Bruce says he is pleased with this photo of his son Ruaridh after his first day at school and he has every right to be. Taking the photo at the end of the day provides a different angle on this important right of passage and he feels that he has “captured the mood of the day and his personality”.

Ruadridh

You can see that Ruaridh has had a wonderful first day, he looks a bit tired but has a mischievous grin that suggest he has been having a great time with his new friends. The dishevelled look, his bruised legs and scraped knee show that he has been up to all sorts and it looks like he is going to have fun going through his school years.

Too many parents try to make their children look perfect when they are being photographed. They tidy their clothes and brush their hair, making them look like miniature, well behaved adults. This image shows a real boy with real character. A very evocative portrait of childhood.

My tip to Bruce would be - more of the same please.

If anyone has any ideas or comments that they would like to make then please do. Or if you would like any advice on a family photograph that you have taken, please post it on my Facebook Page or email it to me at: ken@kensharp.com.

Morgan

The composition is simple and effective and getting Morgan to throw her hair back adds interest to the image. Because of the movement of the hair, some of it has gone out of focus and this, combined with the colour, gives it a flame like effect that I really like. A very successful image.

I’m now going to look at why we take portraits and what we are trying to achieve. There are many reasons for taking portraits from passport photos and police identity shots to high art portraits with most of them falling somewhere between, photographs that are meant to capture who we are and as we age, to act as reminders of who we were at that moment in time.

The photograph that Frank has taken falls into the category that has become known as Lifestyle photography and is practised by most of the commercial family portrait photographers working today. This is an aspirational style that uses lighting and Photoshop to glamourise and idealise the subject, often attempting to create the look of models in adverts, showing the sitter at his or more often her ‘best’. When photographing children they are usually shot on a white background, jumping around playfully and the colours are manipulated in Photoshop so that they are very bright and exciting. This is now the standard studio portrait style, replacing the old cliches of the child on the furry rug and the family formally dressed on a leather sofa with bookshelves in the background. It has proven to be very popular.

I prefer to photograph families in their homes, in a style that is more natural and hopefully shows more of the personality of the subject. I like to include details of the house and furniture in the pictures as I believe they will be visual reminders to the children of where they grew up. When they are in their forties and look at a photograph of themselves sitting on the end of their parents’ bed, I hope that it will take them back to when they would get up in the morning and rush through to waken mum and dad. Or a photo of them sitting on the sofa that will take them back to the hours sitting watching TV or reading a book. For the parents, I want the photos to be a true reflection of how their family is at that point in their lives.

That is not to say that the photograph of Morgan doesn’t show her personality. I am sure that she will be very pleased with the result, it is a very nice picture and in the end it all comes down to personal preference.

The only advice I would give to Frank is to be very careful with Photoshop. I use it on most of my photographs but mainly to remove small, impermanent blemishes (spots and snots), but my aim is to create natural looking pictures. When looking at a photograph your first thought shouldn’t be that it has been Photoshopped.

Exceptional photo for a beginner Frank. I hope this helps and keep working on your photography, I will be interested to see how you develop.

If anyone has any ideas or comments that they would like to make then please do. Or if you would like any advice on a family photograph that you have taken, please post it on my Facebook Page or email it to me at: ken@kensharp.com.

Linn's photo

The girl in the picture looks very relaxed and has a lovely, natural pose and the dark background helps create a striking photo of a very pretty young girl. I don’t usually like on-camera flash but here it has helped simplify the background making what is quite a busy background into a very simple and effective portrait.

Background lightened to show clutter

Direct flash is seldom flattering to the sitter, usually showing every flaw in the skin, but because of the age and smooth skin of this girl she gets away with it. Without flash this shot probably wouldn’t have been so successful, but usually my preference is to use available light (see my tip here).

These are all the positive elements, now we should look at what could have been done to make this image even stronger. This picture suffers from one of the most common errors that people make when taking photographs of people. If you were to draw two lines, going through opposite corners of the image, you would find that they cut right through the head. When we talk to people we nearly always look them in the eye or the general area of the face. Amateur photographers do the same when taking pictures - the camera is pointed straight at the face of the subject. When chatting your brain is focused on the person you are talking to but the camera records everything you point it at. Details such as the car, the building with the light on and the flower bed. Fortunately, because the flash isn’t strong enough to light all of the background, these distractions have been blocked out - but we are left with nearly the whole top half of the pic as a solid black shape.

