{On the countdown} - Maternity, newborn, child photographer Ballito Durban

I had such a great shoot this morning. I'm sorry to admit that I get tummy envy... or rather envy-at-tummies-that-are-so-neat-not-like-my-hippo-style-tummy-I-get! Strange to think I did it four times over, when you consider that I am such a heffalump when I am pregnant.

But not this mommy-to-be. Such a gorgeous neat tummy. Wish I could share more... but alas, you only get to see a little peek:

Winner announcement

And... [DRUM ROLL PLEASE]... we HAVE a WINNER!!!

Completely randomly chosen by random.org:



Congratulations entry number 33... aka Lesley Schwartz!!!!!

Please would the winner make contact with me to discuss your prize!

And to everyone else who didn't win: if you entered my competition, and book a photo shoot and use it with in the next 3 months, I will give you a 10% discount on whatever package you choose! See? Everyone's a winner :)

And keep coming back for upcoming specials, competitions etc.

Lovely tummy - maternity newborn photographer Ballito Durban

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: pregnant women are just beautiful. Having been pregnant four times, I can say, with all honesty, that you don't FEEL that way!

But that's one of the reasons I love taking maternity photos, because then these beautiful moms-to-be get to see themselves how I see them... And how, of course their hubbies see them... Which is beautiful, of course!

After having had weeks of on and off rain, I was nervous that we'd have rain for this shoot. This mommy-to-be liked the outdoor shots, so rain would have, well, rained on my parade! But the weatherman played nicely, and we had the perfect weather. Gorgeous fluffy, slightly moody clouds, with blue sky in between. Making me one happy photographer... And helping add to these lovely photos.

Here's a sneak peek on what we got up to:

Tip #5 - Using Aperture Priority

I'd say, given the nature of what I do as a photographer, that probably 95% of the time, I have my camera set to Aperture Priority. Aperture Priority is the AV (Canon) or A (Nikon) on your camera.

As I have mentioned before, photography is all about light. Effectively your aperture is how wide the opening is to the camera's sensor, and therefore controls how much light is hitting the sensor (along with, obviously, the speed of the shutter as discussed in last weeks tip). Apertures are expressed in f-stops (said just like it's written... it is not short for "full stops!). I'm not going to explain f-stops and how they work... it's really quite technical.

Again, remember this simple little rule:

The WIDER the aperture = the "smaller" the "number" (f-stop) = the shallower the depth of field (the less in focus) = the faster the shutter speed.

Ok, so you're saying... so what? What does that MEAN for me, and why would it matter? As I have mentioned before, sometimes you want to control how much is or is not in focus. As a portraiture photographer, I often like to blow out the background.. I particularly love lots of bokeh.. oh, beautiful, beautiful bokeh! And what about that wedding photograph of the bride in focus, and the groom a few paces behind NOT in focus... or the other way around? That, my friends, is controlling the aperture.

But, it gets better.

Look at the line above (have you memorised it yet?): aperture and shutter speed, as you know, are related. Perhaps you have a fast moving toddler? You need to up your speed, right? Well, widen up your aperture, people. Set your aperture to f5.6 (or higher), and your speed will be faster than at say, f11. What does this do? Well, if your speed is fast enough, you'll freeze motion. Sure, you're gonna have to remember where your focus is.... because again, if you're widening your aperture, to increase your speed, there's a chance, if you're not careful, that you're going to focus on the wrong thing. But swapping between modes constantly- well, not always practical, particularly if you're chasing after a fast moving toddler. So 95% of the time, I keep it on one mode, and adjust the aperture based on how much detail I want in focus, what the light is doing, and the speed at which my subject is moving.

Effectively, what using aperture priority will do, is when you widen the aperture, you allow more light in, meaning that the speed at which your shutter opens and closes will increase. Likewise, when you "stop down" to a smaller aperture, this allows less light, which will in turn slow down the shutter speed.

But likewise there are times you HAVE to have more in focus. If, for example, you have a large group of people, and they're all at varying distances from you. If you set your aperture really wide open, you're not going to get all of them in focus. Great, if you're going for that look. Not great if Granny wants a picture of all her grand kids on her wall, in a group... she's not looking for your creative genius, she's looking for all of her grand kids to be in focus, so that she can ooh and aah at her great gene pool.

But it's more than just speed and focus. For example, on a really bright sunny day, on a wide aperture, you could overexpose your image (that's the nasty bright white image). Stop down a bit to a smaller aperture. This will allow less light, equating to a better exposed image.

So try this example:

1. Line up all your kids about a metre apart, one behind the other. Take a photo down the line (so all kids are in the picture), first with a really wide open aperture (say f5.6, or f2.2 if you have a lens that is really wide open); then secondly with a small aperture of say f16. Be warned, for the second you'll need a tripod. If your kids won't stand still, try the same example using chairs.
2. On a bright sunny day, at the beach, take a picture at the widest aperture you can, of a bright subject, like your child. Blow outs? Stop down the aperture only, and see at one point there are no longer blow outs, and your picture is correctly exposed.

