How to Instantly Improve Your Event Photography

Hey everyone! 

Glad to know you're reading. And I'm also happy you choose me to learn from! You're going to learn exactly the same techniques I use when I photograph events. And you'll be able to implement those quickly because all of what I do is pretty simple but the results are amazing!

I wasn't always good at photography but I became better each time by looking at other peoples work. This would become my  inspiration and photo techniques. I would study their picture and figure out where they were standing, the angles in which they took them, the distance they photographed from, etc. Then I review the information of the photo and that's how I came up with my own set of techniques/ideas below! 

1. Stand behind people/things

This technique is my favourite during events. It's a simple trick I use when there's lots of people around. I'll point my camera into a concentrated area of people and I'll quickly look for someone right in front of me to use as my foreground blur, then I look for someone that is either significant to the event or someone who stands out in the crowd. Now is when I focus on this person and snap my photo. But before I snap, I wait till I see them with a smile or other positive expressions!

The benefits of standing behind people and/or things are; 

• You'll create a visual story. 

• You'll be less noticed by guests and it'll be much easier to capture authentic expressions

2. Photograph all the details

I love photographing the decorations at events. It's always beautiful and it's great for your clients to look back on and reminisce about all the details of their event. It's special memories for your clients to cherish for a very long time. That's why its so important to take all the pictures you can of the small intricate details. Sometimes people are busy having fun and miss out on those details.

When I take pictures of the tables, decor, centre pieces, etc, I make sure that I'm using my 50mm 1.8 lens. It's my favourite, favourite, favourite lens!! It lets me get in a little closer to my subjects and has a beautiful blurry background that I love so much! Use a steady hand to take your picture and be aware of your surroundings because you don't want people in the background. Sometimes it's not possible but try to get photos of details without other people.   

The last and most important thing is to edit. I use Rooke & Roover Camera Raw and Photoshop. You can also use PicMonkey.

If you try out these techniques/ideas for your next event, you'll see a dramatic difference in quality of image. This will easily transfer into confidence behind the lens. 

Good luck,

Jessica.

Thanks for reading!

4 Very Genius Food Styling Tips For Your Next Shoot

Do you want to learn some very cool food photography tricks?

I bet you do! 

Have you ever wondered how the top food photographers make their dishes look so mouth watering? I've wondered the same thing. As a regular consumer of food, I know it almost always never looks like what it does on the internet or television. So, how exactly do they do it? What are their secrets? 

I'm not here to tell you something you already know. I want to tell you about all the food styling tips you never hear about. I want to give you the knowledge of knowing how that dish made steam, or how they made those water droplets and much more!

I've included a few of my favourite food photographers in the links in this paragraph. Clinton Hussey, a Vancouver based commercial photographer is a perfect example of striking food imagery. Foodie Photography, Annabelle Breakey and Maya Visnyei are three other examples of very skillful individuals worth getting to know. Their work is inspiring.

Food Styling Tips For You!

1.  Glycerin Water Droplets

This is a cool trick if you want to create fake water droplets that won't evaporate (as quickly)! The recipe is simple. 50/50 parts water and glycerin. Use more or less of the ingredients, if you choose.Quick tip, you can create tiny droplets if you spray close to the bottle, or if you want bigger drops, spray farther. 

2. Make Steam with Cotton

You can make fake steam emerge from any dish with a carefully placed cotton ball. All you have to do is soak one or two cotton balls in water and microwave it for 30 seconds.

3. Make Your Cake Sparkle

Sometimes cake can look dull and dry, to fix this problem, food stylist use hairspray to spark life back into it. It's very simple to do, it's just spray until you are satisfied with the result.

4. Use Mash Potatoes for Ice Cream

Ice cream melts but mashed potatoes don't! They both have similar textures and you can dye mashed potatoes any colour to look like an ice cream flavour. The best part is that you can photograph potato ice cream for hours!

I hope you have enjoyed these 4 clever food photo tricks and that in the near future you use them to produce extraordinary photographs.  

Helpful Tips For Your Motion Picture Film

Do you like to film stuff? Are you good at filming stuff?

If you said yes, then please read on. You'll find this tutorial to be helpful and inspiring. So grab your DSLR and your tripod/monopod (or steadicam) and have it ready. Because at the end of this post, you'll be planning and going out to shoot your own motion picture film you can show off to your friends and family.

Before we start, we should talk about your theme of choice. Are you looking to do funny, scary, sad, adventurous? Do you want to send out a message at the end? Whatever you decide, you need to make the necessary planning to achieve the look and feel of what you're looking for.