The head being in the middle also means that most of the girl’s body is on the left of the image which also causes a very ungainly crop on the hands and knee. If the whole frame of the image had been moved down and to the left it would have cut out most of the earth (just leaving a few of the flowers for effect, I imagine the reason for taking the photo) and would have got in the hands, knees, making a much more pleasing composition. Below is a crop as close as I can get to that and I have warmed up the skin tone as the flash has made the face look a bit washed out.

A better crop?

The main advice here is - don’t point the camera straight at what you are photographing but look at all the elements that you can see through the viewfinder or on the screen and move the camera or yourself to exclude any distractions. With a little care you will find your friends complimenting you on your photography!

Thanks for sending this in Linn and if you or anyone else would like to make any comments or ask any questions, then please do. I will try to answer them as quickly as possible.

Happy snapping.

Sandy looks jubilant at being the winner

Emily Rutherford was the winner of the voter’s prize. This is picked by a random number generator. The prizes of a voucher for a Ken Sharp Photo session plus large print will be sent out shortly.

Thanks to everyone who voted and stay tuned as there will be another competition coming up in a few weeks. Also keep a look out for Ken’s Tips On Your Pics where Ken gives you advice on how to take better photographs of your family. If you would like to have Ken look at one of your shots, please email it to Ken (ken@kensharp.com) or post it on his Facebook Page: Ken Sharp Photographer.

Bruno

The cropping of this picture is very tight which usually cuts out any distracting features in the background, helping the eye focus on the main subject - as it does in this photo. In this case I think this picture would have been improved if we had seen just a little more of what is going on. We can see what we think is a rope swing but we are not really sure and the way that all of Bruno’s limbs have been cut off by the edges of the frame creates a slightly uncomfortable feel to the image. Bruno is having a great time but we don’t really know why. The way the left arm sticks out of the photo means that your eye is drawn out of the picture instead of toward Bruno’s face.

Of course Claire has her memories of what is happening, so the picture makes more sense to her than to us which again is an interesting facet of photography and how a photograph can mean different things to different people.

To recap, this is a wonderful photo of Bruno’s joy at play but may have been improved by taking a step back to show more of what is going on.

Thanks for sending in the pic Claire and keep up the high standard.

This is a tightly composed shot of two boys playing at the beach. I assumed before Andy told me that the boys were brothers due to them wearing almost identical swimwear, in fact due to their similarity in size they could be twins. We know they are at the beach and not a swimming pool due to the strong sunlight and the sand in the hair and on the back of the boy on the left. They are both well tanned so they have either been on holiday for a while or live in a sunny clime. One boy is splashing the other who is covering his eyes to protect them or maybe he already has salt water in his eyes.

Andy's boys

The photograph clearly shows us these things but it also has an emotional feel to it. This may be a fun game between brothers but seems to be at the point where the tears or recriminations start. We don’t see either of the boys faces and can’t see if they are laughing or not. This creates a sense of mystery and doubt.

Most family pictures are taken when everyone is having a good time and often the photographer has stopped the activity that is happening so that everyone can smile at the camera. This photograph shows brothers in the act of growing, playing games that help them mark out their boundaries in later life and is an excellent record of family life. The tight cropping and the lack of anything in the picture that distracts from what is happening means that there is nothing that I can say that would improve this photograph. A very successful shot Andy, thanks for sending it in.

Andy’s other pic of his daughter, although powerful, doesn’t work quite so well. Again this is tightly composed and a very nice shot but I find the difference in lighting on the eyes means that too much attention is given to the one eye. The angle also means that the left cheek looks slightly unnatural and gets a bit mixed up with background. I think this would have worked better if Andy had moved around to his right a little, got more of the left eye and less of the background. The shot is slightly underexposed and I tried lightening it to see if that would bring out the dark eye a bit more but that only showed up the confusion of the cheek with the background and the fact that the left eye is out of focus. This is harsh criticism for what is a very good picture but Andy is obviously a very good amateur photographer and has asked for tips on how to improve. Hope this helps Andy.

Andy's daughter

If you would like to improve your family photographs, no matter what standard you are starting from, then please send them to me at ken@kensharp.com or post them straight onto my Facebook Page.

