Did you buy a voucher from City Deal for a wall canvas? If so this is for you! Square Portraits are happy to do your photoshoot and give you a high resolution image for your canvas. However, we can't do it for free. So, here are a few tips for free instead to help you on your way to making your image good enough to print in big.
1. Hold your camera at your subject's eye level to capture some eye contact. Seeing that smile or those twinkling eyes will make all the difference. For pets and children that means you may need to stoop down to their level so go ahead and kneel or even lie down on your tummy while keeping your camera steady with your elbows. They don't even have to look into the camera but just connecting in this way will create a more intimate feeling.
2. Use a plain background. Make sure there is no clutter or distractions that will take away the attention from your subject. Before taking the picture have a look for branches of trees or poles that may take the emphasis away from him/her. Most likely, all you may need to do is either move a couple of objects out of the way or move yourself a few feet in a different direction to exclude anything distracting.
3. Move in close. Try to fill your frames as much as you can to create a powerful image. Use your zoom for what is important and ignore the rest. For instance, capture a smile or a frown by closing right in onto the face. Check your camera settings, if you have a macro or flower mode, it will allow you to get even closer while maintaining the focus.
4. Watch the light around you. This is an important factor in a picture. When photographing people, choose a cloud cover day instead of a bright sun shiny day. Harsh shadows or too much brightness can steal a lot of detail from your picture. Look at where the shadows are falling onto your subject. Move them to a different angle if they look too dark. If you're shooting into the sun, use your flash to fill in the light on the face. If you are shooting indoors, try to turn off your flash, and use the natural light from a window. Red eye will also be less likely this way. Great light makes great pictures so experiment with different times of day.
5. Don't forget to turn your camera. Make an effort to take some vertical images by turning your camera sideways. You will capture more of a child or pet this way. By changing the way you hold your camera, you can also change a picture. Take lots of pictures that you can choose from.
6. Capture feelings in your pictures. Frowns, tears or a crinkly nose will become as engaging as a smile. Take a few minutes extra to encourage your children or pets to do something natural that will enable you to find such emotions. Ignore the impulse to place your subject facing the camera and just go with the more relaxed and candid expressions or poses.
7. Capture some action. Kids and animals love to run and play so try to make that a memory forever. Use a high speed to stop the action or find the sports setting on your camera. Try to plan where the point is that you will capture the action, and focus on that spot. Keep the viewfinder over your eye and your finger over the button, so you'll be ready to click. It is difficult to get a great action shot, so take lots of pictures. It can take a hundred photos to get one perfect image. Find your camera's burst mode if it has one to get a series of frames within seconds of one another.
8. Place your subject off centre. We traditionally try to put our focus on the central part of the image but placing it a little to the left or right of the frame can make it more interesting. If you have an auto focus camera, this technique may not work unless you have a free from clutter background. Check the manual for how to use the focus lock feature. This will mean you will pre-focus on your subject and recompose your picture while holding the button down half way before taking your shot. Experiment with cropping when you order your prints and try zooming in and out and moving the image around.
9. Show relative scales. Include a prop like a teddy or daddy's hand for those new babies to emphasize their tiny size. Take pictures frequently and use the same prop at different intervals to show how the baby is growing. Have your dog stand in between your legs to get a good idea of his/her size also.
10. Have fun! Let kids and pets create their own world. They live in the moment and we should too!
