Welcome to the first Tuesday Photo Tip!

This Tuesday series will cover many topics, from beginner to advanced photography.

I have learned so much from other photographers, and I am excited to give back to my community.

I am not claiming to know the right way or answer to do everything, this is just what works for ME.

If there is any topic or question you would like me to cover here, please feel free to leave a comment on this post, email me (contact link above) or write on my Facebook wall (click HERE).

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This week I will start with a photo I took this past weekend.  I got several questions and comments, such as “how did you do that”, “how did you pose everyone”.

Nikon D300s  50mm

ISO 800   f/4.0   1/1000

I have to admit, posing has always been my weakest point, until this past year.  I committed to learning all I could about posing & un-posing (suggesting a certain action i.e. everyone crack up).  I still have plenty of room for improvement, but would like to share with you a few tips that have stuck with me along the way.

1. Let people be people & take your time. I told my girlfriends to ‘stand here’.  I then proceeded to take my sweet time adjusting my camera settings.  If I had taken the picture right away, they wouldn’t have had time to start chatting and making each other laugh!

2. “Connect with each other”.  Images have more meaning, at least to me, when the subjects are interacting & touching.  I told them they had to be touching in some way.  They laughed and fooled around, but eventually this is how they connected.

 3. Make triangles when you can.  Earlier in the day this came up in our conversation.  Triangles flatter people & photographs.  I am on the far left, and my arm and leg is making a triangle, and you can see a few others remembered too!

So, you may ask, did I lug my tripod and gear out to the field?  Heck no!  I grabbed my camera on the way out the door for our short hike, not even thinking I would take a groups shot.  But the light & the mood was right, so I made it work and this is how:

I moved them to be in good shooting distance from this stump!

(How ’bout the iPhone 5 photos?  Lovin’ it!)

I propped my camera up with some dry twigs to get a better angle!

Keep it simple, keep it fun!

 Please leave a comment if you have any questions or ideas for the topic for next week!

~Kathy