I thought I would change it up today and send a photography tip out. This tip is about how to capture the best picture possible. This isn't brain surgery or anything complicated like that. But my first and probably easiest tip about photography is to "GET DOWN (or up) TO YOUR SUBJECTS LEVEL."
Doesn't that seem simple enough if you think about it? If you have an 18 month old (one of the worst ages ever to get to participate in a photoshoot - in my opinion) and you stand above them with a big giant camera, jumping around trying to get them to smile, they are going to look at you like you have 4 heads, 16 eyes, and 12 arms. And ironcially enough, they won't think that's funny. What you end up getting is a picture with no smile, no reaction and a kid running in the opposite direction of you. And on the flip side, if you are photographing and adult family, and their kids are 5 inches taller then you, you don't want to be shooting up at them. Imagine what kind of results you would get.
This is an example of me getting DOWN to my subjects level. If I hadn't been down, on the ground, I would have missed a lot of the cute details of this picture - the grin, the shirt that says ONE on it, the striped leggings.
So get to your subjects level. Whether that be up or down, look them in the eye when at all possible.
Here is an example of a tall family. Only the kids were shorter then me, but not by much! So instead of posing this family on either flat ground, or on a hill, I had them stand down the hill from me so I can be at their eye level or even a little above. If I had shot this in the other direction, we would have gotten the "under the chin view" of these people. And coming from someone (me) who doesn't really like getting pictures taken of my "extra chin" I appreciate when the camera is not below my chin line.
If you ever have a photo session with me, by the end, I am a hot sweating mess. That's because I've been anywhere from laying on the ground to get a picture of your baby crawling to climbing up the side of tree to get eye level with a posed grown-up.
Try it yourself. Great pictures don't happen when you're by not moving around.
This tip does not just go for photography sessions with big fancy cameras. Use this tip even when taking a picture of your kid(s) with your phone. If you want just a little bit better artistic style, get yourself down to their eye level...or lower.
This picture was taken with my phone - no filters. I love it because instead of standing on the side of the baseline just snapping a quick picture, I went behind the base and bent down to their size to get a little bit more out of the picture.
Also, this tip does not just work when taking a picture of people. Use this tip when photographing just about anything. If you want a cool picture of a huge, weeping willow tree, it's probably going to be pretty hard to get UP to your subjects level. So get all the way down to the ground and get a wide, artistc view of the tree.
In my last example below, I want you imagine how this picture would be different if I hadn't gotten down to subjects level. I would have missed out on some of the bridge detail a the forefront of the picture.
So the next time you are about to snap a picture, stop and think...AM I AT MY SUBJECTS LEVEL?
