There is a reason digital cameras have been one of the top selling gadgets for years now. There is a reason ‘everybody is a photographer’ today. Why? Because our pictures are our visual diaries. They are the witness and our memory of our lives as it goes scorching by us at such a fast pace we have trouble remembering. And then we gaze upon a picture and the moment floods back into our senses; we can smell the scents in that moment, hear the sounds that went on around us, and once again truly FEEL the moment as we had lived it.

It is no wonder we’re all in love with photography! A picture is worth… well that’s entirely up to you. For me, a picture of a treasured moment in my life is priceless.

Here is a list of helpful tips to creating better pictures of the moments in your life worth remembering.

Tip 1:

Get closer! Please. No one cares about the surrounding scenery. We want to see the expressions on people’s faces. Up close. So when you have your loved ones get together, move in close, tell them to ‘hug in’, and capture only the top thirds of them! You’ll love the picture so much more and so will they.

Tip 2:

Don’t just stand there, MOVE! Get on a ladder, get down on the floor. Kids are best photographed at their level. Older people are photographed best from a higher angle so they’re looking up a bit. Try it. Be creative.  Tilt the camera and try an angle, move the camera when people are moving and see if you like the blur. Experiment. Just don’t stand there head on and click the shutter. Please.

Tip 3:

Learn how to use the settings on your camera! Why spend all this money on a camera with all kinds of fancy settings and then put the camera on program and pray the camera does something spectacular! That camera is nothing more than a box! It has absolutely NO IDEA what you are pointing at unless you tell it. So put it on the setting of the little guy running if you are taking action. Put it on the setting of the flower if you’re close up. You’ll be shocked at how much better your pictures will be. And once you get really good at that. Break the rules and change the settings so you learn exactly what they do and your pictures will even get better! I promise.

Tip 4:

Understand your flash! Learn how to control whether the flash is on or off. Your pictures will shock you if you do this! Don’t ruin the holiday lights on your Christmas tree late in the evening when the room is aglow by using flash. And don’t think that because you are standing in the hot sun with it glaring at you that you don’t need flash. The person in front of you would look fabulous if you would use the flash to balance out the sun.

Tip 5:

Candids are good! Don’t just pose your subjects. Catch them doing fun and spontaneous things. If they know you are there, ask them not to look at you and to just keep doing what they were doing. Click away. Remember, tell a story with your camera.

Tip 6:

Learn to use the timer on your camera so you can get in the pictures without looking like all of those FB and iPhone shots of people holding up cameras photographing themselves. They’re dumb. People would like pics of you so much better if you weren’t holding the phone/camera up taking a pic of yourself, trust me.

Tip 7:

Keep snapping. Take a million. Delete ten for every one you save.  Take crazy pics, fun pics, experimental pics.  Just keep snapping.  And then when you get things you like, remember what you did and do it again!  This is how any good photographer learns. Trust me.  I am never sorry for a photograph I took.  But oh if I had a nickel for the photographs I regret that I missed.

Tip 8:

Photos on your hard drive ARE NOT a celebration of your life. I repeat… PHOTOS ON YOUR HARD DRIVE ARE NOT A CELEBRATION OF YOUR LIFE. Pictures are meant to be printed, shared, lived with, stared at, and posted on refrigerators. The price to print them today is so minor that there’s no reason in the world not to get triples printed for you, your kids, your parents, whomever! So quit sending photos electronically to your loved ones. It’s never the same. Post them on your bathroom mirror, your desk, your refrigerator, your mantel. Celebrate your life by sharing it often, not just with people who come to visit but share it often with yourself to remind you of the special moments that come together and create the fabric of who you are.

After all, this is your life you are documenting. And there will never be a finer work of art than you.

I’m so excited for the opportunity to teach an entry level digital photography class (with a large dose of Photoshop) through Budding Art Ideas.  They have so many fabulous classes coming up!  Please be sure to check it out.

Creating Art

What a way to spend four days… lost in the joy of creating art.  Whether you’re a beginner, an advanced student, whaever your medium, there’s something for you!  And it’s right here in Ann Arbor!!!  I think they’re also going to offer an early bird discount so check for it.

These ladies have vision and Chutzpah at a time when the world needs it most.  Art feeds our souls.   It refreshes and renews us!  So at a time when so many people think art is a luxury and should not be financially supported, an army of us believe otherwise.

Foolish – Who Says?

Consider that Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn’t read until he was seven.  His teacher described him as ‘mentally slow, unsociable and adift forever in his foolish dreams.’  He was expelled and refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.

Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was too stupid to learn anything.  Beethoven’s violin teacher called him ‘hopeless’ as a composer.  Fred Astaire’s first screen test read ‘can’t act, can dance a little.’

SO KEEP UP THOSE FOOLISH DREAMS!!!!

http://www.buddingartideas.com/workshops.html

Teaching From a Fun Perspective

I will be teaching the class entirely from a right-brained, untechnical, fun perspective that will be mostly hands-on.  We will spend time inside and out at the beautiful Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor (one of my favorite hangouts) and then the remainder of the time will be creating magic in the classrooms on our computers.

If you need help with Photoshop, or your camera, or both, this is the class for you.  Photoshop can be a very big, very scary program. We will provide you with a general working knowledge to work on your photographs from start to finish.

Hardware and Software

We will talk about the hardware and software needs of a photographer as well as camera equipment.  We will also spend time discussing the myriad of methods to archive, store, and back up your work for safekeeping.

Tools of the Trade

A laptop, a version of Photoshop CS or newer, and a single lens reflex camera (film or digital) are essential to attending this class.   Please pass this along to everyone you know who may be interested.  It is not posted on their blog yet, but will be very soon.  I do not know the actual price of the class yet but it should be similar to the other class fees.

JOIN THE FUN!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Budding-Art-Ideas/299756787678