Also took some portraits of the kids by themselves.  I typically photograph much smaller kids, so it was kind of weird not having the sneak up on them to get some good shots while they were playing.  Older kids actually do what you ask them to do!  Here’s Paul’s Hollywood head shot:

The Frasers are great people and I am glad they choose me as their Tampa photographer.  I always have fun photographing people.  People hire me because they like my natural portraits.  I don’t use backdrops or a studio (anymore) and I love to keep the portrait sessions fun.  It’s always a challenge to find a great background and something a little different, but the fun is in capturing people’s personalities.  After the tree photo, we hung out for another 45 minutes and messed around.

Funny how this one looks like a fake background and also looks more like a photo from NC than Tampa Florida.

Thanks again Frasers for hiring me as your Tampa photographer.  Can’t wait for the next time.

Wardrobe change, into Christmas dress:

Norah is a great big sister to Henry:

Bring in Mom and Dad:

Had a lot of fun guys! Thanks.

To me, photography is a passion.  I don’t know what to do with myself if I don’t have my camera with me.  I find that challenging myself to take photos of different objects helps me be creative with portraits, weddings, whatever.  As an example, I recently started helping out a buddy with food photography for a website of grilling recipes.  We did some delicious (tasting and looking!) grilled chicken wings and a few other grilled chicken recipes.  Exposing dark meat and bright flames properly while grilling is definitely a challenge!

I found out that food is very difficult to make look good!  Presentation, composition, all of the stuff that is important in all areas of photography are more aparent in close-ups of food.  Portraits, weddings and other photography I do with people just flows.  I don’t really want to position people “just so”, I would rather let people be themselves and get great natural portraits.  Food or other inanimate objects, on the other hand, don’t have a life of their own.  You have to really think about details, composition and then make it happen.

So experiment with items you take for granted.  Try to make a dynamic and interesting photo out of an inanimate object.  It will make you think about framing, background, all of the details that make for an interesting photo.  I may not be ready for the food network yet, but I really enjoy photographing food now!

As always, if you know someone looking to book a Tampa wedding photographer for 2009, I would appreciate the referral!  We are currently booking some really great couples for next year, I can’t wait!

Today is the start of a series of posts (they may not be in order, I am scattered sometimes) on lighting. Everything in photography revolves around light. You may not think you care about light or types of light, but I promise that if you stay with me, you will be able to use this knowledge to wow friends and take better digital pictures!  It will also be a frame of reference for the next time you hire me as your Tampa Photographer and ask why I suggest we meet early or late in the day or ask if there are some shady areas around :).  Let’s take a quick look at different kinds of light.

Specular == Spectacles == BAD
Specular light is what we generally think of as “harsh” light. It occurs in the form of direct sunlight or a bright flash pointed directly at someone or something. Some nasty side-effects to specular light are squinting and nasty shadows under people’s eyes, neither are too appealing in a portrait. Specular just means that the light has very little angle to it, it’s coming directly at the subject. When I think specular, I think about spectacles and burning, uh, leaves as a kid. You can use spectacles to channel light into a very direct source.

Diffused == Dispersed == GOOD
Diffused light is light that is coming at the subject from many different angles. It occurs in the form of (usually) something in between the light source and the subject, causing the light to break up and become less direct (or specular). What happens when someone “diffuses” the situation? They disperse the problem, or make it (seem at least) less direct, right? You get the picture (HA! Get it??), oh boy…

Big Light Source == Diffused == GOOD!
So we get to my goal for you today. There is an easy way to think about lighting when you are trying to find a spot to take your next portrait. The bigger the light source, the more diffused the light, and therefore better the quality of the light will be. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at some examples:

1. Overcast day. What happens in an overcast day? Instead of the sun shining directly at the Earth, there is a layer of clouds diffusing the sun, thus creating a bigger light source!
2. Bounce flash. When you bounce the flash off of the ceiling or a wall, you are transforming the light source from those few inches of flash to an entire wall or ceiling, thus creating more diffused light!
3. Umbrellas and soft boxes in the studio. The last time you went to Wally World (you should really hire a professional Tampa photographer), did the photographer have the flash pointed directly at your kid? No, they bounced it off of an umbrella or shot the flash through a soft box. Both of those techniques create a bigger light source and thus softer, more diffused light.

So What Do I Do With This Knowledge?
First of all, the ability to create a bigger light source is one of the reasons why you really need an external flash for indoor photography. The ability to bounce the light off of other surfaces is key to create diffused and more pleasing light. If you are shooting photos outdoors and it’s overcast, no worries, you have a great big, diffused light source, fill up that memory card! But if you are out on one of those beautiful, cloudless days, you need to be concerned with the sun. Find a nice shady spot to take those photos. Make sure you set your DSLR settings to use spot or center-weighted metering to ensure that the bright background doesn’t cause your subject to be too dark!

