Photo Tips With Emilie

Say goodby to BLUR!!!! Photo tips by Emilie

February 9, 2012 By Becca 8 Comments

The most common reason for blurry images is a slow shutter speed. If you shoot in automatic mode or aperture priority then your camera will often select a shutter speed that is too slow, hence a blurry image.

Shutter speed is the speed that the shutter opens, lets in the image and then closes. Shutter speed manages two elements of your photo: the amount of light in your image and the amount of motion captured in your image.

When the shutter speed is on a lower/slower setting the shutter is open a longer amount of time letting in more light. The slower the shutter speed the longer the shutter is open and the more light that is let in to create your image. When the shutter speed is on a higher/faster setting the shutter is open less time letting in less light. The faster the shutter speed the less time the shutter is open and the darker your image.

When the shutter speed is on a lower/slower setting the shutter is open a longer amount of time capturing all the motion found in your scene. The slower the shutter speed the longer the shutter is open and the more motion that is captured in your image. The lower/slower the shutter the blurrier the image. When the shutter speed is on a higher/faster setting the shutter is open less time capturing a smaller amount of “time” in our scene, stopping any motion that is happening. The faster the shutter speed the less time the shutter is open and the less motion is captures. The higher/faster the shutter the sharper your image.

I never shoot a portrait of a person less than a 250 shutter speed. However, as you can see from the example above 250 is fast and doesn’t allow a ton of light. An image shot inside at 250 shutter speed tends to be a bit dark. So what do you do???

After pulling up my blinds, turning on all my lights and moving my baby towards the open door, I set my camera to 800 ISO, 250 Shutter Speed and 2.8 F-Stop and this is my final image….

Learn more in my photography workshops:

-Shooting in Manual Mode

-Perfect Lighting Every Time

-My Favorite Poses

-The Magic of Photoshop

Photo By Emilie Workshops:

ONLINE WORKSHOPS

SALT LAKE WORKSHOPS

My next Salt Lake Workshop will be Saturday, March 3rd

My online workshop prices will increase by $50 on February 15th.

Contact Me if you’d like to lock in the lower price.

Filed Under: Contirbutors, Photo tips with Emilie

8 Comments

How to shoot with Window Light by “Photos by Emilie”

January 26, 2012 By Becca 18 Comments

Winter is tough for the photography world. It’s freezing & dull outside. This tutorial will teach you how to capture a stunning image inside with window light. The first rule is to pick a time of day when the sun in not directly coming into the windows.

Below are the 3 rules to placing your subject in relation to the window…

Rule #1: Place your subject on the same level as your light. I used a table to lift the sweet baby off the ground and level with the window light.

Rule #2: Place your subject close to the window. You will be surprised how much difference the light will be just 1 or 2 feet away.

Rule #3: Be sure to have lots of window between you and your subject. This will create a softer light than if you have very little window between you and your subject. (I did end up pulling that curtain all the way back and out of my light.)

Here are some more images I captured…

Happy Snapping!!

This is just one of the tips you’ll learn during my workshop. I offer workshop in Salt Lake and

online.

Just a few of the things you’ll learn:

-Shooting in Manual Mode

-Perfect Lighting Every time

-My Favorite Poses

-The Magic of Photoshop

Photo By Emilie Workshops:

ONLINE WORKSHOPS

SALT LAKE WORKSHOPS

My next Salt Lake Workshop is Saturday, March 3rd.

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Filed Under: Contirbutors, Photo tips with Emilie

18 Comments

Photo Tips with Emilie: Perfect Christmas Tree Photos

December 16, 2011 By Becca 2 Comments

Perfect Christmas Tree Photos

Capturing gorgeous photos of your Christmas tree is all about selecting the correct shutter speed.

