My sweet girls

I wish I had words to express how much I love these little people, but nothing seems right.

A few cell pics from this week

They are my world. <3 I am so thankful.

Look for open shade (mini-tutorial)

Question: My friend Kristin asked me which is better, shooting with the sun behind you or shooting with it in front of you?

Answer: If you shoot with it behind you, then your subject gets sun in their face and the classic "I'm blinded by the light" look. If you shoot with it in front of you, then you get sunflare, haziness and your subject will be dark if you don't know how to shoot in manual and expose for the skin (could turn your subject into a silhouette which is cool if that's what you intended). Of course there are other options, like using flash, but let's keep it simple...

If you are shooting outside in midday with your kids you need to find open shade. Shade that opens up to a light source. 

Let's review some examples:

Direct sunlight: This is not pretty for portraits, too harsh.

Open shade: gives you bright sparkly eyes, because the light that the subject is facing reflects back into the eyes.
It also gives a flat even light, which I think is nice for kid shots (though to be fair, some people hate flat lighting).

Some more photos using open shade.

Backlighting: Last, but not least here's an example of the sun behind your subject (aka. the sun in front of the camera) I used a reflector for this shot, but if you don't, then the background will be brighter than it is in this shot (photography terms: it will be blown out or overexposed).