Every parent knows photos become even more meaningful once you have a child. It sounds cliche, but kids really do grow up too fast. Blink and they’ve gone from being newborns to taking their first steps. Blink again and all of a sudden they’re toddlers getting into everything.
As the years go on, you hit so many milestones and make so many memories it can seem like a blur that you desperately want to slow down. Until we figure out a way to time travel, the best we can do is capture the moments in photographs.
It would be nice to have a professional photographer on call, but these days camera technology has gotten so good anyone can take amazing shots. The most awesome pictures have all the fundamentals. Nail these three elements and other parents will be asking you to take their family photos.
Exposure
Learning shutter speed 101 is crucial if you plan to take photos of your kids playing sports and other action shots. Let’s be honest, young kids rarely sit still long enough for the perfect shot, but with the right shutter speed, they don’t have to.
Shutter speed is one element of exposure (ISO and aperture being the other two). It refers to how long the shutter inside your camera stays open allowing light inside. Shutter speed is measured in a range from manual i.e. infinite to hundredths of a second. Some of the most common measurements are 1/2, 1/250, 1/50 and 1/500.
Generally speaking, when the lighting is low the shutter speed needs to be slower so more light can come into the camera. Another rule of thumb is that if your subject is moving quickly you’ll want a fast shutter speed in order to get a nice sharp image. For things like sports, you’ll want a shutter speed of at least 1/1000.
Keep in mind that if you adjust your shutter speed the ISO and aperture also need to be adjusted. It will take some time playing around with these three settings, but once you get a feel for it, movement and low light levels won’t obscure your photos.
Focus
That brings us to focus. Many people use the autofocus feature on their camera to get a sharp shot. However, there are lots of ways to bring your photos into focus. How the image is focused largely depends on the aperture.
The size of the aperture determines the focus range or depth of field. The smaller the aperture is the more focused your subject will be. Aperture is measured as f-numbers. The larger the f-number is the smaller the aperture is.
You can use these settings to emphasize a certain part of the image rather than the whole thing. For example, when shooting a portrait using an aperture setting of F4 will create a small depth of field that focuses on the eyes and face while blurring the background.
Composition
Composition is an artsy term for what’s in the photo or video and how it’s arranged. The arrangement can be pleasing to the eye or cause an adverse reaction. It all depends on how you frame your subject matter.
Novice photographers have a tendency to center their primary subject in the middle of the photo. While this may seem to make sense it’s not the best composition for all shots. The composition fundamental for photography is the rule of thirds. This “rule” is based on segmenting the frame of a shot into nine parts by imagining three lines going vertically and horizontally. The four points in the center where the lines intersect are natural lines of sight.
By placing your subject not in the center but just off center the subject will be in a natural sight line. It also creates a more interesting, dynamic shot.
Of course, sometimes you’ll want to keep things centered. An instance of this is a family portrait. If you’re taking a close-up shot where your subject fills the frame you’ll also want it to be centered rather than off to one side.
Mastering these three fundamentals will go a long way towards improving each photo you take. Focus on getting a feel for one element before moving on to the next and pretty soon you’ll be shooting like a professional.