In order for your film to work out, you need a very solid plan and schedule. Take the time to properly plan your entire production. It will save you time, energy and money. Speaking on the topic of money, it's a good idea to set up a budget if you do plan to spend. Typically, budgets are fixed amounts. Too often things can get over-budget very quickly, so plan ahead. 

There will be some challenges with this movie but once you're finished with it, a flood of nice emotions will lighten you up! 

Before we begin, get paper ready so you can write your ideas as you read.

1. Film it slow.

It sounds unusual, yes. But there is an explanation. Filming a scene slowly grabs as much details from the scene as possible. It also creates a less confusing and rushed atmosphere. 

The best way to film something slowly is to use a steadicam. It will glide your camera smoothly across your scene. If you don't have a steadicam, you can build one yourself. I have posted 2 of my favourite Youtube diy steadicam tutorials below. 

2. Give it the Cinematic Look

Cinematic looks are much warmer and deeper. It makes it look less "filmed straight out of camera" to a more intense experience. 

Just as important, you should change the aspect ratio. Change your composition to 1920 x 800. Click on the links below for more details. And go here to read about it.

3. Keep Dialogue to Minimum.

Words will carry more weight when actors/actresses speak less. Of course that doesn't mean you have to turn this into a silent movie, your characters can talk. Personally, I just think you can absorb a lot more information from a scene when less is spoken.

Well that's it for tips

I had fun writing about this topic and I hope you took something away from this to help you create your movie. Now, all you have to do is plan out what you want and how you want it filmed. Work really hard to plan it out and make that schedule. Work hard and have fun.

How to take beautiful pictures of flowers

Would you like to learn how to take beautiful pictures of flowers? Of course! They are the easiest to photograph and you can have fun doing it too. 

Floral photography is very beautiful. It's a relaxing type of photography because it doesn't talk. You have complete creative control. And some flowers smell really nice! There is literally nothing bad to say about floral photo taking. 

It's only a pleasure to photograph.

Now onto, how to take beautiful pictures of flowers. It's quite easy, you see. The first thing you need to do is to go outside. Maybe it's your backyard or you're walking in the streets of downtown. It is now your mission to find a beautiful flower. The funny irony about this is, you can find a pretty flower in the most ugliest place, or vice versa. Where ever you do find it though, just make sure your camera is ready.

Now, it's not terrible to use your smart phone to snap a picture because they've come a long way from low pixels. Smart phones are quite remarkable in its photo quality these days. Sometimes you aren't able to tell the difference between phone and DSLR's images. So yes, you can use your phone. It has colour editing software for enhancements. But for most of the time, a DSLR is the way to go. 

So now that that is ready, you are now able to take your picture. I use the "no flash" setting on my camera but you can use whichever setting you are comfortable with. Sometimes I experiment with different settings because I want to familiarize myself with them. I'm guilty of having no knowledge or lack of knowledge with at least 60% of the camera settings. It's sad. I wish I knew more but whenever I try to at least learn how they work and what they mean, I just get lost and very confused. But don't worry, I'll try again and again and again, until I know. 

It's important to get the framing right. Composition applies to every type of genre. It enhances the photo and gives your picture the balance it needs. There are many kinds of ways you can frame your picture. I will list the ways in which you can achieve them below:

Rule of thirds - This rule places the subject 3 thirds into the photo. Left or right. It's great if you want to include part of the background into your shot. Just make sure that the background is blurry. 

Fill the frame - This rule places the subject fully into the cameras frame. Every detail is focused on the screen. It is different from a close up but that can depend on the size of the subject.

Lines -  This uses "leading lines" in a photograph to draw the human eye along the lines, whether they be, curved, straight, diagonal or otherwise, through the photo.

Try these "rules" out and see how it works out for your photography. You might find that you enjoy using the rule of thirds (it's my favourite) or lines or which ever! It's important to test out different angles because that's the only way you'll know if something works or not. 

The next very important part of floral photography is editing. Of course, you took a very well framed photo of your flower but your camera makes it look dull. It needs a little something extra like colour enhancements and contrast adjustments. Maybe a little sharpening up. It all depends on what you think it needs. I bought photoshop actions a long time ago and it comes in handy anytime I need quick editing done. I bought actions from a designer that created very dreamy and bright actions sets and it really does spark up a photo. These actions from Phlearn are beautiful too! If you are using a smart phone, you can probably find a photo editing section in  your photos folder. I know that iPhones have a great editing software included inside.

So if you completed all of my tips then you're well on your way to a beautiful image of a flower! It really is a simple and relaxing genre of photography.