Mother’s Day is coming, in fact, it’s Sunday!
This is an outtake from a surprise Mother’s Day gift that I shot this week.
Recently, I’ve had a string of fantastic models/subjects.
This 3 year old was amazing!
I just told him what I wanted and he did it.
If you have ever tried to coerce a 3 year old to do anything for a camera, you know how tough it can be.
This photo shoot was a dream.
For this image, I just told him to lift his hands to the sky and he told me the sun hurt his eyes.
I said to close them and you can see the energy he put into this image. Fantastic!
The ambient/open shade left as soon as I finished this sequence. The beautiful light went to harsh direct light as the sun burned through the clouds just as we ended this photo with the flowers.
Timing is everything!
Be inspired!

Michael is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now,” and, “Mommie Pics,” ebooks that help everyone become better photographers through tips and secrets that he has learned during his more than 25 years of experience as a professional photographer and photography teacher. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, California. To purchase either ebook, click the links. CLICK HERE FOR “TakeBetterPhotosNow!
CLICK HERE FOR MOMMIE PICS

This week a video was released by a father who photographed his daughter every week for 10 years.
An amazing feat and testament to patience and the will to stay the course.
When my oldest son was born, my mom took a polaroid of him every month on his birthdate. It was a great idea that I wished I had thought of and done. His first year of life is documented by these polaroids and my mom always showed up with her camera on the appointed date.

CLICK HERE
I think this is a great inspiration to get all of us to start documenting our lives.
Now we all can’t start and finish a project that lasts for ten years, but what about one that lasts a month?
Documenting our world can sharpen our photographic skills, help us to appreciate our lives and the people in them and help us to look back on our lives and have a visual record that can last beyond ourselves.
Look around your world and start documenting your life.
Start small and work up and be inspired!

Michael is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now,” and, “Mommie Pics,” ebooks that help everyone become better photographers through tips and secrets that he has learned during his more than 25 years of experience as a professional photographer and photography teacher. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, California. To purchase either ebook, click the links. CLICK HERE FOR “TakeBetterPhotosNow!
CLICK HERE FOR MOMMIE PICS

The other day I was on assignment for a wedding.
My motto is to always be looking for different images.
During shoots, during the day, so basically during life.
So the ceremony was done and everyone was gearing up to leave for a huge break before the reception.
It was raining and I noticed a young boy was running around being a boy.
I was watching him to see if he might do anything interesting, when he stopped and tried to catch some rain on his tongue.
I quickly reached for my telephoto zoom and waited to see if he’d do it again.
He did and I was able to grab today’s image.
Wow!
I’ve been shooting for more than half of my life and I’ve never seen a situation like this when I was holding my camera and the lighting was right, for this shot it all came together.
I’ve always said that God favors the prepared.
Think ahead and practice and it will happen more and more.
Rather than never being in a position and thus, never getting the image.
Being prepared, ensures that once in awhile, you will get the great images.
This was one of those moments for me.
Be prepared and be inspired!

Michael is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now,” and, “Mommie Pics,” ebooks that help everyone become better photographers through tips and secrets that he has learned during his more than 25 years of experience as a professional photographer and photography teacher. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, California. To purchase either ebook, click the links. CLICK HERE FOR “TakeBetterPhotosNow!
CLICK HERE FOR MOMMIE PICS

Today we take a look at something that might seem simple, but it’s a key component to making great images.
Composition!
In the past I’ve shared about the Rule of Thirds, now I teach the concept of The Grid!
Think of a Tic-Tac-Toe grid.
Now imagine the lines of the game being overlaid onto the canvas of any image.
Main subjects need to be placed where the 4 lines intersect to have visual impact.
Viewers are naturally lead to these 4 areas.
In fact, the worst place to have your subject is dead center.
Visually speaking, the center is the most boring placement for subjects.
So, I encourage my students to look to the outside squares of the Tic-Tac-Toe grid for better composition.
The habit of placing the subject in the middle comes from the focusing mechanism being centered.
It’s a hard habit to break, but with practice, better composition comes from a lot of practice.
In today’s photo, my daughter is in the upper left of the grid area.
This example shows how this type of placement creates a stronger, more visually appealing image.
Practice seeing the grid in all of your images and you’ll notice how much stronger your images start becoming.
Be inspired!

