This question came from one of the women in my photography class last night.  She went on to point out that for my pictures someone has agreed to be a willing participant in a full hour of family photos whereas most parents would be lucky to get 5 minutes for a family picture.  Wow.  She is completely right.  So here is the answer I gave Cathy in hopes it helps some of you!

So there you are in your front yard, 5 minutes before you have to leave for whatever family event has you all dressed up, looking nice, and miraculously going to the same place at the same time.  You grab the camera.  Your teenager rolls her eyes.  Your eight year old starts wandering off.  One parent looks to the other and says “we should get a picture” the other inevitably shrugs and says “you can try.”

The 5 Minute Family Photo

Step 1:  Skip the prison line up photo with everyone standing in a line.  Instead move everyone to your front steps and have them sit down.  You’ve already created a more interesting shot than normal because you’ve changed up the posing and chances are good you’ve got some great leading lines from the porch railing and brick steps that will enhance the composition.  (No front porch?  Or blinding sun in your eyes?  Harsh mid-day overhead shadows?  Skip to the bottom for alternate  at-home locations)

Step 2:  Arrange everyone so that heads are as close together as possible and grouped in triangles.  Like this . . .

(Yes, even animals count as “heads”)

Step 3:  Make sure everyone is touching.  Arms can go behind eachother’s backs (waist level not shoulder level).  Hands placed across the lap, on resting on the shoulder of the person in front.  Forearms can rest on a propped knee (or the knee next to them).  Little kids can sit on laps.  Adults can should sit as close together as possible, touching hip to hip.

Step 4:  Step back in to the yard and KNEEL to take the picture.  No, it is not “practically the same” if you take this picture standing.  Feeling too pretty (or too old) to kneel?  At least squat as low as you can.  Your objective is to be on EYE LEVEL with your family over there on the steps.  Bonus points to the family photog that just grabbed a stool from the garage and popped a squat.  This WILL make or break the shot.  No substitutions here.

Step 5:  Can you see everyone’s faces?  Shirts are laying straight?  Hair is out of the eyes?  Take an extra 5 seconds NOT looking in the camera to detail check everyone.  This is not the time for absolute perfection this is the time for fixing major distractions.

Step 6:  Can’t believe I’m saying this, but put your camera in Auto mode (or Program mode, if you know what that is).  You’re not trying to create a background with perfect bokeh (the blurry background created by controlling aperture) or freeze fast motion (shutter speed).  You just need a solid picture of the family.  Auto will do the trick.

Step 7: Fire away!  Remember that YOU are the only one who can see how the pictures are turning out so it is YOUR JOB to be as encouraging to your photo subjects as possible.  Lots of reassurance that everyone looks great and that you’re “almost done” will make this go smoother.

Step 8:  Bonus – If you have a few extra minutes with ADD and the Eye-Roll Gang then push for a few extra photos:  Giving mom or dad a kiss on the cheek, kids hugging each other, tickling the younger kids to make them laugh, everyone making silly faces, everyone on Dad’s lap.  Once you’ve got the safe shot then these extra pictures are easily done without changing your set up.

Steps 9 and 10:  Upload that picture to Facebook and share this post on your Facebook wall or Pinterest board.

As always, leave any questions in the comments section below and I’ll do my best to answer you.

Alternate At-Home Photo Locations:  Ideal photo locations will be shaded from overhead sun and have a spot for people to be seated.  Some ideas would be:  a backyard deck, the shaded spot under a large tree (just make sure everyone is in the shade) or along the side of your house where you have shade that time of day.  If seating isn’t available you can sit on the ground and use some people kneeling and others sitting to stagger heads.

Cary Academy Senior (Class of 2013)
Known for his random serenades on the school quad
Has sung with The Tenors as a member of the Cary Academy Choir
UNC-Greensboro tops his list of school picks for next year
2013 Finalist for the extremely competitive YoungArts Program
Can wear the hell out of a tweed jacket.

