Snapshottery

Photography has always been a passion for me, but it's just been since I had children that I have really ramped up the time I have spent in study.  One of the most inspiring things for any parent to photograph is their best works of art, their babies.  Who doesn't love the shot of the seven-month-old eating her toes?

I saw this iconic moment of discovery and grabbed the camera.  All too often that moment is gone the second I sit down with the camera. Therefore, the first order of business is to get the shot.

Seeing that I still had some good stuff going on, I took a moment to move the clutter such that the baby looked neatly placed on a beautiful bright blue background.  (Yeah, you knew I meant to do that, didn't you?)  I also arranged the baby in the camera in an interesting way such that she was laying corner to corner and filled the frame.  Then I just shot away.

This is definitely one of my favorite pre-pro pictures.  If this were actually a planned shoot and not a snapshot, I would have dressed her in a more neutral outfit, such that the focus is on the baby and not the fabric.  The clothes you choose are an inherent part of what makes images you will love.  Midtone colors work best such as a medium to light blue, pink, or light to medium green or if you are shooting for black and white conversion.  Tans, khakis, charcoal and textured ivory or white are great for color shots or black and white.  What you don't want is large blocks of heavy color that distract the eye from the most important part of a portrait, the face.

In other words, less is more when it comes to clothes!  And no, I'm not talking about a swimwear shoot.  I'm talking about patterns, lines, logos, words, clutter of any sort.  This rule is a pretty basic one in the world of photography, which means there are times when it should be broken....