Christmas pictures tips

Everyone wants the perfect holiday pictures, but not everyone knows how to achieve this. I want to make things easier on you guys & give you some tips that may help.

1. Get in close--Many cameras have a macro setting (it's usually the one that looks like a flower like this). Use it to get great close-up pictures of ornaments, gifts, food, etc. It's not a good setting to use for photographing people, so use it only when you need to & remember to change the settings when photographing something else.

2. Choose a different angle--Everyone's seen the Christmas tree from straight-on. Everyone knows what the food looks like looking down on it. Position yourself differently. Take a picture of the Christmas tree from the floor looking up. Get down on the same level as kids to photograph them opening their presents. Have you ever seen a photographer capture kids standing straight up? Usually they lower themselves so they are right in front of the kid.

3. Get some candids--My mom is the worst offender when it comes to this! (Sorry Mom!) She tries to make everyone pose as she wants & those are the only pictures she takes. Part of the fun of Christmas is the laughter & traditions that make it worth getting together every year. Your cousins always sing a carol? Take a picture. Your grandma always plays "see food" with the grandkids? Take a picture. Uncle Bob always drinks a little too much eggnog & puts on those silly reindeer antlers? Take a picture. That's what you will want to see later on. Sure, take some posed ones, but don't rule out the candids.

4. Those darned Christmas lights--I don't know many things people complain about more than not being able to get a "good" shot of Christmas lights. Here's one big tip: Use a tripod!! I can't tell you how important this is! If you don't, the picture will turn out blurry. Most point-and-shoots (P&S) today have a setting for nighttime or fireworks. (For my P&S, they're under "SCN", then I can select which one. If you can't find it, look at your owner's manual.) Set your camera on a tripod, choose which setting you want, set the timer for at least 10 seconds (if possible), and press the shutter. Setting the timer will help the camera stabilize on the tripod before the camera goes off & your picture won't be blurry.

Hope that helps! I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

lost SD card has been found!

I'm so excited about this! Back in August when my mom came to visit we took her down to Salt Lake. I had lost the memory card from that trip, but now it's found! Here's some of what I've been missing:

The Assembly Hall

Conference Center

Inside the Tabernacle

We ended up taking a tour of the Conference Center

One of the paintings inside the Conference Center

two posts in one day...aren't you lucky?! ;P

I started a new blog for all my crafts and recipes. You can find it here: http://allineedisglue.blogspot.com

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

big announcement!

Dear friends,

After playing with idea for a while now, Mike & I decided to move back to the east coast. We will move after graduation in July. We're not sure where we'll end up, but one things for certain--we're leaving Idaho. We've enjoyed our time here & we've made so many new friends. However, we miss being near our families and want to settle down. Thank you all for your support while we've been in school and trying to find our purpose in life.

There's still plenty of time to book a session before we leave though! If you're interested, go ahead and contact me. My hourly rates will be increasing in January, but if you book now I will charge the current rate.

Thank you all so much,
Heather

new rates

Starting January 1, 2012, I will be increasing my hourly rates. However, if you book now you will be locked into the lower rate. Email burnedimagesphotography(at)yahoo(dot)com for an appointment, text me, or use the appointment app in the right column.

GIVEAWAY!

I only need 9 more fans of my facebook page to giveaway a free print! If you're not already a fan, do so now! Here's my fan page. All you have to do is click "Like".

before it gets too cold

I was able to take some pictures yesterday for some old neighbors before it got too cold around here to do so. They have some cute kids!

Guest Post: How-to Photograph Landscapes

I'm so excited to be guest blogging for Kitty Cats and Airplanes! Don't you just love her crafts & all her sewing ideas?!

I'm studying photography at a university in Idaho & I love it! I often get asked about cameras or tips on how to take different pictures. My favorite thing to photograph is landscapes. So you get a little something-something from me: a tutorial on photographing landscapes! (How awesome am I?...pretty awesome, I know.)

In order to do this I need to confront a couple of myths first.
Myth 1: You need a "nice" camera to get quality pictures.
Truth is, you don't! Shocker, I know. For most people "nice" means something like this:

courtesy of CNet

This isn't the case. For the first 3 years after I got into photography I used something like this:

courtesy of iTech News

Want to know something? Most of my clients never knew! Prosumer cameras are a great way to go if you don't have the money or time to devote to a SLR. Just trust me on this.

Myth 2: You have to shoot during the sunniest part of the day.

