Our June meeting was another great night with our lovely photo group women! We were originally slated for a live shoot, but the weather decided not to cooperate with us, so we were forced inside.
In “Anatomy of A Photo Shoot” I discussed my tips and tricks for optimizing your own photo shoots of friends and family. Especially as beginners, it is easy to get overwhelmed when prepping and executing a shoot, and they can feel like they move very quickly! Over on our Facebook group page, I’ve posted the full notes for our June class, but here are three quick tips to give you a taste of what we covered:
1. Make sure your equipment is ready at all times. I prefer to actually “prep” for the next shoot immediately after I complete one. Once I arrive home, I import my photos, format my memory cards, and then I also like to set my camera at the same “baseline” settings every single time, so I know when I grab my camera exactly what it is already set at so I can quickly adjust as needed. (For me, my “defaults” are ISO 100, auto white balance, f/4 or so, and shutter speed of 1/200 seconds–yours can be whatever you’d like, but I do think it’s helpful to have some sort of standard in place.)
2. When working with large groups, take the photo of the biggest group first (i.e. the whole family) then dismiss people as needed. For instance, whole extended family first, then immediate family, then kids alone.
3. When working with babies or toddlers, make the most of inopportune times. When baby is crying is a perfect time to zoom in and get some macro shots of the hands or feet with a wide-open aperture. Nobody will even see the blurred out screaming face in the background 
For more tips, head on over to our Facebook group and join in the fun!
And join us for our next meeting…
Details: July 17, 7-9 p.m.
Assignment: do your own photo shoot (either with your own family/child or a friend) and bring in a resulting photo. Come ready to talk about your process, what you would do differently, and what you are proud of.