Tuesday Tip: White Foam Core Board and a Window

HI! I hope Tuesday is treating you well. I am excited to share a simple trick that I used to take example pictures for the last photography tip that I posted. If you read that post you saw a few pictures of some photography projects we did at our house. Here is the "behind the scenes footage."

Ghetto you say? well, I prefer the term 'simple.' This little mini-studio was constructed by the north facing window in my living room at about 3 in the afternoon. I laid one foam core board on a desk that sits by the window and placed another foam core board behind it. This is how I usually take pictures that have a white background. For Bro's valentine I wanted to add some funky blue circle paper to the mini-studio. I did this by using scrapbook paper and tape. The picture is pretty self-explanatory.

I also tried some other scrap book papers with the greeting card that I shot at the same time.






You can buy foam core board anywhere, I got mine at wal-mart, but I saw bigger pieces at Hobby Lobby last week for a better price. It's a wonderful tool to have when you are doing table top photography. The white reflects light onto your subject and creates a brighter mini-studio. I also use foam core boards as reflectors when photographing people outdoors and indoors and I always use them when I am working with window light. This is a really useful, portable, easy set-up for someone who is taking pictures of objects for their blog, Etsy shop, or for any other reason. Just remember that you want your main light source to be the Be-A-utiful* window light, and your secondary light source to be the light reflecting from your foam core boards. Turn off all of your incandescent lights (lights in your house) and don't use a flash. You may need to use a tripod to avoid camera shake if you shoot with a slower shutter speed. Try this with your point and shoot camera (turn off the flash) or your SLR.

So go ahead, create a mini-studio and try moving your inanimate subject at different angles in the window light. See what you like, have fun, throw in some scrap book paper and create some photo-joy.


*diffused light: Light that is filtered or spread. When you use a north facing window it diffuses the natural sunlight so that it is soft, and very flattering to the subject. Here are some more articles on window light and photography.


http://www.photographic.com/issue-4-people-photography/0909_WINDOW/

http://www.iheartfaces.com/2010/12/tips-for-utilizing-window-light/

http://www.foodbloggersunite.com/home/2010/6/2/shoot-under-northsouth-windows-to-achieve-stunning-results.html

Don't forget to enter the St. Patrick's Day giveaway!

Getting Married: Utah Engagement Photography

This was a special session because I had the opportunity to take pictures for J, my brother in law, and his adorable fiance. I really enjoy taking pictures for my family because I feel like it's a talent that I can legitimately share with them. I'm not the best cook, so I'm not the type to cook people dinner or bake cookies . . . but taking and editing pictures: That I can do!

J and N have a cool story: They met in Virginia while J was working on his MBA and N was working for NASA. She has since returned to Utah to finisher her masters degree and he is still in Virginia finishing his MBA so they have had a long distance relationship for the past 6ish months.

She is such a catch and we are so happy that J waited patiently to find her. I think she is fantastic. Besides being incredibly intelligent, she loves to travel, has great taste is jewelry, is so good with kids, and so easy to get along with.

And J, he's pretty awesome too.

Something Pretty

My husband is taking a floral design class right now. He made these boutonnieres and brought them home the other day. I thought they were pretty.

Don't forget to enter the St. Patrick's Day Give Away!

Tuesday Tips: Make it useful: creative ways to use photography

I've been wanting to spend more time writing about the little tips, tricks, and insights that I have come across while exploring the vast world of photography. I want to do this for several reasons: to keep track of the things I learn so I can reference them when in need *(I have 'Mommy brain'), I want to give myself a deeper focus and reason to continue trying new things, I want to share what I have learned with people I know. The teacher in me feels a deep need to pass a little knowledge down the line. Maybe it's so that I can keep taking knowledge from up the line? anyways, I am going to try and post a tip, trick, idea, or something interesting here at least once a week. The key word in that last sentence is 'try' I just might fail, but eh. so what? Trying is a good place to start.

So (drum roll please) Photography Tip #1: Make it Useful!

