brand Spankin' New - every home has at least one great pocket of light and often times it will be in front of a window, or better yet, a bunch of windows.

Window light is great for many reasons: you are almost guaranteed good catchlights, your light is lightly diffused and usually pretty even, (except for times when the sun is low in the sky shining directly through it), plus you have the added benefit of being indoors, sheltered from the elements - you never have the weather to blame for not getting GREAT pictures of your fam!

The other great thing about finding an awesome window is the predictability! Over time you will be so familiar with the light and how it come through your window, it will take little effort to create magic time and time again in your little "spot".

The key to really using good window light is to have the window behind you or to the side of you and your camera while your subject faces it. Here - sometimes it's just easier to SHOW you...

Adrienne's happy place in her Alabama neighborhood is her kitchen! As we see here, she has the window to her back and sweet Sydney directly facing the light streaming in.

And here is an example of some of that magic that Krista loves to conjure up in her living room! Krista is lucky enough to have a living room that is 3/4 covered in windows (quite the rarity in NYC!).  Needless to say, she spends a LOT of time shooting there.

She's actually sitting on her window sill with little Miss Luca directly in front of her, looking up at her.

Oh - here's actually a picture of the window Krista was sitting on... but used differently.  This picture is a whole other way to use window light - as a backdrop!  But that gets a little more complicated, so we'll save it for another lesson or we'll check it out in our learn by looking section!

Bottom line - consider window light the gift that just keeps giving to your family-documenting journey.  Even, beautiful, glowing light that will show your child in the best light!

If every day were a bright cloudy day, the world would be yours for the picture taking. Ah - if only we controlled the weather, right? But since we haven't yet figured out how to cue the clouds, we have to look for "pockets" of good light to optimize our picture taking conditions. Enter your friend, open shade.

Just like it's cousin, the cloudy day, open shade creates conditions favorable to picture taking because it is an evenly-lit soft place. When taking photographs outdoors with all-natural light, your biggest obstacles are hard-cast shadows and extreme brights and darks.

So what is it? Open shade is the place where light and shade meet to create an evenly lit space that is just off of the bright light, but not in it. You find it by looking for the hard line at the edge of the light - and then place your subject TOTALLY IN THE SHADE, but FACING the light.

Think garages, doorways, porches, overhangs, and alleyways.  Anywhere a nice solid shaded area comes smack up against a wall of light.

You would never know by looking at this picture that just in front of Chloe was the high noon Las Vegas summer sun! The ottoman that she is laying on is right up to the edge of a cabana opening where she is facing that bright light, but not actually in it. 1/2 a foot back towards the wall and it she would have fallen into the dark. 1/2 a foot forward and it would have been too bright for a good picture!  But right at the edge of where the two meet is MAGIC!

What to watch out for -

A common mistake made by beginners and (surprisingly) even some seasoned momtographers is when looking for open shade they go right to that beautifully shady spot under the tree in the backyard. While this may seem like a great idea, unless your shade tree area is very dense, most trees create what is known as dappled light. You know when you look at someone and see cheetah-like spots all over them from the shadows created by light coming through the trees?

Look at the top picture!  The baby's got spots! What looked like a nice shady area really wasn't one!

Now look at the spots on the ground all around the stroller - that should have been our first warning. Before you start snapping under the tree - inspect the ground -  do you see any of the telltale spots?  If not, then go for it.  If so, then it's really not true open shade - it's more like broken shade!

Again, your safest bet is to look for true shade next to or under a real stucture. Find that line between light and dark - put your subject i n the shade facing the light and VOILA!