| Photography Tips and Ideas |
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| There are some great websites out there with helpful articles on how to improve your skills as a photographer. Here are links to some of them: Kodak New York Institute of Photography Fodors Scrapbook Articles * * * You can find a fantastic series of articles written by a scrapper who is also a professional photographer at the main message board at Two Peas in a Bucket Do a search for the thread titled Photo Tip for 7/11: INDEX The third message in that thread has links to all the articles written as of 11 July 2002. |
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| When I look through my scrapbooks, I am often struck by how very much alike my holiday pictures are. For Rosh Hashanah, we tend to pose outside in the front yard. At Chanukah, we are gathered around the chanukiah (menorah). While on the one hand seeing ourselves (the kids especially) in the same pose year after year emphasizes how we've grown and changed, it can get a little boring. What to do? |
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| Holiday Repetition |
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| Shabbat & Holidays |
| What if you don't (or can't) take photos on Shabbat and holidays? How will you capture that marvelous holiday spirit, or the fabulous image of your child reading from the Torah? Here are some ideas: |
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| Stage it! Have everyone dress up in their finery and stage your pictures on a regular day. Ask your rabbi if you and your bar or bat mitzvah celebrant can come by a couple of days before the big event and get some pictures around the Torah? |
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| Take your pictures before sundown. Make sure everyone arrives early enough for that all-important photo op. Pose your loved ones at the seder table, or next to the unlit Sabbath candles. |
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| Photograph inanimate objects. If you're like me, you don't mind taking pictures anytime, but refrain when it would disturb others. When everyone else is in another room, perhaps you could snap some pictures of the set (but vacant) festive table, or of the candles burning. Use your own judgment about this one. |
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| Emphasize the repetition. With decorating faults (or maybe almost anything) you can either try to hide them, or emphasize them. Make it a tradition to always get the same shot, with people in the same positions in the group. If you emphasize the fact that yes, these are the same people in the same poses, year after year, the viewer's attention will become focussed on noticing growth and changes - and continuity - in your photos. |
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| Vary your images. There are many different kinds of pictures you can take, aside from the typical, horizontal group shot of between 3 and 8 (or so) people smiling at the camera. Try these: * hold the camera vertically * do close ups of each person, or of two people together * get a bird's eye view (stand on a chair) * get a worm's eye view (lie down on the floor, if it won't muss up your nice clothes) * take pictures of hands doing or holding something * get candid pictures, where the subjects are doing something (not eating!) |
| If you have any tips or ideas about photography, please e-mail me. |