Many of you know that I just had a baby, 3 months ago. She is my second child, my first girl. In the shuffle of welcoming a newborn into our home I have had to really re-prioritize. wait, not re-prioritize, lets call it, "give up my entire life, interest, and hobbies, for the greater good." What? you think I'm being dramatic? well, so does my husband, and you are both right. I am. Still, the lifestyle shift from one to two kids has really got me thinking about what I want to do with what little snippets of time I have. Photography is one of those skills that I want to keep nurturing even when life gets crazy. With so many other things to do I have found that combining photography with things that I have to do anyways brings me great joy! I'll give you two recent examples:


I wanted to do something creative and fun for valentine's Day with Browen. I was blog stalking on the Internet and found this idea. I thought it was fun and simple and got excited because it allowed me to use my camera and photoshop to create a unique little valentine. Bro got a kick out of giving some of his friends this picture of his cute self. Now I already have plans for next year's creative photo Valentine!

Another idea I came up with was to create thank you cards for those who attended a baby shower for Andi and I in November. I thought it would be extra special to give a thank you card that had a photo of Andi on it. It was fun to plan out a quick newborn shoot in natural light. I also really liked the way that the photo I chose looked with the textured card stock that I used to back the card. It was a fun craft because it fed two of my addictions; photography AND card making.
P.S. I still have a stack of these thank you cards on my desk that I wrote before Christmas and need to deliver (I know, I am slow like a snail :)



And then the best part was that I got to take more pictures of these 2 items, to post on this blog. So there, more photography practice on inanimate objects, more photo-joy for me.
Some other things I plan to do that incorporate photography and are: A fine art print of one of my favorite buildings for my living room, and an ABC book of Bro's favorite things.
I found these interesting creative photo ideas online too:
http://woollywotnots.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/my-creative-space-8-fun-things-to-do-with-photos/
http://growingcreativekids.com/creative-things-to-do-with-photos/
http://bighugelabs.com/
What are some ideas that you guys have? Would you do/have you done any of these things with pictures you have taken?
P.S. Don't forget to enter the St. Patrick's Day Giveaway!
*Mommy Brain [Mom-ee]: the complete lack of ability to remember anything. Usually occurring after giving birth to first child, and increasing in severity with each subsequent child's birth.

LucKy YoU! Free Utah Portrait Sessions

This giveaway is now closed.

Well, the time has come to get LucKy: In honor of the new blog, new session packages, and new-ish year, I am going to give away 2 free sessions to 2 lucky winners. If you win you can pick any session up to $150.00 value to use in Utah (unless you want to pay for my airfare elsewhere) by the end of 2011. What's the catch? well, it's simple . . . REALLY simple. 1. grab my button (the html code on my sidebar) and post it on your blog as a gadget on your sidebar OR write a post on your blog about this giveaway that includes my button/link to this site. 2. leave a comment with your email and a link to your blog/website. I'll pick 2 random winners on March 17th, ST. Patrick's Day! You may only enter once :) I promise not to do anything lame with your email address, but write it like this blah(at)blah(dot)com so it's not floating in cyberspace. Good Luck. . . . hey if only 2 people leave comments 'woot woot' for you two. I've never done a giveaway before, we will see how this goes. <br /> <a border="0" href="http://www.leetaylorphotography.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_3NGuSIMExlg/TTyiP53VDeI/AAAAAAAACHY/WnHF7seAML4/s1600/ltpbutton.jpg "/></a><br />

Back in Busy-ness: Utah Engagement Photography

It has been a good break, but the time has come to get out and 'shoot' again. Here is an fun engaged couple, they are quite adorable and I had a lot of fun getting out and working with them. True, it was freezing cold. But the snow makes for some fun pictures!

Just Hanging Out: Utah Baby Photography

Well, my baby girl is 2 months old. It's about time to get back to work (cough. . . play). I won't be rusty, I keep up my skills by practicing on her all day :) Do you think that she'll grow to hate the camera or just ignore it? My little boy ignored it for a while and now that he is 2 he loves the camera and takes his own awesome shots (with mommy stabilizing the Nikon). Maybe we'll post some of his pictures up here sometime. That'd be fun. For now enjoy. . . baby girl Taylor, 2 months old.