Lowe Studios Blog – San Antonio Photographers

Most people take pictures to document a special occasion, a vacation, or just simple everyday life.  Snapshots.  We fill our photo albums with snapshots, and we pass them down to our kids.  These snapshots are important pictorial records of our lives, and yet a lot of people don’t put much thought or effort into them.  I’ve put together a few very quick non-technical tips to help spruce up your snapshots, regardless of what camera you use.

Get down on the floor. Are you taking a picture of your baby laying on their tummy?  Or your child playing on the floor?  Get down, crawl around, and capture them on their level.

{I crawled under the kitchen table to capture my son working on his puzzle.}

Get up close and personal. Eliminate distracting backgrounds by getting close to your subject, either with a zoom lens or by moving your feet.  This brings all the attention onto your subject.

{Get right up on your subject and focus on the eyes.}

It’s all in the details. Take some shots that focus on the details.  Not all pictures have to include faces.  Some of my favorite images of my own children are in fact, headless

Vary your perspective. Try new angles and change your angles often.  Flip your camera often, take some vertical shots.

Capture the scene. Are you in a pretty location?  Or, Does the setting help tell the story?  Is your child looking at something?  Step back to include it.

{The kids with their cousin, fishing for the first time.}

{My family walked on ahead while I stopped to snap some wildlife. I love how they were holding hands and Sam was carrying my camera bag for me.}

{The parade lights in the background help put her excitement into perspective.}

Shoot from behind. When taking candids from behind, it tells a sweet story.

All The Small Things. Don’t just pull out the camera on Christmas morning and Birthdays.  Take it with you the next time you get Ice Cream or Doughnuts, go to the park or the Library.

Focus on the eyes, go faceless, get close to your subject, step back… are you confused yet?!?!    :)

Pretty much what it boils down to is, don’t be a statue on auto-pilot.  Move your feet, switch it up to get some variety, and just have fun with it.

With these few tips, anyone can quickly and simply begin to transform the look of their snapshots, and add more interest to their family albums.  Easy peasy, right?  Good!  We’ll get into some more in-depth technical information at a later date!  In the meantime, Happy Snapping!