A few weeks ago I posted a blog on getting more authentic smiles out of your kids called “Help!  My Child Smiles Weird in Pictures”.  Now I’m here to encourage you that in addition to that picture where everyone has perfect smiles you cut the “Say Cheese!”.

Instead of a big smile, capture the haunting, quiet beauty of your child not smiling.  Not running around.  Not laughing.  Not angling for your attention.  Not shouting “Cheese!”.  Just who they are at rest, serenely happy, healthy, and whole.

I think you’ll find that you’ve captured something magical.

Brooke in her three year old portraits above and her four year old portraits below.

To try this for yourself:

1.  Get on the same level as your child.  I like laying on the ground facing each other.

2.  Tell them you’re going to take pictures of a bunch of different faces . . . ask them to make a “no smile” face.

3.  If that picture looks more “angry” than adorably pensive try asking if they can “see the butterfly inside your lens” and to “look REALLY carefully and quietly to see if you can see it.”

4.  If all else fails tell them you need to “get the settings right on your camera” and look busy while suggesting “you don’t even have to smile, just lay there for a minute”

5.  Remember that to capture relaxed, calm emotion you have to be relaxed and calm.  Your child will mimic your emotions so keep it light-hearted and casual.

6.  Crop in close – you don’t need a lot going on in the background.  Challenge yourself to zoom in more that you normally would.  (Yes, person-who-just-said-they’ll-crop-it-later . . . does that ever actually happen?)

Now your assignment is to try for one good no-smile picture of each of your kids this summer! 

]]> http://myfriendteresablog.com/cut-the-cheese/feed/ 0 http://myfriendteresablog.com/senior-rachel-e-cary-academy-senior-portraits/ http://myfriendteresablog.com/senior-rachel-e-cary-academy-senior-portraits/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 17:52:29 +0000 Teresa http://myfriendteresablog.com/?p=1010 Meet Rachel E:

Cary Academy Senior (Class of 2013)

• Environmental Advocate and Conservationist
  
• Lover of books and books and boooooks!
• Organized the first ever poetry slams at Cary Academy
• A dancer through and through who loves modern dance and choreographing with friends
• Dreamed of being a veterinarian when she was a kid with conviction to save all the fuzzy creatures of the world.
• Warning:  you might get lost in her gorgeous blue eyes

You’ve pinned!  You’ve Etsy’d!  You’ve bought STICKERS!  You’re all warm and fuzzy that your Little Precious Precious  is going to blow up your Facebook with likes and comments and then . . .

. . . .and then a few months later, you’re all “Ack it has been a month already?!   Forget the cute novelty chalkboard lets just print something on computer paper and lay Little Precious Precious on a blanket, and call it a day!”

Except you’ve got this nagging irritation that these pictures kind of suck.  Oh!  I mean, Little Precious Precious is totally adorable . . . blurry and covered in office supplies but totally adorable.

Let me see if I can help a sista’ out here.

 10 Easy Steps to Better Monthly Baby Photos

1.  Have a Helper Nearby.

Looking through a camera creates tunnel vision and having two hands working that iPhone doesn’t leave any open for, you know, catching the baby.  This isn’t one you should skip.  Always have someone just off camera that can jingle keys, catch a slumping baby, and fetch you your Evian.

2.  Use a Window for Light.

Find a window in your house that gets the most sunlight and position your set up in front of that window leaving only enough room for you to sit in between the two.

• If you have white sheer curtains (the ideal) then pull up the blinds and pull the sheers in front of the window to diffuse the light coming through.
• If you don’t have white sheer curtains then adjust your blinds so the light is allowed in but doesn’t create shadows.
• If you have regular curtains or  colored sheer curtains or blinds then consider hanging a white sheet over the window (not doubled over, you want the light to get through just not be as harsh)
• In all cases, make sure there aren’t any shadows on the chair.

You’ve just created a giant studio light using the sun as your light source and the sheer curtain as a diffuser.  There is no short cut here.  There is no “oh but this chair is in the corner by the window and I won’t have to move it, isn’t that good enough?”.  This even spread of natural light is going to completely transform your picture so just do it.

