Ken’s Tips On Your Pics: It’s not the camera it’s the pic!
This is the first in what I hope will be a long running series of tips on how to help you take better photographs of your children. Post your favourite family pic (or one you feel isn’t quite successful and would like to know why) on my Facebook page and I will pick out the things that make it work and suggest ways that it may have been improved.
Once I have enough to choose from I will pick the best ones and run a competition to select the ‘Facebook Favourite’ and the winner will receive a free Ken Sharp photo session with a large framed print (a value of £230).
Anne's Photo of Molly
This photo of Molly, taken by her mother Anne with a mobile phone, shows that we shouldn’t get too hung up on the ‘quality’ of the camera. The lack of sharpness in this picture actually helps this beautiful shot, creating a soft, atmospheric mood that fits in perfectly with the subject matter of a sleeping child. Technically it is slightly underexposed but again this helps, with the saturation of the colours and a feeling of a low light level despite the fact that it was taken with flash (which you can tell by the dark edges around the blanket and ear).
The position of the head is probably the only change that I would make to this photo and then only a slight one. One of the most common faults that amateurs make is to put the subject right in the centre of the pic. I would have had Molly’s head a bit closer to the left hand edge, which would have made a more pleasing composition and cut down on the amount of pillow that takes up the left foreground. A minor change to what is a very successful photo. Well done Anne, especially as shot with a mobile phone.
If you have a favourite photo of your child, or one that you think could be improved but you are not sure how, then post it on my Facebook page or email to lesley@kensharp.com. Hopefully we can all get better at capturing the moments we want to remember.