Michael worked as a photojournalist in southern California for 20 plus years and has taught photojournalism at UCLA. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, CA where he teaches photography. He is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now!”
click here for “TakeBetterPhotosNow!

Children’s photography can be an incredibly tough and elusive project for any photographer.
Too often even the best veteran professional can be reduced to an amateur when kids decide not to respond.
How can you overcome this?
My best tip is to be real with them.
Tell them what you want to do and then have fun.
I try to not have my expectations too high and see what happens.
This first image came from a shoot where I told my subject to make faces.
What kid doesn’t want to make faces?
It’s all in the attitude of the photographer.
Back in my photojournalist days, I had to create a rapport with people all the time.
Plus, kids can be a lot of fun and the photos that you take are treasures to their parents.

Don’t forget the details, too!
I used these little daisies as props and noticed how delicate they looked in my subjects hands.
A great image.
Speaking of daisies, props are great for adults, but even better for kids!

After she played with the daisies, this subject decided to see if the flowers had a pretty smell.
Another good image.
To review:
1. Be real and have fun.
2. Don’t show fear, kids are like sharks and blood. They smell fear a mile away. Be confident.
3. Details make precious images.
4. Don’t forget props!

Be inspired!

Michael worked as a photojournalist in southern California for 20 plus years and has taught photojournalism at UCLA. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, CA where he teaches photography. He is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now!”
click here for “TakeBetterPhotosNow!

Every year at Thanksgiving I make portraits of my niece, nephews and my own kids.
It’s quite the affair.
Lights and backdrops and amidst turkey and football, I make portraits.
The standard has become increasingly higher each year.
This year, like last, I was asked to make portraits for my sister’s Christmas cards.
One light on an umbrella, camera right and slightly over the existing ambient light.
I have learned when photographing children, what ever happens, is what you get.
They smile and are perfect angels? Cool, that’s the images I get.
They cry and refuse to do anything their parents beg? That’s okay too!
This bit of knowledge has saved me years of frustration.
Obviously, I work with my subjects to get the best reaction, but with kids, you have to be ready for anything.
In the first image, I asked my niece to hug her brother.
Cute, but I wanted more.

My sister suggested a prop!
Excellent! Props are perfect tools to help your subjects relax and become more at ease in front of the camera.
My nephew and niece did exactly that and the signs’ message is perfect.
I especially love that my nephew’s feet are crossed!

Finally, no shoot is complete without a great outtake.
I asked them to jump and my niece tried to hold the dog, too.
Except, the photo looks like something out of awkward family photos!
She isn’t choking her beloved pooch, but was sad that she wasn’t holding the dog.
The rule that I try to live by is whatever my kid subject’s do, will be fine.
They cry, great! They fight! Even better moments.
Relax and be inspired!

My wife found a 128KB compact flash card in her van the other day.
It was like finding a prehistoric fossil from the Mesozoic Era in our vehicle!
It was like finding a time capsule from years gone by.
I estimate that this beauty was about 10 years old.
My photography style has changed, hopefully for the better, as I’ve pushed so hard on the fundamentals over the past few years.
This shot is of my kids about 10 years ago.
We had just purchased a doughboy above ground pool and my kids were having more fun with it being filled up than I could even imagine.
Utter chaos was breaking out as they completely freaked out!
Isn’t that one of the things that is so wonderful about children?
Everything is pure joy when you are a kid. Even two inches of water.
My wife was so good about slathering way too much sunscreen on the kids to counteract the hole in the ozone layer.
My boys even have t-shirts on!
Makes me wonder why she didn’t put our daughter in one too?
Here’s a few of my technical thoughts about this image:
1) Each child has their own space. The two outside ones are in the respective, left and right, areas of convergence and the pool liner serves as the horizon.
2) Great peak moment of action. The joyous look on the youngest child is pretty apparent and makes a nice feel for the overall image.
3) The background serves as a nice neutral and clean canvas that helps the subjects to “pop” or stand out from the background.
4) The Harsh noon-day lighting is counter-acted by the one child looking straight up. Thanks Devin!

