Tips for Taking Great Family Photos

Your Secret Ingredients cookbook has two major elements: your recipes and family photographs. It is this combination of family memories, stories, recipes, and photographs that make your cookbook project so special. Because photographs play a major role in creating your custom cookbook, I want to give you some tips for taking great photographs!

The photographs we frame and share are the ones that evoke emotion and capture our most favorite memories or the personality of our loved ones. The following tips will help you make your photographs even better!

• The Rule of Thirds. Did you know that placing your subject in the middle of the picture is generally not the best option? The Rule of Thirds is one of the best photo tips out there! Simply divide up your image into thirds vertically and horizontally by imagining a tick-tack-toe grid in your viewfinder. Where the lines intersect are the most powerful points for placing your subjects. Click here to see an example from Kodak’s website.



• Make sure that you are on the subject’s level. If you are taking pictures of kids or pets, actually kneel down to take better pictures.



• Avoid distracting backgrounds. A plain background always compliments your subject.



• Know when to use your flash. Turn your flash on to take pictures of friends and family outdoors on a sunny day. If you are taking pictures of people who are more than five feet away from you, make sure your flash is on. If your subject is within five feet of you, use your fill flash. If you are taking photos of Holiday lights at night, be sure to keep that flash turned off!



• Double-check your lighting. Make sure that the lighting is complimentary of your subject. Shadows and bright sunlight can produce shadows or highlight your subject too much.

Be sure to check out Kodak’s Top Ten Tips for Great Pictures for more tips. Also, check back with us tomorrow to learn more about enhancing and editing your old family photographs!