Family Photos - Patti

Lens Flare reader Patti sent in these adorable photos of her daughter Grace.

She writes, "These are from my 9 month shoot with Grace - I make it a point to have a little photo session for each month birthday. I was practicing shooting in B&W, since I normally ALWAYS shoot in color and then post process. I was also practicing bouncing the flash off of the wall to Grace's right - I usually just use the ceiling.





I really love the color one - the softness of the light on her face is fantastic (in my opinion). Patti, perhaps you should write a guest post on using your external flash? Just a thought...

I do like the fact that Grace's face it tilted and that she is off-center in b/w photo. I definitely like children's pictures that are taken off center or at an angle (again, in my opinion).

Thanks for sharing with us, Patti!

Family Photos - Melissa

Guess it's my turn to submit one of my family photos:

This is Josie, approximately 1 day old. She was still so exhausted that she would sleep in almost any position. I love that she is covering her eyes - it's as if she already knew her mother is a crazy lady with a camera (I can hear it now - "mom, STOP!")

I call this one "no paparazzi."

Any one else have family photos they'd like to share or would like some advice on? Send them to melbrandman@gmail.com

Family Photos - Carrie

These photos were submitted by Lens Flare reader Carrie - her son is just adorable! I like how both shots are at an angle, and the little one is not directly centered in the shot - makes it more interesting.

To show an example of the rule of thirds, I edited the top photo a little in iPhoto:

before

after

Drawing a tic tac toe grid over the photograph, the little one's nose and lower eye should be in line with the top third of the photo. I like how the cropped photo brings even more emphasis to his eyes and silly face!

Carrie also submitted a beautiful sunset photo that will be the subject of today lesson...stay tuned...

Family Photos - Rachel

Since my interest in photography grew exponentially with the birth of my oldest daughter, I figured it would be fun to feature family photos, both from me and from the Lens Flare readers. Thank you to those that have submitted photos!

Here is the first featured family photo from Rachel:


In Rachel's own words:

"It's me, Kensington and Molly and I just love it because I remember how happy and calm I felt in that moment. It was a spontaneous taken by Sean (Rachel's husband) and I loved that summer."

Great photo - I love family photos that are not posed, and from a more technical composition standpoint, I love that the focus of the picture is off center (think the rule of thirds). Thanks for sending it in Rachel!

Lens Flare readers - keep your family photos coming!