When you're taking pictures, watch what the speed is doing in relation to the aperture, and visa versa. You see, it's not enough to simply SNAP AWAY. A hit and miss scenario is never going to make you a better photographer... it just makes you lucky when you get a great shot.

This takes time, and it takes practice. And be warned: you're going to get worse before you get better. But in the end, it will be worth it!

Tip #4 Using Shutter Priority

There are various manual modes on the camera. For simplicity, I am only going to speak about two of them being Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority.

For this week, we'll chat about Shutter Priority. This is the TV on your Canon or S (I believe) on your Nikon. There are lots of great books on the technical aspects of these modes. This is not the place you'll find technical info. I really want to keep these tips simple.

Here's what you need to know to start experimenting in this mode:

1. This is basically the speed at which the shutter on your camera opens and then closes.
2. Because your camera is all about light: the shorter the shutter is open, effectively the wider the aperture is required to be:

In short:
The faster the shutter speed (= The bigger the number "after the "1") = The wider the aperture (= The smaller the aperture "number")

So, to give you an example, a shutter speed of 1/1000 (One one thousandth of a second) is really fast, vs  a speed of 1/4 (a quarter of a second) which is relatively slow, and would elicit camera shake if your camera was being hand held.

Probably the most important "rule" to remember is that anything slower than 1/60 requires a tripod.

I tend to favor Aperture Priority as a general rule, because I do portraiture photography, but there are times when speed is of paramount importance.

An easy example is if you were shooting a rugby match. Think of it like this: the faster the shutter speed, the quicker the photo is taken. Therefore, if you have something moving at high speed, but your camera's speed is slow, the subject will be blurred. More often than not, particularly for those "mommyographers" out there, you want your subject in focus, particularly if its Timmy kicking his first soccer ball. So, you pump up your speed, and the fast shutter speed, freezes motion. Remember though, that a fast shutter speed will require a wider aperture, meaning less will be in focus... So make sure your focus is on Timmy, and not the field behind him, meaning he will be a blur, but the green grass around him will be beautifully in focus.

But, as with all things, sometimes rules are meant to be broken, and slowing down your shutter speed can help create a sense of motion.

Look at these two examples below. In both pictures, my sons were riding their bicycles, and in both, their bicycles were actually MOVING, probably at not too dissimilar a speed. And yet, in the first, he looks like he is simply standing, relatively still, on his bicycle, and his bicycle isn't moving. In the second, you get the feeling of motion. No, everything isn't perfectly in focus. But I wanted the audience to FEEL the motion in the second picture. It should be added that in the second photo I was panning, hence why it isn't a complete blur.




Try these examples:

a. Put your camera on a tripod, set your speed to 10" (10-seconds), and take a photograph of water running and splashing. Look at how it blurs the water, creating a sense of motion.
2. Try panning: set you shutter speed to around 1/40, have your son ride his bicycle, as he rides past you, take the picture, and follow him with your camera. It takes some playing/ practice to get this one right (particularly the focal point, which you have to set either before your subject is in front of you, or while following the subject)... But the reward is wonderful!
3. Set your shutter speed to 1/500, and take a picture of someone throwing leaves in the air. Do the same picture with a slow shutter speed (on a tripod) and look at the difference.
4. Take a photo just as the sun has set, on a bridge overlooking a highway (please make sure it is safe to do so, and preferably do so in a group), at a really slow shutter speed like 30" (30-seconds). See how the lights and different colors blur. Play with this, it can create amazing images.

Do you see that sometimes the need to create a sense of motion, exceeds the need for perfect focus?

Remember that really, photography is an art form, and it's more than just taking a picture: what is it that you're trying to tell your audience? What is the feeling you're trying to evoke? Nice pictures are fantastic. But photographs that make you FEEL something are quite magical!

Start playing!

And, if you have any questions, or want to share some of your excitement, I would LOVE to hear from you. Mail me at taryn@tarynvanrensburg.co.za.

{Baby E} - Child Newborn Maternity Photographer Ballito Durban

Girls girls girls!! I love taking pictures of girls. The curls, dresses, and sweet girly smiles make me happy happy happy!

And this little girl had a thousand expressions. Here are a few for her sneak peek:

{DB family} - Newborn Child Photographer Durban Ballito

And then there were 5!

Having had four children of my own, I like to say that every mother should experience a third child. Yes, I know it's not ideal for world population and global economy... but being a mother of a third child is wonderful. You're past the "first-time-I-don't-know-anything" stage, and past the "oh-my-goodness-what-was-I-thinking-doing-this-a-second-time" stage, and, well, it's just wonderful. It's just... so.... well.. easy!

This is an amazing family. Such sweet older kids, doting over their baby brother. And he's a little fighter this one! Welcome baby {C}.