Family Portrait Ideas

Family Portrait Ideas
Midtown: A Stunning New York City Timelapse Photography Project
Cell Phone Thief Unknowingly Saves Photos to the Internet
Photojournalism Image of the Day: Armored Vehicle Falls Off Overpass During Arab Spring

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 05:42 PM PDT

Every family needs a portrait, and not everyone wants the same traditional group photo. These days, people are after a more human touch. And many families are after fun and wacky ideas to make their photo session unique.

“Myrtle Beach State Park” captured by Ryan G. Smith

Location

Finding the right location can completely change your photo for the better. The background can add contrast and alter the mood of the photo. A photograph tells a story, and you want a location that complements the story. Here are a few ideas to make your family photos more interesting:

Urban: If you’re in town, take a walk down the city streets and look for trendy spots, such as garage fronts, brick buildings, park benches, and sidewalks.

“Beacon Hill Family Portrait Session” captured by Krista Guenin

Grit: Visit your local junkyard and take a few shots between piles of scrap metal and written off cars stacked on top of each other.

Natural: The best natural shots do not have a lot going on in the background and appear calming and friendly. A great place for a simple, natural shoot is a big open field filled with tall grass. Instead of walking to the park, take a walk down a nature trail, and you will find some amazing spots. Take a few shots with the family leaning on a tree or sitting on fallen trees. Surrounding rivers, lakes, and water beds also add a natural and calming touch.

“Perfect Family” captured by Yogendra Joshi

Odd: Think outside the square! If you’re looking for an unusual twist, take any of the locations mentioned above and add a couch or chair. Try a contrasting red stool for a forest setting or a plush couch at the junkyard.

“Family Portrait” captured by Vincent Garcia

Natural Shots

Some of the best photos are natural shots with a shallow depth of field. Aim to get your subjects to be relaxed so their expressions appear genuine.

“Chen Family Portraits” captured by Benjamin Chan

Activity: Working with kids can be lovely, or it can turn into a disaster. Forcing kids to stand and pose will only cause fake smiles. Let the kids run around for natural shots, and you will notice their personalities coming alive. Also, getting the family down to the kids’ heights will lower the intimidating effect of adults standing over them.

“Family” captured by Irina Oreshina

Pets

Having the family cat or dog in the photo adds warmth to the family portrait.

Natural lighting in open areas or rooms with large windows are great places for the shoot when the family pet is involved. The ample ambient light will help eliminate the need for flash photography, which may upset the pet.

“Family Portrait” captured by Glen Peterson

Positioning: As opposed to having the pet sit next to the family, have the family come down to his level. Take the photo at the pet’s eye level or below. Having the family go to the pet will be much easier than trying to stop a dog or cat from wandering around.

About the Author:
A professional photographer knows the tricks that can make any family portrait shine. If you would like to find out more about fun photography then visit the creative and professional Brisbane Photographers at Studio Kirby. As a writer I have published a number of articles in the photography industry and am happy to be working for the team at Studio Kirby, as well as a number of different industries.

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Midtown: A Stunning New York City Timelapse Photography Project

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 03:03 PM PDT

Many of us complain that we don’t have enough time to do the things that we want. With a heavy workload of taking photos for clients, communicating with clients, traveling, doing finances, etc., it’s often hard to find any time to work on our own personal projects. But none of this stopped Drew Geraci and his team from creating an incredible timelapse of Manhattan. In his spare time, traveling back and forth from D.C. to New York to shoot for clients, Geraci was able to capture 50,000 frames. After six months of shooting, this was the final result (for those of you reading this by email, the timelapse video can be seen here):

The gear used in this production: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 II, Canon 24-105mm f/4, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 II and a Dynamic Perception Stage Zero dolly for motion control.