3.  Avoid Laying Down Poses

For this project avoid any pose where you’re straddling your child (and trying to keep your shoes out of the picture).  Here is why:

• Less risk of dropping your camera on your baby.
• It can distort how a baby looks because you’re never able to be truly 100% above them.
• It can throw off your camera’s auto focus when wiggly feet close to the lens are detected by the focus sensors rather than the face (creating in-focus feet and slightly out of focus faces).
• Your best light is out that window, not in the ceiling and we want the light on their face.
• This one is a little harder to explain but see if it makes sense to you.  The position of being over the baby makes the viewer hover over your child with you  and you’ve created a visual statement of power without even knowing it.  It is like the picture was taken by God . . . and not in the “aww YAY Photos By God!” kind of way but the scarier all-powerful “you’re just an ant” version.

4.  Use Pillows to Help Them Sit Up

Use pillows hidden behind your backdrop as props to hold Little Precious Precious in position.  In general you want to arrange the pillows behind him in a cocoon to hold him up straight, head supported, and leaning backwards as little as possible.  A tall pillow behind the head will help keep the head supported.

5.  Keep the Background Simple.

While baby blankets and sheets are always covered in adorable prints – they’re also very busy and crowded.

• Make your background as neutral as possible.
• We used a simple white receiving blanket on a khaki glider for this shot and it is perfect.  Stick with what you already own.
• If you want to have a solid backdrop just extend the blanket over the back of the chair (not tucked in but hanging loose) and shoot close in.  You’ll need a large blanket and may need a wider sitting area like a couch.

6.  Shoot at Baby’s Eye Level.  

Can you tell the difference between the picture on the left and the picture on the right?  The picture on the left is what we’re going for.

• For the picture on the left I am sitting in front of the glider with my back to the windows.  The baby and chair fill most of the frame and we’re on eye level with him.  This is the photo equivalent of having someone walk up to you and hold a baby right in front of your face . . . there is no where else to look except right in to his eyes.  We’re on his level and he is the star of our shot.
• For the picture on the right I am standing in front of the glider with my back to the windows.  Notice our background is more cluttered and he seems to take up much less of the photo.  This is the photo equivalent of walking in to a daycare and looking down at kids playing on the floor – cute, but typical.

7.  Choose Settings to Avoid Motion Blur.

Are blurry hands and feet killing your shot?  This is due to a slower than necessary shutter speed.  It is really simple to fix and here is how:

• If you’re using a flash in your pictures then stop.  Most cameras are have a 1/60th of a second shutter speed when the flash is used.  Unfortunately, to freeze those wiggly feet you need to be at about 1/200th of a second (here is the reminder for us non-Math types that 1/200th of a second is FASTER than 1/60th).  Ready for some good news?  If you’re following tip #2 you should have plenty of light to not have to use your flash.
• Set your camera to sports mode.  Why does this work?  Because your camera understands that in sports mode you’re trying to freeze quick action and need to have as much shutter speed as possible.  It also understands that the flash won’t do the trick and turns that off for you.
• If you’ve tried sports mode and you’re still getting blur from wiggles in your picture then you need to increase the amount of light in the shot.  Turn on overhead lights, move to a brighter window, or wait until a brighter time of day.

8.  Pick the Right Props.

You know what is more difficult that posing a wiggly baby?  Posing a wiggly baby with a floppy stuffed giraffe.  Mad props to those who can prop their props (someone save me from myself…) but the best props are going to be rigid, durable, easy to hold and easy to sit up on their own.  I love the chalkboard idea that Becky used for our shoot with Parker.  Props are great because they give a sense of size and growth so don’t get rid of them all together – just choose wisely.

9. Keep It Simple.

Seriously, keep it simple.  Find a set up that works for you and re-create it every time.

