Photography Tips For Beginners

Although most people think that taking a picture is just as simple as pointing and shooting, there really is an art form to it. Typically, your photos never look quite as good as you imagined they would. However, once you learn the proper techniques, it really is simple to take great pictures.

Though you may not think you need a flash outside, take a look and make sure. The sun can create drastic shadows. If your camera has a “fill flash” option, then use it when taking pictures in bright sunlight. This can help to illuminate even deep facial folds and creases.

You need not stand directly in front of an object to photograph it. Whether you settle on shooting from above, below, the right or left, experiment, or take shots from each angle to decide post-shooting.

When it comes to taking pictures of kids, sometimes the best thing you can do is to just go with the flow and work with them. Children are just not designed to sit perfectly still and pose for photos, they prefer to be up and about and running around. Have some fun instead, and capture the photos of the children in action.

Imagine there are lines traveling vertically and horizontally dividing your viewfinder. Place your subject at the point of intersection, instead of in the middle of the shot, and suddenly your picture has a sense of drama. Move in closer to whatever subject you’re taking a picture of. It’s frustrating for the viewer to not clearly see the details of the subject because the camera was too far away. Try to make it easy on your audience to be able to see images clearly and vividly.

Master photographers agree, less IS more.

You should never have tons of clutter or other elements in your shots. Keeping things simple in your photos is what catches your viewer’s attention; simplicity often creates a big punch!

Learn when it’s okay and not okay to use the flash with your camera. Your flash shouldn’t be on all the time. Too much or too little light has ruined many pictures. At other times, low light makes a flash necessary. So don’t forget to use it when you need it.

Even though people think white is great to wear during a photograph, it is generally a bad decision. Many photographers use the auto focus setting on their cameras. This setting doesn’t work as well if the camera can’t pick up different shades in its lens’ range.

For example, if a subject wears white and the background is also white, the camera won’t focus properly. With white clothing, the camera has a hard time adjusting to keep the whites looking good, while preserving detail on peoples’ faces, and photos can turn out looking under or overexposed.

Adjust the focus to create a unique photograph.

Reduce the f-stop setting to maintain focus on the closer subject. This is especially good for portraits. In contrast, increasing your f-stop setting will also increase the field depth and bring all elements of the photograph into focus in a more even manner. This would be fantastic for landscape photography.

Nighttime photography can totally change how a subject looks. When adequate natural lighting is not available, it is even more important to make sure that supplemental lighting is properly set up and utilized. Make sure you use the flash feature and adjust your camera’s shutter speed setting to shoot better photos at night.

Food photography can be difficult.

Food will melt and shift positions, making it hard to develop the proper shot. That’s why when shooting food, you should have napkins, glassware, and silverware ready first. Make sure you have the right lighting, and then put the food down and shoot!

Pre-focus your camera and move to where your subject isn’t dead centre in the frame. Having your subject in the middle of the picture is very expected and subsequently uninteresting. Try off-centering your shots to make your subject appear more interesting to the viewer.

Make sure you support the camera from below and on the sides, while keeping your arms tucked tightly into the sides of your body. Holding the camera in this way, you will reduce camera shake and make shots that are in clear focus. With your hands positioned at the underside of the camera and below the lens, it will help prevent accidentally dropping the equipment.

Always keep charged batteries in your camera. Using the LCD on a digital camera drains the batteries, so always ensure that the battery is fully charged before leaving the house. You should also carry spare batteries so that you can avoid missing a photograph opportunity.

Your photographs have perhaps disappointed you in the past. You will never face such a complication again, if you seriously implement the information you got right here in this article. With the ideas presented here, you can take breathtaking shots that you want to hang on the wall for everyone to admire.

We’ve all seen them, on magazine covers, billboards and even on TV.  Super cute photos of babies are everywhere!  I’ve come to the realisation that nine out of 10 parents (most people actually) would love to have photos like these taken of their babies but they haven’t put any thought into what it takes to get these beautiful baby portraits.

It’s a fact that babies are “hardwired” to smile at faces they recognise (this means you, mommy and daddy)  This is an age old survival mechanism to make them even cuter to you, so you will do your utmost best to give them your all.

So in your photoshoot we really appreciate when you also make an effort to make your baby smile.  I can promise you that you are probably more than the  one-hundredth person I’ve seen pulling faces, making animal noises pr playing air guitar as if your life depended on it, simply to get your little one to crack a smile.  And frankly put we prefer it this way J

So don’t forget to bring your “wacky side” to the studio as we love them all!