This post isn’t about damaging self esteem at an early age, it’s about the number 1 complaint I always get from people. “MY CAMERA IS SLOW!”. What’s the definition of eternity? The time between when you press the shutter release button and when the camera actually wakes up and takes the picture (at which point you missed the action). What’s the definition of spontaneous profanity? Those are the words you have to explain to your child right after they slip out of your mouth when you see the empty preview on the back of your camera…

According to fellow geeks howstuffworks.com, the average human brain can process something like 10 quadrillion instructions per second. In my estimation, the average point and shoot camera can process 2 instructions per second (or so it may seem in that moment of eternity). So the reason your camera is “slow” is because you are empowering it to make TOO MANY DECISIONS.

In time, I will explain the concepts that will demystify your camera settings and photography concepts. I learned these concepts through school and trial and error. The key to taking better pictures is to know when the automatic settings of your camera are fine for that specific situation and when they will fall short and you need to make the decisions. Most other professional photographers don’t want you to understand these concepts because they know that you can take great portraits with just about any modern digital camera (point and shoot or digital SLR)! Don’t get me wrong, I hope you hire a great professional for all of your special occasions, but you shouldn’t have to for great portraits on a day to day basis.

I also promise to keep the geeky stuff to a minimum and teach you these concepts in an entertaining way. I forgot to tell you earlier, there is actually a 2 geek max on this site. There are plenty of geeky photography sites out there where people like to compete in the game of “I’m smarter than you”. I won’t allow those geeks to participate here because they are annoying.

So please check back, comment, participate…it will be worth it. You’ll learn more about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lighting, composition, etc. than you ever thought you wanted to know. Once you start making the decisions for your camera, you will feel so much more satisfaction when you get that “perfect shot”. You will also get more of those shots!

When the Franklins arrived, I asked if they were up for a hike in the hills and they were all for it.  So we trudged through the wet grass and up into the Hills.  Amazingly we only had one wipe-out :).  The light coming through the trees, along with some haze, made for some beautiful back lighting.  We were able to use the roots natural benches and we got some really great shots.

Let me back up a little.  I first met the Franklins while photographing Melissa’s brother’s wedding.  Conner was in the wedding and one of my favorite photos from that day is of him eating his cake.  At that point in the night, I had been following Conner around for a while trying to get a good shot of him and he was getting tired of the paparazzi treatment.  When I finally snapped this photo he said “I just want to eat my cake!” (in a “I’m seriously over this” tone of voice).  It was one of my favorites from the night just because of his reaction.

Conner’s now my buddy and at the end of the Saturday portrait session he was saying “I think we can get some good photos over there”.

After the family shots, we let the kids be kids and play on the playground.  We got some really great, natural portraits while they played.

Here is Owen, who was just a little guy during the wedding.

Another memory from the wedding day was being worried that Melissa was going to go into labor during the photos :).  She was VERY much pregnant with Noah, who is now one of the happiest babies I have photographed in a long time.  I could have filled several memory cards with this cute little guy and he’s still be smiling.  He even went through several wardrobe and prop changes and was still smiling.

I saved the best “aaah” picture for last, the 2 big brothers holding their little brother.

It was great seeing and catching up with the family again.  Not only did they add another member to the family, Brent started his own business!  It’s been an exciting year for the Franklins, I am sure Brent is going to be very successful in business and I am excited for him.  I love being able to be a part of documenting families as they grow and experience new stages in life.  Thanks for letting me capture some great moments!  Looking forward to the next session…

As always, please contact me if you would like relaxed portraits like this of your own family!

-Steve

We started out with some great family shots and the girls were absolutely amazing.  They are so well behaved and made it easy on me.

The girls then took their turns alone with the camera and they are obviously naturals.

When asked if Steve Wilson was her favorite Tampa photographer, Brea gave her opinion :)!

We’ll miss you guys in Florida!  Come back to see us soon!

First Batman…Brayden makes a darn good Batman in my opinion:

Adorable:

That’s all for now.  Busy comes in waves, so lots of editing to do.  As always, if you or someone you know is looking for a Tampa photographer to document your special occasion, please contact us today for availability.

That’s why I love candid children’s photos. I always have a plan when I know there will be multiple kids involved.  Better yet, I usually bring crowd control in the form of my wife.  Props are great, but having a planned activity is even better.  In this case, I had scoped out a fallen tree in a neighborhood park a few houses down from where I was meeting the family.  I planned to get a couple of quick traditional photos and then I thought it would be really cool to catch the kids in mid-air while jumping off the tree.  We didn’t quite get the “on 3″ thing right, but it still turned out pretty cool.

First we snapped the traditional shots for the grandparents:

Then right when we were descending into chaos, we got some cool jumping photos:

Finally, we got some great shots of individual families:

Great family, great lighting and a great time!  Here is a photo of the ENTIRE family of 19!

Thanks for your patience while we tried something new!  Please contact us today if you are looking for a Tampa Photographer to capture your special occasion.

“Do it Anyway” - Kent Keith:

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, some could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Thanks for sharing it Becker.

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