• For this shoot I brought nothing with me except my camera.  I found a spot with good lighting, put a glider in front of it, hid a pillow behind a white blanket, made him comfortable and started taking pictures.
• The entire shoot including set up took 20 minutes.
• Free yourself from unrealistic expectations.  Remember what you’re doing.  You’re creating a visual memory of how much your new baby is growing . . . not starting an Etsy shop for novelty baby outfits.  Keep it simple or it’ll be hard to stick with it.

10.  It’s Not the Camera.

I pulled out my regular point and shoot camera for this last shot so you’ll believe me . . . it is NOT THE CAMERA that makes these pictures look better it is good lighting, smart positioning, and keeping it simple.  You can TOTALLY do this.

Do you have questions?  

Leave them in the comments and I’ll try to help.

Know someone who would like this post?   Use the links below to share.

Cary Academy Senior (Class of 2013)
Holds a black belt in Tae Kuon Do
Given three wishes would totally use one of them on a Corvette Grand Sport ’63
Loves his big, quirky family
Webb Institute tops his list of college picks for next year
Knows how to look good in a hat

Chins pointed to the sky or pressed to their chests
Eyes bugging out or completely closed in to slits
Lips pulled tight
Cheeks shaking from the effort
Teeth . . . lots and lots of teeth.

And you start to panic.  This is not how they smile!  This is not what you want in your pictures!  They look like they’re being chased by a monster, or getting a dental exam, or have a huge wedgie.  Everything in you wants to make them stop this horror!  Especially if you’ve just paid a professional photographer $300 for the session and with each crazy smile you become more and more convinced there is not a chance they’re going to get a single good shot.

You know, something like this:

“Sun in his eyes” here on the left.  Crazy smile on the right.  Dig that full-power smile (and associated neck veins).  He is trying though . . . really trying!

Starting position here on the left (chin pulled in close).  Then I suggested he stick his chin out a little and . . . well . . . picture on the right. Still trying!

This is Tyler.  A completely typical 5 year old boy.  Wants to run around, and play in the dirt, and stick out his tongue, and show you his new shirt all at the same time.  Rocks and sticks are irresistible.  Doesn’t give a Sponge Bob about pictures.  Light of his family’s world.  We did a quick family session a few weeks ago for Mother’s Day.  And if you’d asked his mom, Melissa, at the end of their session if we got any good pictures . . . well she might not be too sure.  There was a lot of wild smiling going on y’all.  But we did!

 Here are some tips on overcoming The Crazy Smile :

1.  STOP TELLING THEM TO “SMILE!!!”.  You’re heading towards the death spiral of photography.  I get it!  This is embarrassing.  Your beautiful angel suddenly looks possessed.  It is getting worse by the minute. . . you’re certain this photographer is totally irritated with your family and losing patience (for the record, I’m not!  This is normal!).  Every correction you offer makes them more and more uncomfortable   The more uncomfortable they are the more desperate and maniacal the smile.  They look crazier . . . you get more desperate . . . offer more corrections or exasperated “just smile normal”.  That mom tone of voice kicks in and boom . . .he is certain he is headed towards trouble if this smile doesn’t get better and wouldn’t you know it?  The smile only gets more contorted.  I am here to set you free my friend.  If you’ve hired a professional photographer just hit your mute button and let her do the hard work.  If you’re taking pictures yourself then still hit that mute button . . . and skip to point 2.

2.  OFFER ENCOURAGEMENT. . . LOTS OF IT.  You know how much you don’t like having your picture taken?  Kids can feel the same way.  Every time they get the smile right . . . celebrate like they’ve just pooped rainbows.  ”Great job!”  ”I love that calm smile!”  ”You’re doing so good at this!”.  The more pumped up they are on feeling like they’re doing it right, the more likely they are to keep giving you the good stuff.  Encourage them even if it is totally not working.  Encourage them even if they look just as crazy as they did a minute ago.  It doesn’t cost you anything to click a ton of pictures . . . keep clicking until they get there.  ((and if they don’t get there then skip to #3)

3.  KNOW WHEN TO QUIT.  Throw in the towel and try something completely different when it starts to go bad.  Change locations, switch around the people in the shot, change the pose from standing to sitting or from sitting to laying down.   Get them out of their heads by giving them something to do.  In the first picture in this blog where Tyler is squinting . . . this shot was beautiful but it just never worked.  It was cloudy but it was still bright and he wasn’t feeling it.  We scrapped it after a few minutes and moved on.  No frustration needed.

