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How To Photograph Nudes Like A Professional

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These days cameras are everywhere. Whether it’s a tiny digital camera you keep in your pocket or a medium format monstrosity you use for a hobby, cameras have become an important part of human life. With that in mind, let’s take a ride down memory lane and look at where modern photography came from and what it’s meant to our civilization.

One of the most amazing aspects about photography is how much we depend upon them to record our history and tell a story, considering the fact that photography is still relatively new. The first permanent photograph was created as recently as 1825 using pewter plates and a substance called “bitumen,” and later iterations of the photograph would be printed on glass; paper didn’t become common until around 1888 thanks to innovations by George Eastman (as in Eastman-Kodak).

In 1901, the Kodak Brownie camera was introduced to the public. This was the first time that photography was so easily accessible to the public, in terms of ease of use and cost. It was during this period of time that film developing really took off as an industry. It’s incredible to think that something like getting film developed or emailing digital images, which we take for granted today, was a completely new concept just 100 years ago. The modern SLR camera has only been around for about 80 years, and even in that timeframe it hasn’t changed too much in terms of construction.

While black and white photography hasn’t change much since the early 1900′s, color film on the other hand, has had a dramatic shift over this period of time. Though color photography had always been pursued by early photographers, color film and printing didn’t become widely accessible until well into the 20th century. Kodak’s “Kodachrome” was introduced around 1935, but it would be a while before color film became the norm. One interesting thing about color film advancement is looking at how black and white film is still in wide use despite the introduction of color photographs; how many people do you know that still have a black and white television?

Of course, no discussion of photo-history would be complete without mentioning the digital revolution. This technology, which feels so familiar to us, has only been in wide use for about 15 years. The first “megapixel” sensor wasn’t even developed until 1986, and now it’s one of the most common words of our technological vocabulary. Though digital photography hasn’t changed much about the way we take pictures (point and shoot), it has had an immeasurable impact on our ability to share our photographs with the world.

Photography is one of the primary ways in which we document our lives. A picture can be as simple as remembering a birthday party or as important as increasing awareness about a conflict on the other side of the world. They help add weight and emotion to the words of reporters as well as preserve our history for generations to come. Every picture we take is living proof of human achievements, relationships, strengths, and weaknesses.

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Photography – How to Photograph Infants and Toddlers

If you have used a photographic service that specializes in portraiture for kids, you already know that it can be an expensive proposition. Furthermore you will only be offered prints from a very limited number of exposures. Even if you like the results (there’s usually at least one photo you have to have) your photographs will look like stock images. There is little creativity displayed in the portraits that come out of studios. After all, if the photographer has known your child for only a few short minutes, how can he or she capture their essence?

With a little effort on your part, and some patience, it is possible to create portrait shots of your children, whether infants or toddlers, or older, that really stand out and which you will treasure for decades.

Photographing Infants
Until they can get onto their feet, or hands and knees, and make their way out of the frame, you are dealing with an infant. This is the one great advantage that infants offer over toddlers: they aren’t going anywhere, so you can take as much time as you need to get the shot.

Contrary to the approach of the professional kids photographer, the one thing you will not need to put together to get started is a studio. But you will need to gain mastery over your lighting conditions. This need not be overly difficult. Look around your home for a large window, preferably a low-set one, through which an abundance of light pours in from outside. Not direct sunlight, of course. If that’s the case, you’ll need to find another window, or do the shoot at another time of the day.

You will be using the area in front of the window, about six feet back from it, as your staging area. So clear away any furniture and give yourself lots of room to move around. You will be shooting pictures side-on to the window, so that the light is streaming in either from your direct left or right. Your child will likewise be sitting sideways to the window, or slightly facing it so that one half, or three-quarters of their head is strongly illuminated. Remember, this is not direct light you are using, so there are not going to be any shadows. But there will be gradations of natural light that add depth to your images.

Set up a play area for your child. Use a large white sheet, or blanket if you have one, to cover the floor, and dress your child in light-colored clothing. I suggest waiting until your child is at least old enough to sit up and occupy themselves with a toy before doing photo shoots, but it’s not absolutely required. If you will be photographing a child unable to crawl, your best bet for a good photograph is to get down on the floor and photograph from their level.

Otherwise the easiest approach is to set up a tripod, frame the scene to be photographed, and then you can work away from the camera, using a cable to fire remotely when you see the shot. You don’t need to be obsessed with having your child look into the camera for every shot. That’s unlikely to happen unless you are playing peek-a-boo with the camera (which is certainly not a fruitless approach). If you catch them looking up, thoughtfully, or looking out the window, or looking at you, get the shot.

Do not use a flash to get your shots. You want natural lighting only. To be able to shoot like this you’ll need a fast lens, like a 50mm prime lens, such as an f/1.4, opened up to maximum aperture, or a stop less to gain extra depth of field. Be sure to focus on your child’s eyes, the only part of the image that absolutely has to be rendered sharply.

Use common sense when choosing whether or not to begin photographing. If your son or daughter are not in the best mood, shut the session down and come at it another time. If you persist in trying to get pictures when there is no chance of a smile, then the only result can be lackluster images and an unfortunate sense that this waste of time is probably not worth repeating in the future, which would be a shame for not only you but everyone else in the family who is likely to enjoy your photos for years to come.

Photographing Toddlers
Once your child is on the move, getting a great shot can be challenging, as they rarely want to remain still for you. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of success.

If you are very lucky, and have been blessed with that rare child that can appreciate the value of a good photograph, or at the very least is receptive to instruction, you can dress them up and pose them in naturally lighted scenes. But good luck to that. They might do it once, but their fascination with the process is likely to fade by the second session.

So you might want to consider giving up on the idea of a structured session. Instead, think about what it is that your child likes to do, and make it your goal to capture candid shots. Your best chance of making this happen is to photograph them while they are highly absorbed in an activity they love.

Again, use a fast lens to take pictures in natural lighting. I recommend a 50mm prime lens, and then cropping the image in your imaging software if you have captured too much of the background. Prime lenses can be very sharp optically, and if you are shooting fast (low shutter duration times of 1/125th of a second or less) you should not be seeing many blurred shots. If you do, consider increasing the ISO setting on your camera to make your image sensor more sensitive to light. This adds graininess to your images, but a grainy shot can be quite acceptable. A blurred shot never is.

When you compose your images, look for the moment when an emotion plays across your child’s face. It really does not matter too much what the emotion is. Bemusement, surprise, the wrinkled face of suspicion when they catch you watching them. Sudden joy, or even a moment of thoughtful reflection. You can take great photographs of your child eating a waffle, using a long stick to poke with reservation at a crab, or simply building with pride their tallest rock pile ever. Fortunately the possibilities are endless.

Consider also the possibility of converting some of your images into black and white. Desaturating the color spectrum often helps to improve the photojournalism aspects of a photograph, and in a very real sense, this is what toddler photography is all about – recording their journey through childhood.

To help you select a suitable digital camera to get started with, I have put together an article for you about how to find the right Beginner Digital Camera.

Whether you need a simple point-and-shoot model, or a more complex digital SLR model, you will find the answers, and greatly discounted digital camera offers, at http://www.bestdigitalcameradiscounts.com/

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