Photography Tip #1

So, as I'm learning to use my new camera, I've picked up a few tips. I found this one to be especially useful while trying to photograph my little brother.

"When photographing children,rather than just telling the child to smile, give him something to occupy himself and take pictures of the activity. You will get much more realistic smiles."

Let me show you an example. In the following picture, I told Josiah to "smile".

His smile looked somewhat forced, so I said "smile bigger!" This is what I got....

Still forced. So I said, "no Josiah, smile REALLY big."


Hmmm....funny, but not so great of a smile (not to mention the bad shadowing behind his head...outdoor pictures are just so much better).

Now, in these next ones, Josiah was given an activity that makes him smile, and then photographed. You can just see the pure joy in his smiles.






Ah, much better. I'll definitely be taking this tip to heart.