4.  HAVE THEM MAKE FACES.  When there is no shaking the crazy smile I turn it in to a game (and games are animated and fun, so remember to make this a silly game!). . . okay make a VERRRRRRRRY SERIOUS face.  Now make a face with no smile.  Now make a scary face.  Now make a funny face.  Now give me a sweet smile.  Now make a laughing face.  Now make a crazy face.  Now give me a very quiet and still face.  Now give me another smile.  The trick here is to take pictures of ALL of the faces and include the moments in between.  You’ll have a lot of pictures to delete but you’ll also capture genuine moments in between.  You’ll also have snuck in a few that were great smiles.

5. LET THEM MOVE AROUND.  Yes, I know the bushes in front of your house are blooming and all you want is one nice family picture in front of it.  But if it isn’t happening, it isn’t happening.  When they’re losing patience and the smile looks crazy give them something to act out that will potentially make them smile.  I’ve said things like:  Give mom a big hug around her neck.  Jump up in the air as high as you can!.  Show me your dance moves.  Go spin around in your dress.  Sure, go roll around in the grass.

There are a lot of reasons kids suddenly develop a strange smile for pictures – they’re watching cartoons full of crazy, overanimated faces.  Or they’re nervous and insecure.  Or they’re hyper and overenthusiastic.  Or they’re just OH_VER_IT.  Avoid power struggles and frustration.  Let it go if it isn’t working!  And if you’ve hired a good professional photographer just let them do the hard work for you.

Weekend Highlights Included:

1.  Pajama Breakfast Party.  Also known as … “oh shoot kids don’t just drink coffee for breakfast and we have nothing in the house to eat”.  Brooke and Justin wore matching aviator sunglasses and Superman shirts on our breakfast quest.  (iPhone picture)

2.  Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Confession:  Really, this wasn’t any different than a normal Saturday.

http://instagram.com/p/Xx94GosT-C/

3.  Going to the library and trying to read a full picture book.  Brooke picked out a book called “What Uncles Do Best”.  She didn’t think we needed the “What Aunts Do Best” companion book.  Basically she said I’m awesome and don’t need instructions (in so many words).

4.  Singing karaoke.  Don’t hate if your shoes are on backwards and your cheetah pants say “Welcome to the Boca Raton KOA Campground.”

http://instagram.com/p/Xzk_oGMT_O/

5.  Approximately 45 SECONDS of bike riding . . . followed by 45 minutes of playing “tag”.  Guess which one of us ended up laying on the ground and refusing to move.

6.  Making pizzas with my parents.  Since they’re not her grandparents we decided they needed nicknames and encouraged her to call them KiKi and KooKoo.

7.  Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh.  I was expecting we’d stroll around holding hands as we read informative plaques about people of the world and stuffed animals of The Piedmont Region.  Wrong.  This was two floors of “centers”.  You know, centers, like we used to have in kindergarten?   Bottom line:  Kick ass.  Second Bottom line:  I am terrrrr berrrrg to be climbing in the back of a fake boat.  Helllerrrr?

8.  Movie night by Brooke whereby she spends 60 minutes explaining to me the plot twists of The Lorax and eats her own bag of popcorn which for some inexplicable reason was served in a glass vase.

9.  Woah did you just walk in on me using the bathroom?  Um.  Whatever you need . . . go ask your Uncle Justin.

10.  At the 3D Hubble Telescope movie at IMAX Justin told Brooke he “put some stars in his pocket”.  Oh… hello 3 hours of “Uncle Justin do you still have de taws? . . . in yoh pocket?!”

He put all the stars back on the ceiling at bedtime our last night when she closed her eyes to make a wish (laser machine, its Club Porter y’all).  Yes, when she opened her eyes my uterus skipped a beat at her commercial-worthy gasp of excitement.  Then he read her a bedtime story called “What Uncles Do Best”  and dang  y’all she lit up our world like a million stolen stars.