When the shutter speed is on a lower/slower setting the shutter is open a longer amount of time capturing all the movement found in your scene. The slower the shutter speed the longer the shutter is open and the more movement that is captured in your image. When the shutter speed is on a higher/faster setting the shutter is open less time capturing a smaller amount of “time” in our scene, stopping any movement that is happening. The faster the shutter speed the less time the shutter is open and the less motion is captures. The higher/faster the shutter the sharper your image. When capturing your Christmas tree you want to capture the “movement” of the lights so you would select a lower/slower shutter speed.

Notice 2 things in the following images. Notice as the shutter speed increases the images becomes darker, also notice that the bulbs get smaller.

What do you do when you get images that look like this?…

Solution…

End Result…

Be sure to put my workshops on your Christmas list!

Just a few of the things you’ll learn:

-Shooting in Manual Mode

-Perfect Lighting Every time

-My Favorite Poses

-The Magic of Photoshop

Photo By Emilie Workshops:

ONLINE WORKSHOPS

SALT LAKE WORKSHOPS

I couldn’t resist adding this next one. When I asked my baby niece to reach up to the top of the tree she lost her balance and in slow motion starting timbering into the Christmas Tree. My Sister In Law is one quick lady and caught her before she knocked the whole tree over. Of course I captured the whole thing on camera. Enjoy….

Filed Under: Photo tips with Emilie

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Photo tips with Emilie: Santa pictures with no Santa

November 29, 2011 By Becca 10 Comments

All you need is a…

-Santa Hat (I found mine in the $1 bin at Target)

-Scissors

-White Glove

-Fabric for a backdrop (I used black fabric but you can use anything you have around)

-Reflector (I’ll talk more about this later in the post)

Cut a hole big enough for your hand to fit through

The perfect spot to shoot is next to an open door. You’ll notice a couple of things…

1. Notice I just draped the backdrop over the open door.

2. Notice that my Santa hand person was not blocking the light coming in the door.

3. Notice there is no direct sun coming through the door just indirect light.

Here’s the image I captured…

The next images I played with a reflector as fill light. (Fill light is the light that diminishes the shadows cast by the main light.) The open door will light my subject bright on one side and leave a shadow on the other side of her face. Sometime this look is desired. A strong light and dark side makes for a more dramatic image. When you diminish the shadows by using fill light it creates a more soft image.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!!

If you enjoyed this tip and love learning about photography and lighting then you must check out the Photo By Emilie Workshops. She offers workshops in Salt Lake and ONLINE!! She is giving you a discount of $25 off until Christmas.

Filed Under: Photo tips with Emilie, Uncategorized

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Photo Tips with Emilie: Accessories under $100

November 11, 2011 By Becca 1 Comment

Gift giving season is upon us. Here are 10 fantastic photography accessories under $100. Happy Shopping!!

Keeping your lens clean is so important to the sharpness and quality of your images. This cleaning kit is only $15.90 on Amazon. Here is a video on how to clean your lens. Happy Cleaning

The harsh and direct light produced by the on camera flashes is so unflattering. This Soft Screen Pop-Up Flash Diffuser softens and diffuses the light. It’s only $11.95 on Amazon.

This program does 90% of what the full version of Photoshop does, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of the full professional version. Only $89.99 on Amazon.

If you have Photoshop you Must have my action set. It comes with a Color, BandW, Vintage & Soft color action. Have Elements? No trouble, it comes with step by step on running the actions in Elements. Only $30.00 on my blog.

This little flash is 90% as good as the Canon/Nikon flash and comes at less than one-fifth the price. I have one of these flashes and love it. The YN-560 works on both Canon or Nikon cameras. Only $68.64 on Amazon.

This Rain Cover is perfect for the upcoming winter snow storm photos. You can buy a permanent one for more money, but I like the cheapies since they are so small and portable. Only $5.99 on Amazon.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my reflector. I use my constantly!! My favorite is the 32″ White/Soft Gold. Click here for read a tip I wrote on my blog. Only $55.42 on Amazon.

If you haven’t learned all the thousands of keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop, you’ll love these little stickers that go on your keyboard to remind you of the shortcuts until you memorize them. Using shortcuts have saved my years of my life!! Only $6.96 on Amazon.

