Tutorial | How to Capture Everyday

I’m very excited to bring you a special Guest Writer today, Lacey Meyers, photographer extrodinaire! Lacey is a Mentor at Clickin Moms and owner of Lacey Meyers Photography in Oregon. She has been kind enough to give us a tutorial on how to more efficiently capture our daily life!

I know that I am not alone when I say that the reason I first dove head first into photography was to be able to more beautifully document the everyday lives of my children. And now that I am fully immersed in this wonderful hobby, I take photos of them pretty much every day. Doing so helps me to share their lives with our family that lives in other states via my blog, but will also show my children their journey via my scrapbooks.

Shooting often has become second nature to me, and I want to share with you some of the things that have made doing so much easier. Because really, it isn’t about taking pictures every day, it is about taking pictures of our everyday life. Spontaneous, real moments, captured.

Around the House:

1. Keeping my camera central in my home – accessible but safe.

I keep my camera in the same place in my house all of the time, unless I am using it. I put it on my computer desk that sits in the corner of my living room, which is totally central in our home. I can get to my camera in the same amount of time from any corner of my house, so that when I come upon a scene like this, I’m quick to find my camera!

f/2.8 ss 1/160 ISO 1000

It is very important, obviously, that this location is safe and out of the reach of little fingers and bumping elbows.

The key for me is having it OUT and easily accessible. I see it all of the time, so it is always on my mind.

2. Leaving my camera ON, all of the time (except when taking out my memory card!)

There is really no reason to turn your camera off by using the On/Off switch because after not being used for a short time, it automatically goes into a sleepy state to save batteries. So, I always leave mine on so that when a photo moment comes, I just lightly tap the shutter button to tell it to wake up and get to work!

3. Keeping my lens cap OFF

Some might debate to whether this is a good idea or not, but I leave my lens caps off when the lens is on my camera. Again, for the same reason as above – my camera is totally ready for use when the moment strikes.

I store my lenses in the same basket (that is right by where I keep my camera) that holds my lenses (stored in their nifty little bags… thank you Nikon!), battery charger, lens cleaning kit. Also right next to that basket is my grey card. It is ALL right where I know it is for easy access = frequent use!

4. Re-set my settings to a ‘safe-place’

I shoot in Aperture Priority with exposure compensation – it makes shooting quick and easy and fun (I could do whole other tutorial on that!). So, once done shooting, I usually set my camera back to a ‘safe’ setting – narrow down my aperture a bit (2.8 or so). I also use Auto ISO with my minimum SS always set to avoid camera shake (around 1/160) so that helps a lot, too, for convenient, easy shooting. If I didn’t have Auto ISO, I would opt to change my ISO to 800 while my camera is resting, because that is a very commonly used ISO in my home, and a pretty safe option to allow my SS to stay where it needs to be.

I often keep my white balance setting in CWB, because that motivates me to actually set one each time.

Out and About:

1. I LOVE my camera bag that doubles as a purse…

This has made it SO much easier to take my camera with me on outings. I have a Ketti bag but know that there are lots of options in this area (Ephiphane, Kelly Moore, etc).

Basically – I needed a bag that would protect my camera with dividers and padding, while still allowing room for my wallet, a diaper, container of wipes, my phone, snacks, etc. A momtog purse!

Also, for ease and simplicity, I typically only take the lens attached to my camera because a) I’m not going to be fumbling with changing a lens in public and b) why complicate things?

2. R5 Black Rapid strap…

This is in the top 10 of my photography purchases and has drastically helped me be more comfortable taking my camera out and about for shooting. Actually, physically more comfortable, not comfortable in the sense of ‘not embarrassed’. Plus, if I don’t have a need for a full purse (ie, on hikes, a quick trip through the mall or just over to a friends’ house), the R5 is great because it has little pockets for my little ‘stuff’.

No, I’m not endorsed by Rapid Strap… it has just REALLY positively affected my ability to take my camera everywhere, safely and comfortably.

3. Lens Hood

Even though the use of a Lens Hood doesn’t help me shoot MORE, I thought it is worth mentioning that I do use one when I’m out and about. I use it as protection for my lens – regardless of how careful I am, there are always those who will bump into me and having that protection on my lens lets me relax a little bit, and not freak out on them when they do.

And because Nikon includes them with their lenses, I have one for each!

Actual Shooting:

So… everything above helps make it easier for me to access my camera… what about actually shooting? Here are a few things that help!

1. Strategically placing my kids for their activities.

I do this all the time. I don’t think of it at all as posing at all… it is thoughtful placement! Here’s how it works… if my boys ask to play with Play Dough or to color, or whatever, and I intend on photographing them while they do, I’ll search out the best lighting and set them up there! Easy peasy! I know the lighting is usually great in my dining room. So that is where we homeschool, color, play board games, etc. rather than at the breakfast nook table, that doesn’t have nearly as nice of lighting, thought-out most of the day. Also, I put my boys in the seats that face the windows, rather than having the windows at their backs.

