the only way to improve your photos | raleigh family photographer

Welcome back to True Life! With this twice-monthly , I’ll be posting helpful tips on taking better pictures of your kids, learning to use your camera, fun ways to display family photos, custom photo gifts, etc.

“It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into the practice.” ~ Eric Lindros

Today’s tip for taking better photos of your kids…

PRACTICE.

Sorry, were you hoping for something more profound? Of course you knew you need to practice, so why am I dedicating a whole blog post to it?

According to Wikipedia, practice is the act of rehearsing a behavior over and over, or engaging in an activity again and again, for the purpose of improving or mastering it.

But when I say practice, I don’t mean to shoot hundreds of really terrible, awful, just-plain-bad photos of your kids at every moment of every day until they start to run away when they see you coming. I mean really take the time to shoot intentionally. You won’t get it right on the first try, and you probably won’t get it right on the 50th try. But if you’re not trying, if you’re “spraying and praying,” the only thing you’ll get better at is taking more bad photos!

Here are some photos I took of Macy back in September 2009. I was practicing shooting in manual mode, and I wanted to work on exposure. I set Macy up near a window in her room and went to town. But with intention. (And a particularly goofy subject.)

(Oh my gosh, look how little she was! Ack!)

Now it’s your turn. If you truly want to improve, you’ve got to work at it. Whether it’s photography, cooking from scratch, playing the guitar, or painting a masterpiece, we all start from the beginning.

Decide what it is you want to learn, whether it’s focus, exposure, or just playing with the light. I was (am) all over the place when learning new things, but it may suit you better to choose one topic at a time to work on.

Just practice, practice, practice.

P.S. I still practice. That’s one thing I love about photography…I feel like I can practice at it for the rest of my life, and there will always be more to learn.

~ xoxoxoxoxo ~

If you would like to learn more about taking better photos of your kids or simply learn how to get more from your camera, check out the Be True Everyday Beginner DSLR Camera Workshops!