iPhone Camera Tip!

I love the portability and convenience of the built-in camera on my iPhone. I use it [A LOT] to capture the little moments from our day-to-day lives. I have discovered a few things that have helped improve the quality of the images I snap with my iPhone and I wanted to share some of them with you!

iPhones are smart, but sometimes mine doesn’t see what I see! Occasionally, the person or subject I am trying to photograph is blurry and the background is in focus.  Or the foreground is in focus when I want something in the background in focus. Or maybe I can't make up my mind and I want to try both scenarios out.  Smart as that contraption might be, it can't read my mind!  (Somebody quick, build and app for that!)  If you run into this problem too, here's how to manually select which area will be in focus. 

After you turn on you camera, frame the subject or scene. Then tap on the screen where you want the photo to be in focus.  It will temporarily put a box around the subject or area that you tapped. This will be the new focal point of the picture. You may also notice the photo will brighten or darken depending on where you tap. (More on this later!)

Give it a shot the next time you try to user your camera phone.  Or give it a whirl now so you're comfortable with it before the next Kodak moment passes you by!  Your Christmas tree and ornaments would be a great scenario to try this out! Changing the focal point can change the whole feel of a picture!

Purple Mountain Majesty

My goal for 2011 is to capture the perfect photograph of Mount Rainier at sunrise. For those of you who know me, you probably think I'll be as likely to snap a shot of a unicorn or a pig flying! I'm not much of a morning person so getting up before Sunrise is an extremely rare occasion! I did however, rise and shine early one morning in February to capture this series. It's not "THE ONE", but it's a start!

Trikes & Grass

I LOVE the summertime! Not only because of all the fun things we have going on and the warm weather and the popsicles and the swimming and the BBQ'ing....but I digress. I also LOVE the sunlight this time of year. Each season has such uniquely warm evening light and while I am surrounded by beautiful scenery year round in this awesome state, I can't say that I always get to take advantage of the light.

Anyway... here are a few summery shots I took after Easton's birthday. His aunt & uncle brought him this super sweet, vintage tricycle for his birthday. I can't decide what I like better about it, the ape-hanger-ish handlebars, or the streamers. Wait a second....... are streamers for girls????? Hmm......

Sweet Series

Last weekend we had some seriously gorgeous sunshine! I brought Easton outside to soak up some sunshine while it lasted and caught this sweet series of candids. (Well, they are sort of all candid at this stage, aren't they?)

Small Town USA

Got a new lens yesterday and was dinking around in the front yard with it. I snapped this shot went totally vintage with the processing and LOVED IT!!! What do you think?

Project and HELP

This year I really hope to hone my skills as a photographer and I know that to do this I have to shoot every single day. While I do shoot almost every day, I tend to shoot the same subjects over and over again. Make no mistake, I love those subjects (mostly my son and husband) but unless I step outside of my comfort zone, I know that my personal growth and identity as a professional will suffer.

In an effort to fix this and get those creative juices flowing, a photographer friend and I have decided to take on a bit of a personal, creative challenge. The idea is to take a series of photos each week and produce at least ONE high quality image inspired by the assigned weekly subject or concept. This is someting that a lot of photographers have done to try to find inspiration and exercise a "think outside the box" mentality.

Below is a shortened list of subjects and concepts we were able to come up with. But how can it be a true challenge if the subject is something we pick out ourselves? I would love to know what YOU would like to see us shoot. Please leave me a comment here or pop over to my FACEBOOK discussions tab and let us know what you come up with! Our goal is one year, so we will need at least 52 inspirational topics, subjects or concepts.



Cocktail
Door Knobs
Mailboxes
Green
Water
Street Level
Texture
Profile
Dessert
Light
Medicine
Hot

Thanks All!


OH! And just for giggles, here's a shot of Easton in the Sunday sunshine over the weekend! It was beautiful!