Picture Frames Express

Posts Tagged ‘pictures’

As you know we at picture frames express love a bit of photobombing. So in our eyes Paul Yarrow is the most successful news photobomber in the UK.

Paul (aka news raider) has featured in countless news reports, appeared in parliamentary round-ups, and even been on the Antiques Roadshow.

Paul is a podgy, balding community worker from south London who has become notorious for appearing uninvited in the background of TV programmes over the past year.

The most common ‘battle gear’ of the News Raider is a beige sweater. The usual strategy is to wander around aimlessly in the background.

Paul has been know to employ props while photobombing; sometimes a phone, sometimes a newspaper and always a beige sweater… Read the rest of this entry »

If you are serious about baby photography and you tend to shoot from your own studio make sure you have a lot of toys to amuse the infants. A light colour background will work best and shoot the portraits in colour and black and white.

Parents may be worried about the affect of studio lights on their baby. Point out that strobe lights have no effect on kids. Try to point this out before the parent asks.

Don’t ever handle a baby without the parents consent. Most parents will be very protective and won’t react well to a stranger lifting the infant.

Watch out for the fingers – fingers in the mouth can be attractive but on most occasions they will obscure the face.

Once you have that sorted and have some great shots all this is left is to select your picture frames and work out where you’re going to hang your masterpiece.

The PFE Team

Babies can be the most challenging and rewarding portraits to take, but can also be the most frustrating… for both of you!

Babies tend to sleep, eat and cry a lot and won’t pose in front of the camera but don’t let that put you off photographing them. Creating the perfect baby portrait, when done right, will certainly be rewarding.

One of the most important factors in photographing babies is patience and the way you apply child psychology when relating to the baby. Babies over six months may be shy and won’t react well to a complete stranger. This is where child psychology comes in – you must try to play with the baby, or even become a child yourself while taking the photograph. The keys of your car can be very effective. But remember, your job is to take a baby portrait; you must be able to react quickly when the infant responds to your entertainment.

Shooting a portrait of a newborn baby can be difficult. At this age the baby will not be active, so it’s better to focus on close-up headshots. Try using natural light from a bedroom window to add mood to the portrait.

Babies over a few months of age will be more alert and will have a lot more movement in them. Shooting fast is a necessity, the infant will tire quickly.

Babies seven months or older can be very tricky to shoot. The baby will bore quickly and will not want to stay in the same position.

Part #2 in a day or so

The PFE Team

Here is our follow up from yesterday; another three great photography tips:

3. Carry only what you need: Carry only the essentials. You don’t need to upload your camera bag with every piece of equipment you own. If you are going to be out taking pictures all day you are much better off going as light as possible. Carrying a light load will also help preserve energy. You could be climbing icy rocks or crossing snow filled hills; a warm flask would serve you a lot better than a third camera.

4. Look for detail: Snow, ice and frost bring out texture and atmosphere in most subjects. The early frosty morning is an ideal time for close-up photography. The frosty morning also brings out patterns in our landscapes.

Take care where you place your camera: if you are taking pictures early in the morning try placing it at oblique angles to the sun – this will give your images strong shadows. This will also add mood to your landscape images. Once you have found the perfect spot pay extra attention to foreground interest as this will add depth to your image.

5. Expose carefully: Snow and ice are extremely difficult to expose properly. Snow usually confuses your cameras metering system or your hand held light meter. When you take a light reading from snow you will automatically get an underexposed image. The meter will record the snow as grey.

That’s it for our winter photography tips have a look around the blog and the site and we’ll have more photography and picture framing tips for you soon.

The PFE Team