Framing

Hi everyone! We are movin' and groovin' right along with our photography challenge. I am loving all the photo shares!

Today is going to be a fun day and I know you are going to love it. We are continuing our discussion of composition with ....wait for it...Framing!

So, this is exactly as what you think it might be: framing your subject in the photo. This will add interest to the photo and make a stronger statement. You can get as creative as you want in where you find frames in the world around you. Here are just a couple examples I have.

1. Matthew is framed by slide. Don't mind the finger and toe chop though!

2. I love this one of Thomas at his first baseball game. I feel like he is framed by the people next to him.

3. The boys are being framed by the water.

 4. The girls are framed by the door and fridge (even though Emma's arm looks like it is chopped weird).

5. This is one of my current favorites. Bella and Lilly are framed by the legs of the lifeguard stand.

6. Thomas and Bella framed by legs of the stand again.

7. John is framed by the window.

8. Matthew is framed by window lines.

9. Thomas is framed by the dugout lines. This would have been better if I could have gotten more of the lines in there to make the complete frame, but oh well. Such is life!

10. John is framed by the door.

 11. Boys are being framed with door to room and the edge of the picture.

12. Thomas in his crib with shoe is framed with door and wall.

13. Thomas is framed by older brother's legs.

So you can use whatever you want for frames. Not all pictures will be perfect and that is ok. I am sure you will love them even with their imperfections.

YOUR challenge is to find the frames are you are taking photos. When I first learned this I thought it seemed so easy but it takes practice to get your squirmy subjects framed. Post some of your favorite frames.

For those experienced photogs, how creative can you get with your framing? Try to find the most unusual frame you can think of when photographing today. Or perhaps a frame within a frame photo. I don't usually frame with the edge of the camera frame (like in example 11) so I am going to try more of that today!

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Photo Challenge- Telling the Story Without Faces

Today's creativity challenge is to tell the story without using faces. Here are some examples I had but I am excited to try this out with more purpose!

1. Fun after the rain

2. Easter Egg decorating

3. Going to the Movies

4. Easter egg hunt

5. Baby's First Sno cone

6. Rain Shower Fun

7. Baby Toes Exploring the World Outside

8. Bath Time.

9. Nap Time

So, let's see your creative side shine!

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Leading Lines

We are continuing our composition fun by talking about leading lines today. This one still tends to throw me for a loop on what is a leading line and what line apparently 'leads the viewer out of the picture'. Umm...that may be too artsy fartsy for me, so I will share what I understand about leading lines!

As you might assume, leading lines lead you to the subject of the photo. Your eye naturally follows lines thus the importance for them in terms of composition. This could be quite literal lines (ie paths, walkways, railings, etc) or a bit looser in the term (ie a row of people in movie theater seats, a line of bushes in the backyard, etc). So here are some examples of what I have found in my photos.

1. Thomas at the game: there is a line of seats leading up to where he is sitting.

2. The counter is a leading line over to the guys.

3. The lines of the railing, chairs, and the stairs are leading lines.

4. The shoreline of the lake is a leading line that leads us to Thomas and Brad.

5. I think John's arm is a leading diagonal line to the egg that he is handing to Thomas. Thomas' gaze is also leading line the photo.

6. The counter is a leading line to John. Maybe? A stretch? Not sure...

7. The path is a leading line, vanishing point and a curved line all wrapped up in one! This path is about as 'S' curved as I have in my batch of photos, but S curves add drama and impact to a photo.

8. The railing on the pier are vanishing points and lead to Thomas. Notice I centered him here since it is a pretty symmetrical photo. Vanishing points are like a path that seems to vanish towards the back of the photo since you can't see the end of the path.

9. I consider the ramp of the stand a leading line to our family. Again, maybe a stretch??

10. I submitted this photo for a class and was told the lines of the hats and lines of the gloves/hands are leading lines to Matty B. I will take it! :)



11. To me, their arms and gazes in the below picture lead to what they are looking at (a map).

12. The train tracks lead right up to Matthew. Note I took this picture from below which cuts out the background from being around Matthew's face!

13. The shoreline (FULL of sea weed!) leads us to Lilly and Tyler on the beach.

14. The edge of the fountain leads us to the kids playing.

15. The water is a leading line to John.

Leading lines of course aren't limited to people as subjects. This link has some wonderful examples of leading lines found just about anywhere.

YOUR challenge is to find leading lines as you practice taking photos. Post some of your favorites so we can ooh and aah over them!

Seasoned pros can challenge yourself to find leading lines in the world around you without adding in people or kiddos. Where can you find leading lines in nature, architecture, etc.? Let's see what you can find!

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Why I love 'Lifestyle Photography'

As you may know, I am starting taking up a a new obsession: photography. I have always been drawn to lifestyle photography rather than posed shots. Luckily for me, this style seems to work much easier for me and my main subjects: three squirmy boys. I have no clue how to pose people and I want to document our every day lives, not some posed 'cheese' shots. 

So I thought I would share some of my recent favorites and why this works for me.

1. Showing off my kiddos in action I certainly don't have a knack for getting my kids to sit in one spot for more than two seconds. So it is much easier for me to photography the fun things we do. Blowing bubbles outside was one of our 'summer bucket list' items and I love this one of Matty B.

We had a pretty good rainstorm a couple weekends ago and thankfully there was no lightning. So it was a perfect time to whip out the umbrellas and rainboots for a little fun in the rain. I didn't have the camera out at first since it was impromptu (we were actually waiting for friends to come over at any minute!) but I am glad I grabbed the camera to take a couple shots of Thomas who is still too young to understand how an umbrella works.

I was able to have John stand still for about 30 seconds to get this picture. Miracles do happen!

We took the boys to the lake near our house last weekend to play before dinner. I actually didn't like any of the pictures I took and decided to edit this one anyways since 'going to the lake' was on the bucket list. After I cropped and edited I decided I liked it after all. :)



2. Even 'staged' shoots aren't posed. I set up these ottomans in front of the window one morning because I had just read about back lighting and wanted to practice. So even though it was staged, I just sat back and took photos as Thomas explored. Some of the pictures from this morning are now my favorites!

3. Kiddos don't always cooperate! I tried the same staged photo session with Matthew and it didn't go as planned. Instead of sitting on the ottomans, he hid from me most of the time, thinking it was a fun game. So instead of getting frustrated, I took photos of what was happening- a little boy hiding from his mommy! I love the ones of his cute tushie and toes peeking out from being the chair.

I was still able to get on shot of him with a nice natural smile, albeit a slightly out of focus one.

I feel like I have found what style photography works best for me and I love it!

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