Give away!

I will be doing a huge give away. I will post details in the first week of 2012. This is the biggest give away Lily Rose Photography has ever done and it's worth six hundred dollars. If you're interested please keep checking in to my new blog for details :)

Very anxious,
Katie

Take it off auto!

Just like the post title says, take it off auto. Why? You have so much more control if your camera is set on manual. So, you don't what ISO, shutter speed, or white balance is. Well, you will never know or ever care if your DSLR stays in automatic mode. But you know what, your focus, crispness and great SOOC {Straight out of camera} shots will not be anywhere near the potential awesomeness they can be.

First, read the manual of your camera. This sounds really boring and silly, but seriously it tells you so much information. Next, go to half price books and pick up some photography books. I recommend  Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Next, play with your camera. Please do not feel upset or let down. This is all new, no one has ever picked up a camera {in manual} for the first time and shot a perfectly exposed image. I won't even DARE post my first images I took in manual, they are that bad. However, as you see now, you would have no idea my images were horrible in the beginning.

 Avoid the on board flash, it's crap I really don't even know why cameras' come with them because no great or even so-so photographer will use it. It's too bright, and glares right at the subject making their forehead look shiny. That's not cute.

What if your images are dark? There are three ways to increase the allowance of light into your lens.

Widen your aperture by making the numbers smaller. For example, 1.8 is wide which will let a lot of light in, while 5.6 is narrow which doesn't allow a lot of light to enter your lens. I love 1.8 or lower when focusing on one subject because it gives great bokeh and awesome focus. What is bokeh? Bokeh is the blurry part of the image.

Next question, how do you change where the focus is in the image? I always use SPOT metering. Spot metering should be changed in your settings bar. Their is spot metering, center weight metering, and another. Spot metering your able to change one spot {or dot} to the exact point of focus you desire.

With this being said, if you use a 1.8 aperture your focus will be very very tight and you will gain LOTS of bokeh, such as the picture above. This was probably done at 1.8-2.5. You cannot use a 1.8 for large groups. I use a 1.8-2.8 for portraits involving only one person, a 3.5-5.6 for a small group, and I use a 5.6+ or so for a large group or landscape. Remember, the shallower {the larger the number} the aperture the less light, so big groups you need lots of light.

Another way to increase the light in your lens is the shutter speed of your camera. My SS {shutter speed} stays between 1/60th of a second to 1/120th of a second depending on lighting. If my location is really bright such as outside at 1pm, I have to make it faster to a 1/1250th+. The slower your SS the more light will come in, this has it's pros and cons. The pro is allowing the light to come in, but the con is it's slow. You have to have ninja skills with your camera and settings if your using slow SS with a toddler or a pet. If your photographing such, increase your SS and use the two other ways to increase light allowance.

One last way to increase the light in your lens is ISO. The abbreviation and meaning is lengthy to explain so I'll skip to the chase. ISO {pronounced EYE-so} is directly correlated with light, the higher your ISO the more light. Easy peazy lemon squeezy. But! There is a draw back. The higher the ISO the noisier {grainy} your image will be. Noise is not pretty, noise is ugly and should be avoided. So play with your SS and aperture as much as possible to keep your ISO low.

If you haven't noticed, LIGHT is the most important factor in photography. Understanding your aperture, shutter speed and ISO is a must. If your camera stays on automatic, you will have no more control over your camera than a NASCAR driver driving in automatic.

I hope this has inspired and given some confidence to readers that manual is your friend, not your enemy.

Until next time,

Katie

Recent Sessions

Of course I wont go back to the very first few months I was in business, so I will fast forward to more recent sessions.

First post on LR Photography's blog.

I'll jump right in and make an introduction to me, the photographer. While I attended Texas Woman's University I took photography classes but never in a million years thought I would be making that dream into real life.

Why did I pick up photography after college? My dog. Simple as that. My husband got me a Digital SLR for Christmas one year after my film (oh yes, FILM) became uninteresting. We went every where together, hiking, walks, I would bring him to stores with me. I frequented Lowes and Home Depot just to bring him in. I became pretty handy with my camera, but I sucked at editing. It didn't matter though, it's not like I even needed to smooth his skin, or make his eyes pop. It really made me get better at SOOC's shots. {SOOC = Straight Out Of Camera}

What made me start {shooting} people? My pregnancy. Pregnancy made me realize how important portraits of families, newborns, and children are. I started shooting people more and more frequently starting in May of 2010. Of course I shot people before then, but it still never occured to me to make a lifestyle out of my passion. Until, I met my doula and birth coach. Once I met her, it seemed like more and more people were asking me do their family portraits.

After my fifth or sixth shoot, I realized that photography wasn't just my passion, but it is something that I really am good at. I'm not good at a lot of things, so I feel so grateful that God showed me the talents he gave me while I am young. So what's next?

I got better at editing. I love editing. In the very beginning I told another photographer friend that I would never use photoshop because it is faking the picture. Now, I eat my words. I now look at it as processing, such as film. I am only enhancing those great features a client has. I am just as proud to show off my work, as my client is to show off their beauty to their friends.

I cannot promise I will keep this blog updated, because I juggle so many hats, like wife, mommy, photographer but I will try to keep it as current as I possibly can. I will put tips out to be a better photographer, whether you want to go pro or you are just a mom behind the lens.

Thank you so much for the support, I am so grateful and blessed I have been given this opportunity. Photography has completely changed my life, and I think I truly am a better ME because of it.

With love,
Katie