So this is how I started my second “First” year of life.

March 30, 2012 I crawled and fumbled my way out of a heap of steel and heat and glass.  I grabbed the hand of a welcome stranger and made my tumbling exit from my car…a tree suddenly in the middle of it.  Like a calf’s first steps I collapsed to the ground. . . body trembling, legs not quite up to the task.

I landed in a nest of fat, hairy caterpillars that crawled all over me.  I wiggled my toes, turned my neck fractions of an inch, touched each finger to my thumb.  A quick assessment of my new physical body.  Would I have legs that worked?  A neck that could turn?  Hands that could manipulate the dials of a camera?

My body was overcome with shaking, carrying the reverberations of my crash.  It was like when you sloppily hold a baseball bat and your hands sting with the metallic vibration of a fastball.

I watched the stranger frantically run in and out of my upward stare…begging him to call my husband…pleading to God “oh Jesus…please Jesus” and from an equally primal place a string of particularly un-Jesus-like f-words.

My car was having a similar meltdowm.  The classical music blasting through the speakers (originally, to calm my nerves on the drive) carried prayers of “oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” up to heaven on soothing violin notes while at the same time punctuating those prayers with a HONK.  HONK.  HONK. like a string of expletives escaping uncontrolled.

I just wanted to close my eyes.  The smell of burning gas.  The pounding classical music.  The uncontrollable shaking.  My head was crowded with sounds and smells.  I couldn’t think . . . I just needed to turn off one sense, just for a minute.  But like I learned in my favorite episode of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (ok…don’t laugh ) I knew to keep my eyes open and try to stay awake.

Strangers gathered one by one and out of no where a Boy Scout leader in full uniform appeared and started giving orders.  He looked like he was having the best day of his life – using all those First Responder skills he’d never had the chance to show off.  He asked me my name, what day it was, and if I knew what happened.  Someone brought me a cold bottle of water.  Someone called my husband.  Some folks just knelt on the ground next to me and picked off the caterpillars.

The Paramdedics arrived quickly.  They cut my clothes off.  And yes, oh yes precious . . . they had to cut my Spanx off of me on the side of that highway.  But somewhere between having my Spanx cut off of me and having 4 nurses move my plus-sized, half-naked body around from X-ray to MRI, to CAT scan and back again…I realized that despite my current circumstance I was going to be just fine.  I was going to kick this setback in the ass.  I was going to . . . well . . . I was going to take a Morphine nap and wake up two days and 1 titanium leg later.

And that is how I started my second first year of life.  Because someone jammed their fat little finger on the  reset button of the life of Teresa Porter that day.  I powered down for a minute and then beep, beep, beep (those ‘beeps’ are probably the expletives I was mumbling on the side of the road) … there I was again.

What felt like the clanging, crashing, smoky end to my life was actually a beautiful new beginning.  And what was once a heap of destruction was actually the birth of something triumphant.

So it is 1 year later and I still carry the accident with me.

The Boy Scout, a reminder that in moments of fear and doubt and hurt and pain someone will step up to help.  Sometimes, blisfully, they even show up looking exactly like what help should look like.  I mean, a boy scout?!

The classical music, a reminder to breathe, be still, listen.  Also, maybe life’s most dramatic moments really do have a movie soundtrack.  I thought mine would sound more like Cindy Lauper and less like Chopin but whatever.

The Spanx, well, we’ll call that a lesson in perspective.  Can you hear me girl-in-the-bathroom-who-just-discovered-food-in-your-teeth?  Those embarrassing moments happen to all of us.  You know what doesn’t often happen?  Having the SPANX cut off of you on the side of a HIGHWAY.  See…perspective

Finally,  the caterpillars.  It is simple.  The caterpillars reminded me of the promise that we can start all over again, it is just the lucky few of us who get the chance to celebrate the day we fell from the cocoon.