Happy New Year! I hope everyone has enjoyed the festive season and are continuing to enjoy our Summer weather (well in the southern hemisphere anyway!) While many people are back to work today (including me!), many of us still have plenty of holiday time left - so here are my 9 top tips for capturing great holiday photos (and these tips can be applied to any situation!)
Tip #1 Have your camera out and ready to go!
While this may sound obvious, there is nothing worse than desperately wanting to photograph something but finding that your camera or smart phone has a flat battery or the camera card is full or your smart phone is out of memory!
This happened to me Christmas Day! We have a tradition every Christmas morning that we video our son opening his Christmas presents - about 1 minute in - my iPhone was full!! Luckily my husband was able to take over on his phone! I'm pretty good at making sure that my camera is always ready to go but now I will also make sure my phone is ready too!
With a little forward planning it does not take much to make sure all is good to go. With my camera, I always down load the images and back them up as soon as possible after taking the photos (usually the same day). That way I know the images are safe and I can remove them from camera card. I also recharge the battery after every session, then I know my camera is good to go at any moment! I'm going to make sure I back up and download my iPhone images regularly so that I don't run out of memory again!
Tip #2 Capture Moments not Poses
Capturing moments is by far my favourite type of photography. Capturing moments allows the photographer to let personalities shine through and really tell a story about what is going on, the relationships between the people being photographed and the feelings and emotions behind each image. The image above and below are "moment captures" and both images tell very different stories!
Tip #3 Click Before and After Set Poses
While Tip #2 is all about capturing moments not poses, there are times when you will want to take posed images. I really enjoy taking photos immediately before and immediately after the posed image as I find that these images are more relaxed and again show personality!
 |
| Posed Photo |
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| Immediately after the Posed Photo |
The examples above demonstrate how taking another photo immediately after the posed photo can make a real difference. While the top image is OK with everyone looking at the camera and smiling, I prefer the second image as more personality is coming through the images - much more fun!!
Tip #4 Fill the Frame
Get in close! It is so important to fill the frame of your photos with your subject. Images of your subject in the distance (unless of course this is deliberate - but that's another Blog post!) just won't give you great images. Frame your images nice and close in camera for the best results!
The above image would not have had nearly the same impact if his face was way back in the background.
Tip #5 Don't Hesitate, Press the Shutter!
Hesitate and you'll miss the shot! Capturing the best images means you have to be ready to click the shutter without hesitation! While the age of digital photography allows us to take many images without the worry about wasting a roll of film, taking hundreds of photo's in the hope of getting a couple of good shots is a waste of time - you have to go through them all to find them! A much better way to take photo's is to be deliberate in your approach and be ready to click the shutter! A moments hesitation is a moment gone and an inferior image is the result. Capturing these images of the kids jumping in meant that I had to click the shutter at that decisive moment!!
Tip #6 Work With Kids, Not Against Them
By far the best way to photograph kids is by working with them! Kids love to have fun and I promise if they are having fun, they will work with you! The images below were the first images I took that day and my son let out a big groan and told me to put the camera away!! Within a minute they were eating out of my hand as I encouraged them to jump into the water and I'd take their photo and show them!! They loved it!!
Tip #7 Tell a Story
Tell a story with your images - let viewers know what was happening. The images will also remind you of what was happening! Here's a great story from our swim .....
The kids thought it was fantastic every time River joined us in the pool - my son spent considerable time coaxing him in for a swim! I probably would have forgotten if it weren't for these images.
Tip #8 Make Sure You Are In Some!
I am most guilty of this - I tend to feel much more comfortable behind the camera, not in front of it! But I want my son to remember that I was there with him having fun not just taking photos all the time! With selfies all the rage right now, this is my preferred method of getting myself in images! Other methods include using a timer or asking someone to take the photo for you.
A very rare photo of me! Complete with photo bomber in the background! Love it!
Tip # 9 Put Your Camera Down
Yes I know this is a post about tips for holiday photos! I think this is an important tip though! I can be guilty of having the camera out a bit too much and I need to remember to put it away! So while I may have my camera out nearly every day, I have taken the pressure off myself to capture everything all the time and have allowed myself to capture some of the time.
I hope you have enjoyed my tips! I would love to hear some of your tips for taking great holiday photographs - please comment below. I would love to see some of your holiday images too! Please post them below!
Until next time - happy snapping!
Larissa x
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About Larissa Hill
Larissa is based in Melbourne, Australia and is a child and family portrait and lifestyle photographer. Larissa is married with one son, a dog, 2 cats and a huge tropical fish tank! Larissa enjoys all things photography, SCUBA diving and snorkelling, reading and hanging out with family and friends. Larissa's website showcases her photography -
www.larissahill.com.au