A Tripod is a must have if you’re taking photos of products, home improvement projects, food or crafts. It allows you to use a slower shutter & brightens up your images. Only $28.64 on Amazon.

A clean camera is a happy camera. These non-abrasive and lint free wipes are perfect for cleaning your camera. Only $10.14 on Amazon.

Learn to use many of these nifty accessories during my Online and Salt Lake workshops.
Click Here to learn all about my photography education options.

Filed Under: gift ideas, Photo tips with Emilie

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October 7, 2011 By Becca 1 Comment

I’ve been taking lots and lots of newborn pix the last few months. I’m excited to share some of my tricks to capturing great images.

Here are the 5 Items I can’t shoot without…

1. Boppy Pillow – This is my favorite positioner. I use the Boppy for at least 5-10 different positions.

2. Binky – Enough said

3. Heating Pad – Heat is a necessity when taking newborn photos. I use the heating pad to warm up the blanket or prop I will be using next so that I never lay a baby on a cold prop or blanket.

4. Bag-O-Beans – I use this both under the prop blanket and on top of the babies while I’m positioning them. Babies love to be nice and toasty warm and the Bag-O-Beans works perfect.

5. Space Heater – I couldn’t do a newborn session without a space heater. They are magic to get newborn to be nice and calm!!

Now let’s talk about editing newborn images.
Below is my out of camera image. Her skin is not as creamy as what I see with my eyes. These SLR cameras are so sharp that they pick up the tiniest little nicks and scratches. No good. Here is how I fix and soften skin in PS.

First, open the image into PS and duplicate the background layer. The short cut is Command “J”.

Next, add a Gaussian Blur filter found in your

“filter”-”blur”-”Gaussian blur” menu.

When adding the Gaussian Blur make it a little stronger than you think you’ll need. The reason is that you can brush on the Gaussian Blur at a low opacity, but if you don’t make it strong enough you can not increase the opacity more than 100% of what you originally made the filter.

Then, add a vector mask to the Gaussian Blur layer by clicking the “Add Vector Mask” button at the bottom of your layers palette.

Last step, Invert the Vector Mask (short cut is “Command I”). This will turn the Gaussian Blur Filter off. Then, use the “Brush Tool” to brush on the Gaussian Blur effect in the areas you would like to soften.

Final product…

Here are a few more images I took of her

sweet tiny little parts…

I hope this tip helps you on the pursuit

of newborn photo perfection!!

Happy Snapping!!

** I took one of Emilie’s workshops in early Spring and was blown away at how informative and well presented it was! Treat yourself to one her workshops and you know what will happen? You will pay yourself and your family back with dreamy photos!

Filed Under: Photo tips with Emilie, Photography, Photoshop tutorial

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Photo tips with Emilie: Choosing portrait outfits

June 7, 2011 By Becca 12 Comments

As you begin planning your families outfits

consider these 3 questions.

1. Do you feel strongly about matching your home decor? 2. Is there colors that look best on you and your family? 3. What is the personality of your family (sporty, trendy, dressy, casual)?

Here are 3 easy methods to plan outfits

for your family portrait.

Find one piece of clothing that includes the colors you would like to use. Plan the rest of the outfits around that piece. Here are some examples…

Here I chose this darling red, pink and green girly dress and planning the other outfits around the color scheme.

Here they coordinated their colors around that adorable skirt.

Here they coordinated their colors around the little guys red, blue and gray shirt.

Here they coordinated their colors around the littlest sweeties top. It had purple, orange and a touch of lime green.

Choose a color season of colors or a theme of colors. For example fall colors, bright colors or spring pastels.

Here I chose fall colors

Here they chose spring pastel colors

Here they chose fall colors

Here they chose summer brights

Choose 2 or 3 colors to use in every outfit. It’s a little easier if you choose a basic color like tan, denim or black and then add your colors.

