This Morning on GMA

I love GMA. It's my morning habit (for as long as it takes to get ready for work, anyway). Today, a segment aired where Joe McNally provided some tips and tricks geared towards those who managed to get a camera for Christmas. I listened closely - it's always good to learn. Some highlights:

1) Although the camera is a machine which does most of the work for you, you still need to know your camera and learn how to use it.

2) Group photography - this can be one of the most difficult types, especially if children are involved. You have to direct the group, get everyone in line, make sure everyone's eyes are open, etc. The best way to handle this is to tell everyone exactly what you want them to do, and take many many pictures. This way, you can guarantee that everyone will look good in at least one of them. I can relate to this - here's one that turned out very well:



I directed everyone to stand like this and smile. My sister, my brother-in-law, and my niece definitely do a great job of taking direction! :)

3) Get close to the subjects - here's a good one:



Any closer, and my sister probably would have slapped me. But, you get the point. :)

4) If you're shooting landscapes, find some visual interest in the foreground. I'm actually not very good at this. I tend to go for sweeping, beautiful landscapes. Or lots of colors, like here:



5) Move the camera around - funny - I do this ALL the time. I'm the one you'll find lying on her stomach, standing on a bench, squatting, or crawling somewhere. Here's an example:



I stood on the base of a statue to get high enough, and to be able to capture the entire section of the building. Had I stayed on the ground, the top half would have been cut off.

6) Remember that you can still be spontaneous. In fact, it's easier - you can take many, many candid shots without having to wait for several days for the film to develop (like in the "old" days). This served me well in New York:



My subjects were moving around A LOT. They were playing around, and I grabbed my camera and started shooting. Some of the pictures were blurry, but this one was really good (in my opinion).

All in all, I follow most of these tips anyway, but I really want to improve my landscape photography. Where and how would you like to improve? Which of these tips will you try?

Till tomorrow!