Truth is, that's probably the worst time to shoot! If the sun is blaring down on the surface of the building you shoot, you're not going to get any of the great texture you want to capture. A really bright sun is going to cast weird shadows, and if the sun is behind you, your shadow will be visible along the bottom of the picture. Not something you want. Again, just trust me.

No roof or road texture. The area underneath is too dark to make anything out.

So what do you do? Watch your weather forecast. Sounds weird, right? Thing is, the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets have tons of clouds. The light bounces off the clouds and can create a great light filter. Like this:

I keep telling you to just trust me!

If it's going to rain in the afternoon, go out in the morning. If it rained earlier in the day or will during the night, go out in the evening. You'll get some great cloud formations. Also, just because it's cloudy or gray doesn't mean you shouldn't go out shooting, especially if you're trying to photograph people. Just think: no facial shadows, no squinting eyes, no super white backgrounds because the sun's too bright--it's perfect!

It can also create great texture

Even the little puffy ones are great.

Sometimes though, sunshine is inevitable. I mean, who doesn't like sunlight? (Vampires....right...) Just don't think that your pictures are ruined or there's no hope if there's tons of sunlight. If you're taking pictures of a landscape, make sure you zoom out to capture as much as possible. That way, you're utilizing all the light possible. It also keeps the lack of texture and abundance of shadows less obvious. If you're trying to get a person in the shot, find a tree with lots of shade and put that person underneath. Case and point:

sometimes, I know what I'm talking about ;)

Myth 3: You have to be facing the sunrise or sunset to get great pictures.

Truth is, sometimes you just need to turn around! If you're facing the sunset, you'll miss this: 

Guess what, NOT done with a dSLR!

The most important thing to remember though, is to keep trying! I don't know anyone who can do anything without loads of practice first. Another great thing about digital photography: you can see the pictures immediately after you take them! Look at them. Try turning a little to the right or left and see what you get. Use a tripod. Low light means your camera needs to take a little longer to get the whole picture to develop. If you're not using a tripod (even a cheap one), you're going to get a shaky picture. Putting your camera on a tripod will allow the camera to remain steady during the whole shot. Help it along even more and set your camera on a timer. Just a few seconds will do the trick. That way, the camera will have time to steady itself after you press the button.

Anyway, hope that helps! Happy shooting!

FREE digital scrapbooking pages

For all you digital scrapbookers, this is for you!
free digital scrapbooking pages

My favorite holiday!

Christmas may seem forever away, but planning for your Christmas cards should start early. The earlier you start the more likely chance you'll be able to be booked with the photographer you want, have enough time to get a really great picture, and be able to print all the pictures/cards you need. I know it's not even October, but if you'd like to set an appointment with me for Christmas pictures, you can leave a message, use the appointment app to the right of this post, or email me at burnedimagesphotography(at)yahoo(dot)com.

the hubster

I'm trying to train my second shooter :)
BTW, these are all his!

Way to go Mikey!

who wants free stuff?

I'm giving away a free print! When I reach 200 facebook fans, I will have a drawing to pick the lucky winner. I will select 5 pictures from which the winner may choose. You can become a fan HERE!

sunset

Not to be partial, but Idaho and the coast of North Carolina have produced some of the most majestic sunsets I've ever seen. I'm so glad I was able to get off work a little early tonight so that I got to see this:

Our stake center.

The Teton Mountains

bear world

If you are ever in the Idaho Falls/Rexburg area, you MUST see Bear World. It's punishable by law if you don't...ok, it's not, but it should be! You can either take your own car through the park or ride on a open truck. If you ride the truck, you get to feed the animals and they come right up to the truck. If you're in your car, for the most part, they don't bother you. Either way, it's an unique experience.

Black Bear

S/He's begging for food.

For an extra fee you can bottle feed the cubs

They have a petting zoo with goats, peacocks and peahens, deer, and geese.

White Elk

Grizzly Bear

ririe

I took a ride with a lady I know through the town she lives in. There are so many interesting and old buildings there!

This was an old house we drove by.

Another old home. We suspect the house was built in 1910.

This landscaping is in front of the last house, just a couple
pictures down in the post.

The family that lives in this house has spent the last 10 years
restoring it. Not the iron work around the balcony...

The mom created the ironwork in the previous
picture from pieces that started out like this.
She blasted it, welded it together, then painted
it until she got the results in the previous picture.

the G's

I've met some pretty awesome people while living in Idaho, but the G's are some of the best! They're leaving soon and I had the privilege of taking some pictures for them.