2.2 1/160 2200

2.2 1/160 2500

(to show the windows…)

2.2 1/400 800

I also look for little pockets of light around the house. The entire room doesn’t need to have lovely lighting! Kaden was getting out all of his books in his room to ‘read’, and naturally, I wanted to photograph it… he was however in a dark corner. I simply moved the books to the 4×4 space that had great lighting and shot away. He was none the wiser and continued on with his original activity. Still totally a real moment, just in better light.

Likewise, I have my boys’ Lego table positioned under the best window in our house – they play there a lot, naturally positioning themselves right by the perfect north facing window. So they just play away at the table or on the floor next to it, and I snap away!

2.0 1/125/2800

I should mention however - I don’t always manipulate the situation in this way. I embrace high ISOs and work with what I have… spontaneous moments happen with or without great light!

2.0 1/160 800

And in all of these situations, I move myself of course, too, so that my position captures the best light on my subject as well as being sure not to block it.

1.8 1/125 4000

2. Photographing in my home everyday has motivated me in other ways!

To clean my house! I’m not even joking here – total truth! Ever since I have began photographing our daily lives more, I clean-up more! The clutter bothers me in my photos, so that motivates me to be more efficient house keeper.

OR, to avoid the messes that never seen to go away, I get down on my subjects’ level, shoot wide open, and let the mess blur into my DOF.

To keep the majority of my walls white/light colored and not totally kick myself for choosing light colored carpeting. This helps with the lighting and like I mentioned before, I set my CWB off of my white walls fairly often!

To have few/no window coverings… it does help that we live in the middle of nowhere and have no peeps looking in! Otherwise, open up your shades to let in as much light as possible.

2.8 1/125 3200 (7d)

To keep my kids’ faces clean! Drool from my teething baby doesn’t always bother me… real life, right? But left-overs from lunch? I make sure to wipe them off!

2.2 1/400 800

2.2 1/640 800

…okay, well, sometimes the mess adds to the story…

To usually have one of my boys in a white t-shirt or white socks for WB checks, if necessary. This certainly isn’t fool proof – but helps in a pinch!

3. And when shooting away from home…

In restaurants… I’m not hesitant to scope out the lighting by the windows and request sitting there.

I don’t ALWAYS take my camera with me every time I go out… that prevents it from getting overwhelming! I don’t worry about taking photos every time we go on a walk, go to the zoo, or to friends’ houses.

When I’m in public, I think confidently about what I’m doing and act like shooting with a camera the size of my head is totally natural. I figure if I look like I’m not anxious about it, others won’t wonder what the heck I’m doing, photographing my kids in Costco or Red Robin.

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2.2 1/125 1250

Organizing My Photos:

1. I upload to my computer everyday! Usually after my kids are in bed, I load the photos onto my computer and format the card immediately after.

2. I organize my folders by Year, Month then Description. I used to go by year, month, and date, but had a very hard time finding my photos that way. So, rather than the date, I use simple keywords to describe the bulk of the photos.

This works for me because generally I don’t take photos ALL day long. I’ll take photos of my boys playing outside, or of our evening walk, or of Kaden learning to feed himself. Of course random moments pop up, but spreading out my shooting in this way helps, again, to not get overwhelmed. I am not focusing on documenting every little thing they do in a day, but rather special tidbits that make up our life.

3. Once uploaded, I cull them in Bridge, rate the keepers with a 5 star rating and pull them into ACR. I love to edit, but if you don’t have the time or desire, at least send them through ACR and make basic tweaks. Then save as jpegs… we take our photos so they will be seen, right?

At the end of my workflow, within my “Description” folder, I have 2 subfolders: JPEG and WEB. This makes it so easy to go back for printing, blogging, and deleting RAW files (yes, I do that. ) That process can take me 15 minutes up to an hour, thanks to syncing in ACR and batch processing in PS.

You might still be shaking your head thinking, “That’s a lot to think about!” But really, it’s as simple as keeping your camera accessible, being familiar with where the optimum lighting is in your home, and WANTING to document the moments that make up your everyday life. (I probably could have saved us a lot of time and just written that! )

Thank you so much for sharing those wonderful tips Lacey! Lightbulbs kept going off as I read through them!

If you aren’t already familiar with Clickin Moms, you will absolutely LOVE their community! The forums are full of not only talented photographers, but of regular folks who just want to learn how to use their cameras better! No need to feel intimidated or “not good enough”, everyone there is super supportive and genuinely want to help you grow your skills. I know you’re going to LOVE it as much as I do!

You can sign up today to receive a 7 day trial membership to Clickin Moms at the discounted rate of $1 (normally $7) by using the coupon code ONESTORYDOWN

Don’t wait though, this sweet offer expires next Wednesday October 26, 2011!!!