Tips for taking your own family photos // in home couples session // Port Angeles, WA
Due to Covid 19 Washington state photographers will likely not be able to legally do sessions of any kind until the end of June… at the earliest. I’m feeling frustrated. Confused. I miss my clients. I miss driving to beautiful locations and doing sessions with families and couples. I miss weddings and my heart breaks a little with every email I get about postposing or cancellation altogether. It’s been a hard time for small businesses all over the country and photographers and those in the wedding industry are feeling the sting of it right now as we enter what would have been our busy season.
I challenged myself at the beginning of this that even though I wasn’t able to go out and photograph clients, I would not let my camera sit in my bag unused. The selfie sessions have been fun and the perfect creative outlet for me. I’m happy to be able to capture this season for Casey and I. With Rhett being a week from ONE YEAR OLD (how) to spending our first full month in our new house in Port Angeles. There are so many great reasons to take your own photos during this time… any time really… and I wanted to share a few tips with you!
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Pick your location:
Whether you’re going to be taking your photos on a DSLR or an iphone, pick a spot in your house with good natural light and prop your camera up slightly above where you’re going to be for the shots. For these, I had a tripod at about eye level and slightly angled down toward the bed. If I’m using my phone for photos, I will set it against a chair or on a window sill. It doesn’t have to be perfectly straight because you can always crop and straighten your photos later.
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Capture method:
There are a couple different options for this and it’s going to depend on the camera you are using. Phones and DSLRs all have the options of a short timer or a long timer (3 seconds or 10 seconds on most). If you’re going to be about arms length away from your camera, you could get away with the shorter time. Remote shutters are also a great thing to have if you’re going to be taking your own photos often. Then you can focus and set up your shot, get yourself into position and click the shutter from your remote. Later camera models with built in wifi will let you re-focus, adjust settings, and take the photo all from your phone. The last option is to take a video and then find stills from the video that you like and either save them or screen shot if you’re using your phone. The quality will be lower but sometimes those turn out the best because you’re capturing fun movement rather than a stuff pose.
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Posing:
MOVE. Even if you’re setting a timer and running into the frame, don’t be stiff and awkward until the shutter goes off. Planning on running into the frame and tickling each other. Or running into the frame and dancing while facing each other and holding hands. Movement is always good! Make a loose plan for what your pose will be but make sure you keep moving. Did I mention movement is good?
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Editing:
This tip isn’t really for photographers because most of you have this shit on lock but if you’re unfamiliar with the world of photo editing and taking your own photos on a phone, look into an editing app to take your cute new images to the next level. Lightroom, VSCO and Tezza are all great apps that I use for phone shots. Please for the love of god don’t use instagram filters. There are so many better ways to edit! Try to edit all of your new photos to match and they will look like a cohesive set.
Ok, that’s all I got!!! If you have any questions or need more tips, feel free to comment or send me an email. I have a lot of extra time right now and am happy to help with anything! 😉
