Everyone can (learn to) take good pictures!

I was giving my mom a couple of photo tips for a wedding she was attending last weekend and thought that maybe I would share one with you. Maybe this will turn into a series. Maybe. Because I genuinely believe that everyone can learn to take great photos with any camera, any lens, and any level or lack-there-of of creative ability.

Today's lesson is about light. One of the first photographers that I worked for told me to think of taking pictures as taking a photo of the light rather than the subject. And it's so true! It's so so important!

My goal is to always put my subject in good light - I love natural, no-flash-needed light because it's easy for your camera to figure out and it's flattering for your subjects.

So here are some take-away principles:
1) When possible, use flattering natural light with no flash!
2) Have your subject facing the light source.
3) Put your subjects in even light (shade is great b/c no harsh shadows!)

Here's a great example from my friend Kaci's wedding that we were just talking about a couple of entries ago. We opted to take our small point-and-shoot (canon, of course) rather than the big guns.

Adam and I arrived at the wedding and were standing on a covered walkway just above the ceremony looking down on the ceremony site.

Hmmm, lets try to take a photo of ourselves with the ceremony site in the background.

Here's what we got - yikes!!! See! Everyone takes bad pictures from time to time!


What a disaster! The light on the area behind us was super bright (#3 - uneven light) and we were facing a wall rather than the direction that the pretty light was coming from (#2 - face your subject towards the best light source). What a mess - I totally turned off my photo brain for that one.

So, all we did was turn 180 degrees and this one turned out a little better! We're standing in the exact same spot but just facing the opposite way and what a difference!


The light is even and flattering because we are in the shade (no shadows!) but facing the light source.

Here's a few favorite examples from my real photo work that I think turned out cool just because of the light:

Here, Michelle is standing in a doorway so there is really pretty natural light coming from behind me:

You can see the light source in this shot from Heather's bridal session (who got married this weekend!! Be sure to check my photoblog for a few images but the real blog will hopefully be coming soon!).
In this hospital shot, I opened all of the blinds and windows to a large window just behind me, to let the pretty light in on Courtney, Kyle, and Raegan:


Of course there are exceptions to these "rules" and it's not always possible to have natural light and all of that, but this will give you a start to begin paying attention to what and where your light source are!

Ok - does that all make sense? Would you like to see more photo-tips in the future? Let me know if there is a particulay photo issue you would like me to address in the future!

Happy picture taking!