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

Cute baby photos

So you have just heard you are pregnant and you are ecstatic, well you should be J  It is one of the most amazing times in your life.  I have always thought of pregnant women to be similar to angels (yes I know that sounds very dramatic) but you are part of a miracle when you are pregnant – or that’s the way I see it.

When you get to 34 – 37 weeks you might not think you are “pretty” enough to be taken photos of and that is why we do our utmost best to make this an awesome experience and give you very arty photos, so that you can look back at this time with a sense of wonder.

Looking at other sample photos on the net is definitely recommended as it will give you a better idea of what to expect from your photoshoot, and if you are not sure what to bring or to do in your shoot, you are more than welcome to give our pro female photographers a call and chat to them to make you more comfortable with the whole concept. 

Someone asked me once if they HAVE to be naked in these photos, and I replied that not necessarily.  I would still recommend some shots where you wear something like a boob-tube so your tummy isn’t covered and showing, but you can also bring textured materials with which we can “wrap you” and do shots like that.

I guarantee you that it’s the experience of a lifetime…

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

Arty pregnancy photography

The S family has “two” children, their darling little girl and her soft plush toy Lulu.  Mom is absolutely convinced that Lulu will join in at her Cara’s 21^st birthday one day J

This was an amazing photoshoot simply because mom and dad understands their little whirlwind so well.  She has enough energy to tire out 5 adults I’d say, ha ha.  So we ended up having to spin her around and around, throw her up in the air and many more in mock play  games just to get her to “sit still” and capture some smiles.

And let me tell you that Lulu was just as much a part of the photo as anyone else.  We had to ask her to smile and this in turn made Cara smile too, too cute. 

Toddlers usually enjoy our fun family photoshoots SO much as it turns into more of a playdate than anything else because this is the only way to bring out their naturally beautiful smiles.

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

Natural family portraits

Buhle & Nobuhle’s photoshoot is one of those that will stay with me for a while.  My brother also has twins and I was really looking forward to the challenge two babies would bring to our studio J  Little did I know that they would make me work as hard as we did.  Little bro smiles like there is no tomorrow, you simply have to look at him and make a funny noise and he smiles a million dollar smile.  His sister on the other hand is very VERY serious, you can do whatever you want (I think we tried everything except standing on our heads) and she just regards what you are doing, then resumes doing her own thing.  Interesting combination don’t you think.

I have found especially with twins they normally “balance each other out”  If the one is an extrovert the other will most likely be an introvert.  And with these two it came to the point where if Nobuhle wants to crawl, Buhle only wanted to sit stilland vice versa.

What we then try and do is use poses like where mom and dad are holding the twins hands (standing) so they have to move at the same pace – if that makes sense?  In the end we captured some truly beautiful shots and had lots of fun with these two in their baby photoshoot.

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

Professional photos of twin babies

With all the pregnancy photoshoots we do I find it fascinating to see how uniquely pregnant every special mommy is.  I promise you that no two tummies look the same, similar maybe but not the same.  And it all depends on where and how the baby is lying throughout the pregnancy.

The “N” family decided rather late in their pregnancy that they would like to have photos taken and so we die their pregnancy photoshoot at 39 weeks (slightly stressful but it worked out perfectly)  We don’t have many mom’s come so late during their 40 weeks and so if you looked closely at mommy’s tummy you could see every time baby made a move, really incredible.

We had so much fun in the studio seeing that mom and dad were really interested in taking some arty semi-nude pregnancy photos.  We used little baby socks and textured material as props to enhance the shape of tummy  nicely.

All in all I cannot wait to meet your little guy

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

Arty pregnancy photoshoot

When doing a photoshoot take a moment to think about what it is you would like to have captured…  Here at LDP we do our absolute best and capture the essence of your family.  Meaning that if you have three young boys aged 8 and younger you must know that they will be boisterous, and energetic because boys tend to “feed on each other’s energy” (this does by no means say unmannered)  And if you have cute little girls your shoot will be all posey, playful and cute because this is the nature of girly girls.  It makes sense doesn’t it?

We also invite you to bring props along to the studio, items which represent your family.  If you have lots of brightly coloured cushions you can bring these along for a fun pillow fight, or maybe your family is more the rugby / football supporter – everyone has their own flag and respective jerseys kind of family.  Who ever you are, it’s your shoot so please feel free to come and make the most of it J

A popular request is people wanting to bring along their pets and we say the more the merrier.  We have done photoshoots with dogs ranging from Dachsunds, Yorkies, Labradors and King Charles Spaniels.  So you are more than welcome to bring your animal children to join in the fun.  (Please just ensure that you have notified the photographer beforehand)

Riani Labuschagne & Yolandi Jacobsz

 Funky family photos