Most people have a young baby in their family or in their group of friends. If you’ve ever thought about or tried to photograph them, here are some great tips to keep in mind!

One of the best tips when it comes to photographing babies is getting on their level. So many people take photographs of their kids from 4 or so feet above the child. The only thing that this does is dwarf the child and make them look toy-like. Get on your hands and knees or crouch down to their level before you take the shot. This will put you in the child’s world and help you engage with them through the photographs you take.

One reason that it is hard to photograph babies is because they are so immobile. One of the best ways to get good shots of them is to put them on a baby rug or blanket and lay down next to them with your camera on the floor. This way you are looking directly into their big beautiful eyes and it shows the viewer of the photo the unique perspective of the baby. If the baby you are photographing has the ability to lift it’s head up the effects can be amazing, you will almost find yourself looking up into their eyes.

The principle of getting down low applies with older children also. You don’t have to do as much lying on the floor with them if they are walking age. Particularly with older children the best time to photograph them is when they are doing something that they enjoy. Go places with them and their parents that they love, whether is be the park, zoo or a bike ride. While they are doing their activity, hover around at their level and take lots of shots! Make sure you include shots of them with their parents and keep an eye open for candid moments when they fall over, do funny expressions or ham it up for the camera!

If you camera has continuous shooting mode it will be very helpful to turn that on. Especially when photographing bigger kids who tend to move around more. The second or third shot in a sequence is almost always the best. Shooting just one frame at a mind can cause you to miss golden opportunities. One other benefit of continuous shooting is that you can end up with a great series of shots that might go nicely together to tell a story.

This is a great article written by Justin W. Moore, that I found that definitely needs to be included on this site.

Water is life. The existence of nearly everything living is critically linked to its availability. In and near the streams, rivers and oceans of our world, Nature thrives. It is no surprise that such a powerful force in Nature is so often depicted by the outdoor photographer. This tutorial provides basic tips that will help you capture the beauty of water in your photographs.

Use Slow Shutter Speeds

Slow shutter speeds create a soft, artistic portrait of water. Generally, shutter speeds that are 1/6 of a second and slower will yield the best results. A majority of my waterfall photographs fall between 1/4 second and 3 seconds of exposure. The key here is to dare to experiment and not be afraid to shoot a lot of film or frames. You never know what shutter speed is going to render the waterfall the way you see it in your mind’s eye. Needless to say, you will need your tripod when making these long exposures. It’s just one more reason to save your money and buy a good quality, full-featured tripod!

Watch Your Exposure

Why? Because waterfalls usually reflect a lot of light that is going to fool your camera’s built-in exposure meter unless you compensate. I usually find that spot metering off of something neutral in the same area (and thus in the same light) works best; rocks, tree trunks and grass are usually good candidates. To learn more about properly exposing your photographs, see my tutorial Commanding Exposure.

Arm Yourself with Some Useful Tools

Your camera equipment should include a circular polarizer and/or a neutral density filter. A polarizer can increase the overall color saturation in the scene as well as decrease your shutter speeds by 1.5 to 2 stops (a good thing if you find yourself battling a rising sun with an overall increase in lighting). Slowly rotate the polarizer to witness the effect it is having on your scene. Depending on the lighting conditions and your position relative to the sun, you may or may not decide to use it. A neutral density filter can also be used to reduce light input by up to 2 stops in most cases (depending on the strength of the filter).

Use a Slow Speed Film / Low ISO Setting

Using a slow speed film or low ISO setting (ISO 25 to ISO 100) on your digital camera will enable you to photograph waterfalls with a variety of long exposures. Slow speed films like Kodak’s Royal Gold 25 or Fuji’s Velvia will also reward you with incredibly fine grain and outstanding color saturation.

Take a Deep Breath

Don’t let the sheer beauty of the scene get you so excited that you forget everything else I’ve mentioned and come home with a roll or two of underexposed disappointments. Believe me, I’ve been there! Being close to something so beautiful and grand can sometimes lead to temporary lapses of good photographic judgement. Think about every exposure. Bracket your shots and don’t fall prey to mindless “machine gun” shutter clicks.

Use of a circular polarizer can allow you to attain a slow shutter speed for scenes such as this one of Pedernales Falls. A polarizer also removes most of the glare from the scene.
Kodak Gold 100 exposed for 1 second

This type of shot is actually pretty simple to achieve for the beginning photographer. Just follow the steps below to create this close-up shot with a dramatic black background and lots of detail and depth.

1. If you want a solid background behind a flower, you have to put one ther. The background is about 4 feet behind the flower.

2. If you want beautiful flowers to shoot, buy them at a local florist. If the florist knows you’re buying them to photograph them, they will usually make sure you get really beautiful selections.

3. This is taken with a macro lens, and to get this much depth of field you have to follow all three macro rules, including shooting at the highest aperture possible (f/22), shooting on a tripos, and shooting with the barrel of the lens aiming straight at the subject.

4. The light is nothing but beautiful, late afternoon, summer light. No reflectors, no flash, just natural light. So it’s not direct light.

5. What makes this shot interesting is that you’re showing a view of a daisy that is rarely seen, the underside of the back of the flower. To get this view, it may be helpful to place the vase on a tall side table, so that you can get the camera low enough to be below the back of the flower.

I hope these tips are helpful, you can also check out this article on macro photography tips.

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