Here I chose denim, teal and blue.

Here is an example of the real thing. Notice they purchased the same teal polo for the majority of the little boys. This really helped pull the look together with this big group.

Here is another example of denim, teal and and blue. Notice that the oldest and youngest boy are wearing the same polo, however, the youngest is wearing a blazer. A clever way of matching but mixing it up at the same time.

Here they chose denim and white. They also added yellow flowers. What a fun way to add interest and pull the image together.

Here they chose denim, red and navy.

Here they chose denim, aqua and pink

Here they chose tan, yellow and blue.

Enjoy the hunt for the perfect outfits!!

Emilie has ONE MORE Workshop for the year! Come join in and sign up for the June 18th Workshop in Salt Lake City! Click here for all the details! And if you don’t live in the Salt Lake Area you can check out Emilies online class!

Filed Under: Photo tips with Emilie

12 Comments

Photo Tips with Emilie: Aperture

May 7, 2011 By Becca 4 Comments

Emilie from Photos by Emilie is back with some AMAZING tips on Aperture!

Photography Tip – Magic of Aperture

If you can master aperture you gain real creative control over your camera. In my opinion – aperture is where a lot of the magic happens in photography and as we’ll see below, changes in it can mean the difference between one dimensional and multi dimensional shots.

Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens when a picture is taken. Aperture is a function of the lens. Lenses contain a diaphragm, a thin light-blocking plate or interlocking set of adjustable plates. The diaphragm contains a small hole, called the aperture. This hole is adjustable in size and allows the photographer to determine and control the amount of light entering the camera. Below is an image of a 50mm lens with the diaphragm or aperture wide open and the aperture closed tight.

One thing that causes a lot of new photographers confusion is that large apertures (lots of light gets through) have smaller f-stop numbers. Smaller apertures (less light gets through) have larger f-stop numbers. So f/2.8 is in fact a much larger aperture than f/22. It seems the wrong way around when you first hear it but you’ll get the hang of it. Here’s a diagram to help…

Lower f-stops (wider aperture) give a shallow depth of field (DOF). This allows you to isolate the subject from the background. Shallow focus typically is used to emphasize one part of the image over the other.

Here are some examples…

Shot at 2.8f

Shot at 1.8f

Shot at 2.8f

Higher f-stops (narrow aperture) gives a deep DOF. In deep focus the foreground, middle-ground, and background are all in focus. Deep focus requires more light to achieve than shallow focus because the aperture is narrower letting in a smaller amount of light.

Here are some examples…

Shot at 9f

Shot at 5.6f

Shot at 4.3f

Shot at 8f

Shot at 10f

Shot at 8f

Shot at 4.3f

Shot at 6f

I hope you enjoyed my tip.

This is just one of the tricks you’ll learn during my Photo By You Workshop.

My next Workshop will be held Saturday, May 21st.

Cost $225

With Discount $189

Discount offered until Friday, May 13th.

Discount code: springfever

Filed Under: Photo tips with Emilie

4 Comments

Photo Tips with Emilie {Let’s try this again!}

February 25, 2011 By Becca 15 Comments

Ok! Let’s try this again! this posted on Sunday but I had a wonky day and the photos for some reason didn’t show up! And seeing as this was a “Photo” post the pictures were the most important part! So here we go again….

***********************************

I am so excited about attending Emilie Photography Workshop on

March 26th. She is offering Blue Cricket readers a discount until

MARCH 1ST. The workshop is regularly $225, you will get it for $189

with the discount code “bluecricket”. If you’re not in the Salt Lake

area and still want to learn from Emilie check out her online
course.

Today she’s here to give us a tiny little sampling of her amazing skills …

Photography tip by Photo ByEmilie

My name is Emilie and I am a professional
photographer out of Salt Lake City. I can’t decide which I enjoy more,
creating images with my camera or teaching others to
create images in their camera. I’ve written a little tip and I hope
it helps on your journey towards improving your photography skills. Lots
more education on my
Blog.