While many of us find it difficult to squeeze in 30 minutes for our favorite TV series, Geraci was patient enough to shoot on and off for six months to work on his own personal project. Geraci, however, was not alone, and you might argue that this helped him quite a bit. But even with the extra help, finding a time to fit around everyone’s schedule can be tricky. If you don’t feel like you can find the time, try doing a few of these things:

Schedule Down-Time – Everyone needs a break from work. If you just work, work, work all the time, you’ll get bogged down, your work will get sloppy, and you will stress yourself out. Schedule some mandatory break time to wind down and take your mind off of work.

Condense Your Errands – Everybody’s got errands to run, but it’s much more efficient if you can do them all at once. Make a list of everything you need to do and see if you can clump them together by time and/or location. This way you won’t be running back and forth across town all day.

Eliminate Time-Wasting Habits – This is a tricky one, but if you want some extra time, it can be the best one. Cut down on your internet browsing (Facebook and Reddit can be big timewasters), record your favorite shows for later, don’t go out for drinks every night, etc. These things, while relaxing and appropriate at times, can end up taking a lot of our time.

new york city manhattan timelapse night day

A slower shutter speed allows for the car lights to streak across the frame

Another great tip is to write down what you wish to accomplish in your spare time. Write this on a sticky note and place it somewhere where you will see it everyday. This will give you a constant reminder of what you want to get done.

“There were multiple times during this shoot that we were chased off, either by cops or the cold. The subway shots were particularly difficult to get, especially in the wake of the Boston bombings. We were led out and in some cases followed by police officers or MTA officials who seemed intent on getting us for using tripods.”

For Further Training on Timelapse Photography:

There is a COMPLETE guide (146 pages) to shooting, processing and rendering time-lapses using a dslr camera. It can be found here: The Timelapse Photography Guide

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Cell Phone Thief Unknowingly Saves Photos to the Internet

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 01:08 PM PDT

Unfortunately, things don’t always go our way. Just ask the group of tourists who, while on vacation in Ibiza, Spain, had all their possessions stolen from the beach while they were having a swim in the ocean. Passports, clothing, cellphones, gifts, nearly everything they left on the beach was taken. After lodging a complaint, they quickly realized that this sort of thing happens so frequently, that little could or would be done to help them get their belongings back. With nothing else to do, they simply moved on with their lives, feeling a little bitter by the experience. That is until four months later when these pictures started surfacing in the original cell phone owners Dropbox account…

The thief enjoys taking self portraits

The phone thief tries his hand perspective photography.

The cell phone’s rightful owner had installed the Dropbox app on her device and enabled the option which automatically saves new images taken with the phone to her Dropbox account which is accessible by computer. The thief had not removed this app, nor was he keen enough to disable the automatic upload option. As he bagan documenting his life using the stolen phone, his photo stream went directly to the phone’s original owners computer.

The thief thought it might be fun to take a photo of himself next this car he fancies.

Luckily for us, the cell phone owner has a wonderfully snarky sense of humor and posts the thiefs photos to a now successful Tumblr blog, adding her own commentary to each image.

Making the best of a bad situation by turning a cell phone thief into an internet meme.

While this type of sweet revenge may not substitute getting back a stolen phone, it surely makes it a bit more amusing.

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Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Photojournalism Image of the Day: Armored Vehicle Falls Off Overpass During Arab Spring

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 11:07 AM PDT

Cameras are everywhere these days, able to capture almost any moment at any time. Most recently, someone captured this shot of an armored vehicle falling of off a bridge in Egypt. This shows that even a moment as brief as this is now part of historical record with photos and video:

Photojournalists Document Violence in Egypt (Via Imgur Click for Full Size)

Details on the incident were initially very fuzzy. It was first reported or inferred that the vehicle was callously pushed off of the bridge by an out-of-control mob of protesters without provocation. But a recently released video shows the vehicle slamming into a bus and possibly running over a couple protestors. As the driver of the armored vehicle attempts to back away from the now angry protesters, he breaks the railing of the bridge and the vehicle falls off.

In the past it was easier to blur the lines around what actually happened in an incident like this, but with more and more cameras everywhere the truth of what actually happened is harder to hide by either side of a conflict (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here):