Isabella No 1

The first photograph shows Isabella sitting on a couch, flicking through a magazine and holding a teddy bear. There is a nice homely and humorous feeling to this picture, the humour coming from a very young child reading a magazine that is beyond her years. The homely feeling comes from the teddy bear and the couch. All the elements in this photograph add to the telling of its story and there are no distracting features. Isabella being in the foreground on the right makes for a pleasing composition and balances the sofa which takes up most of the photo. I like everything about this picture and would have been more than happy with it if I had taken it myself.

Isabella No 2

The second photo, although a nice pic of Isabella, isn’t quite as successful. Although she is holding a book she doesn’t seem to be interacting with it in the same way. In the first pic she is not only looking at the magazine but appears to be turning the page; here she seems to be looking at something else in the room. The colours in the picture, although giving a nice warm feel, are a bit distracting and you are not really sure where she is sitting. I also prefer the natural lighting in the first photograph to the harsh shadow created by the on-camera flash. This is still a lovely photo of Isabella and I like that it is cropped in tight so that the viewer’s attention is focused solely on Isabella and her book.

So, two very good photos, one of which is easily of a professional standard. Hopefully by comparing the two you will notice how very small things make a difference to how well a picture works.

If you have any photos that you like but think could be better, or just want me to comment on your favourite family shot, then either post them on my Facebook Page or send them to me at ken@kensharp.com.

Because it was such a tight race and because I know a lot of work went into garnering votes from friends and families, I have decided to give all three a prize. The winning prize of a sitting with a medium print goes to Aiden but I will upgrade the print to a large. Second prize to Beth, will be a sitting with a medium print and Charlotte will get a sitting including a small print.

As the winners have all had sessions very recently they can pass on their voucher to a friend or keep it for their own use next year. The vouchers are valid for thirteen months.

The random voting winner is Sam Thorbun and we will be in touch shortly to send your voucher for a photo session with a free medium print.

Thanks to all who voted and for next months competition I would like past clients to choose what they think is the best shot from their photo session and the first ten will be put to the vote. Just let Lesley know which one is your favourite: lesley@kensharp.com.

The Winner with 46 votes.

2nd with 41 votes.

3rd with 38 votes.

Finn

The photograph is very successful but could have been improved by a few minor adjustments. The focus of this pic is completely on the mother and child, but there are some distractions. The text on the t-shirt doesn’t add anything and detracts from the main subject, as does the small bit of polythene in the top right corner. The same applies to the feet which have been awkwardly cropped. They would have looked better either cut out completely or left fully in.

These are minor details but would make a difference to what is already a captivating shot. When looking though the viewfinder make sure that there are no distracting features in the background - if it isn’t adding to what you are trying to say, it is distracting from it.

I have darkened all of the background to show how much more powerful this image is without the the distractions.

Finn adjusted

Thank you Eilidh for sending in such a nice picture

Eilidh is obviously a keen and accomplished photographer but no matter what your standard, if you would like some advice on how to improve your family photos, please post them on my Facebook Page or email them to ken@kensharp.com.

Happy snapping.

Carol's daughter

Well Carol, I’m afraid that this photo suffers from some of the problems that affect many family snaps. To start with the first thing that you should do is turn off the date stamp on your camera. The date is in the metadata of the image file and should be easy to find in whatever image editing programme you are using on your computer. It is always there and so no need to have it distracting your attention away from your daughter.

I would also turn off the automatic flash setting on your camera. It looks like it is a lovely day, flash shouldn’t be needed and is very difficult to use well unless you are very experienced.

Most people when photographing their friends and family only see the subject and not the background. When photographing your daughter you were probably thinking how lovely she looked in her dress and you certainly have captured that. You have also captured two cars and a lot of the car park which I’m sure wasn’t of any interest to you. You probably never even noticed the car park when taking the picture as you were thinking only of your daughter.

Unlike the human brain the camera isn’t selective in what it sees, it will photograph whatever you point it at. When you take photos in the future look carefully at the viewfinder or screen and see if there is anything in the picture that you don’t want there. You can always move around to get a different viewpoint or ask the subject to move.

You may have a got a much nicer picture if you had asked your daughter to sit or stand on the wall at the back of the car park, using the view behind as a backdrop. Or you could have stood her by the trees so there was only foliage behind her, which would have been less distracting.

Don’t be discouraged, keep taking pics and think more about what is going on behind your subject. There are more tips on photographing your family on my blog and it gets easier with practice. Hope this helps.