There are 2 common ways you can adjust White Balance in your camera when you take your image and in Photoshop when you edit your image. I typically set my camera to an auto White Balance. I use the Nikon D700 & the auto White Balance is awesome, but not always perfect. Therefore, I clean up the White Balance in Photoshop. This trick can be performed in both Photoshop Elements & CS.

Step #1 – Open the “Levels” palette. (short cut is command/control L)

Step #2: Click the White Balance Dropper. The white arrow is pointing to the White Balance dropper and the black arrow is pointing to the Black Balance dropper. I typically use the white first and the black second.

Step #3 – Click on the image on the color you would like to set as the White Balance. I clicked on her white tank top. Then do the same with the Black Balance (I don’t Black Balance every image, just ones that need it.)

Here are a few more examples..

This is just one of the tricks you’ll learn during my Photo By You Workshop. I also offer 1 on 1 Photoshop lessons. I used my Photo By Emilie Color Action for the final edits.

Happy clicking!!

Filed Under: Photo tips with Emilie

15 Comments

Photo Tips with Emilie

October 28, 2010 By Becca 10 Comments

Photography tip by Photo By
Emilie

My name is Emilie & I am a professional photographer out of Salt Lake
City. I can’t decide which I enjoy more, creating images with my
camera or teaching others to create images in their camera. I’ve
written a little tip & I hope it helps on your journey towards improving
your photography skills. Lots more education on my Blog.

Too many aspiring photographers spend hours on end fiddling with images on
the computer without ever committing them to print.
Perhaps it¹s because of the sheer volume of shots, or the amazing tools available to share photos
online, but over the years I¹ve learned that one of the best ways to
improve my skills is to enlarge and display my favorite photos.
When you print a photo, particularly when you go larger than 8×10, it
magnifies the imperfections. I know what you¹re thinkingŠwhy would I want to
show off an imperfect piece?
Well, enlarging and displaying your photos, even the slightly flawed ones,
will improve your focus in three ways:
1) Printing and displaying your photos ensures that you will put more time
into planning for your photo. You are more particular about quality
of the images you shoot if you know you will be published.
2) Once your photos have been taken, you will have multiple opportunities
from loading and editing to selecting frames for printing to evaluate.
This is where you are going to develop a better eye for shooting and
consistency.
3) Planning and evaluating your shots will make you a better
photojournalist. You will learn to daydream about and visualize the
best shots, ask yourself what is great about an event and identify the
details.
Of course, I can¹t leave you without a few fantastic ideas for displaying
the plethora of images you are going to createŠ

How fantastic would this great Lisa Bengtsson Family Wallpaper look hung from clips or
papered on a piece of plywood? Add some photos and you¹ve got a darling
display no one will be able to resist!

Learning to reduce, reuse and recycle is pretty hot right now. How about
using old CD jewel cases to develop changeable, rearrangeable casual
art for the big blank wall in your home? Check out the tutorial here.

I absolutely adore vintage windows. I picked up my first set nearly a decade
ago. What can I say? I was ahead of the times. And, a vintage window makes
for a great photo display. Don¹t have time to go thrifting for one? You can
pick up this one (or one like it) on ETSY.

Gallery photos are always a classic. Learn how to install one like Martha¹s or check out the variety of options
posted here.

Go big or go home with this incredible personalized wallpaper!
You could also pursue a less expensive option, like do-it-yourself
poster making.

Love her or hate her, Martha sure has some good ideas. Isn¹t this photo
screen so elegant?! And, it¹s easy to recreate to. Read more about it here.

I love this idea for a child¹s room or play area.

Feeling a bit more creative? Check out these darling frames over at the Creative Crate. Perfect for displaying
photos of your little ones!
I think it goes without saying that there are numerous photo book and canvas
shops online. You might try out Blurb,
Shutterfly, SnapFish
and Picaboo.

Perfect Christmas Tree Photos

amazon