All this amounts to a great second chance for me to capture a moment of my life and more importantly, my children’s childhood, with great light, good composition and an engaging moment. All that does add up to an image that my wife and I will always treasure.
Look to document your family’s life.
Everyday.
It goes so fast and we don’t always have the luxury of finding compact flash cards in our cars.
Be inspired!

We are a society of cameras.
Everyone has one.
In their camera.
A stand alone.
In their tablet.
We all have to document everything we attend.
Yesterday was a beloved child’s first birthday.
When the time came for the traditional, “let the birthday baby eat the cake,” routine, everyone whipped out their camera and started recording, snapping and documenting.
I had to stand on a chair and even then I’ve been in less crowded photo scrums.
At least the light was nice. Even beautiful ambient light that nicely illuminated the birthday boy as the crowd waited for the mayhem to begin.
I finally decided to record the event, rather than just the baby.
Rather than get frustrated about the lack of access, I showed the whimsy of the moment.
Next time you are recording an event and something out of the ordinary happens, consider capturing that event rather than being focused only on the original idea.
You might just be surprised at your results.
Be inspired!

I had to photograph junior basketball today.
The gym was so dark the best reading I could get was 1/20th of a second at f/2.8.
I had to use my flash to hope to capture anything useful.
I put my trusty Gary Fong diffuser and dialed my camera to ISO 1600 at 1/200th at f/2.8.
The effect is kind of interesting, usually there wouldn’t be any light fall off the image would be lit the same from front to back.
As you can see here, the subject is lit nicely, but the light falls off in the background.
I love that the boy is off the ground and soaring towards the rim. Just like Mike.
Just like Kobe!
Normally, using a flash is a big no no, since it could distract the players, so on camera flashes are usually banned.
Fortunately, this wasn’t the NBA.
Be inspired!

I was hired to photograph a 5k fun run last weekend.
Visual story telling is the answer to informing our friends where, who and what we did recently.
Here’s a few tips.
1. Think like a reporter.
The 5 W’s of reporting will help you to frame your photos. The Who, What, Where, When and Why, will tell you what to communicate for your story.
In the first photo, we have the What. Looks like a race and that’s exactly what it was, a 5k charity race.
You can photograph a sign or the runner’s numbers or as I have here, a human interest story.
The winner of the race ran back to find his sister and finish the race with her holding hands.
Some of that information is needed in a caption, but there’s lots of clues in this image. The boy already has a medal and their numbers are in sequence and they are running around a track.

2. Did something interesting happen at the event?
It rained like cats and dogs!
These friends gathered under an umbrella to have their photo taken. I focused with my long lens and made an image as they were being photographed.
3. Interesting or humorous event?

These boys gave up running early in the event and popped up their umbrellas and kept walking.
It tells the story quickly, but also gives us more information about the event, too.
Like it was raining hard!
4. Establishing shots help ground the viewer.

I always try to make a quick shot that tells where we are or what’s going on to include in the story to help the viewer.
In this set of images the beginning of the race shows the mayhem that occurred and also establishes that there was a race with quite a few people involved.
I’ve always wondered why more children aren’t trampled during these starts?
5. Details! They move the story along.Detail shots give information that is quick and concise. Visually it helps to move the story, without taking too much space.
Each of the racers were given snacks at the end of the race. Bananas!

Grab a hold of these quick tips and try them out at your next event that you want to share with friends.
In only a few images you can tell an entire story without being redundant or more importantly boring.
Be effective and concise.
Be inspired!