perfect-gift

With an Introduction by Gary Bernstein

Mother's Day is one of the truly special picture days of the year. And who better to write an article about how to make wonderful images than legendary portrait and wedding photographer, Monte Zucker. Here are some priceless tips from a man who has spent a lifetime creating lasting, loving images. Remember, you can always see Monte "in person" in the video programs at www.ZugaPhoto.TV and on the "How to Take Great Pictures" DVD. And now, the master?

Whether you take pictures, yourself, or go to a professional photographer, it's up to you. The bottom line is that there's no more perfect gift for mom than family portraits. They'll be treasured today, tomorrow and forever. There'll be no "returns" on these gifts. That's for sure.

Of course, professional portraiture has an edge on most all do-it-yourselfers and should definitely be your first consideration. This is especially true now when studios have digital capabilities and training. They can, at the least, create images that can be framed, hung in the home and in the office?and have them ready for Mother's Day regardless of how late you are in planning.

But now there are so many people with their own digital cameras, it’s a good idea to get some ideas as to how to really take advantage of their capabilities. Whether you’re the mother, yourself, the father/husband, or one of the kids, here are a few ideas that will definitely help you get results that would be the ideal present for mom.

Select the clothing for everyone in family pictures very carefully!

To keep the picture simple, unified and effective you have to plan clothing. When you dress everyone in similar colored clothing the bodies all blend together and you're attracted to the faces. All light or all dark colored clothing works great. Stay away from bright colored clothing, prints or anything about the clothing that would attract your attention away from the faces and to what the people are wearing.

Stop! Don’t be tempted to put a huge bow on the top of your baby’s head. It will take attention away from the baby and stand out much too much in the photograph.

Find controlled light and background when shooting outdoors.

Going outside for really good family pictures is easy, but getting good results takes careful planning.

The best location for an outdoor picture is a place in which there is no light coming from overhead. . Where the light comes from a single direction, and where you get light into the subjects’ eyes. An ideal place would be under a covered porch, under a large umbrella, under the outside edge of a tree, or simply close to your house…. where the light would have to come from the opposite direction.

Photograph from the shadowed side of your subjects out towards the light. When you do that you’re creating photographs with roundness to the faces, a feeling of depth on a flat piece of paper, and using light to separate the figures from the background. By photographing from the shade out into the light you won’t blend the edge of the subjects with the background.

Editor's Note: Monte Zucker is just one of 12 great professional photographers that appear on the new ZugaPhoto.TV DVD entitled "How to Take Great Pictures."

Learn the basic controls on your digital camera.

Setting the white balance to automatic is not the best way to go. Instead, use the simple signs that direct you to sunlight shade or flash. You’ll like the results much better. When using daylight inside the house keep your white balance on shade. It will make the skin tones look beautifully warm-toned. If you’re using flash, then of course set the white balance to flash.

If you’re in bright sunlight, set the ISO to 100. When you’re photographing in lower light level, set your ISO to 200 or even 400 if it’s a really low light level. This will definitely help you have a better chance at getting a well-exposed picture with plenty of detail throughout. BUT when working in low light levels keeping the camera on a tripod is a MUST! Otherwise, you’re almost certain to get blurry pictures. You simply have to have a steady camera if you’re expecting to get good results.

You can set the exposure to automatic, if you like. That usually works well for starters. Fortunately, you can see the results immediately on the back of the camera. If you feel that your subjects may be moving around and not holding still, set your camera to shutter priority. Check your instruction book to see which symbol that is.

Editor's Note: Once again, the DVD "How to Take Great Pictures" is a one-stop source for inspiration and great instruction. It's great to watch pro photographers in action. And in addition to being able to watch Monte make family photographs, he does a special section on "everything you wanted to know about digital photography!" A must for every shooter.

Turn off your flash. Use available light in the shade whenever you can

Turn off your flash when photographing in low-level light. It flattens everything out and takes away from the naturalness of your subjects. For this portrait I looked for a simple background that wouldn’t take away from the subjects. There was really no great background there, so I got my camera up high, using just the grass behind the family group for a background. I backed myself up to a light colored building. Even the light in the shadows of the building was bouncing off the wall onto the faces of this family group. That’s what put the light into their eyes. A pileup like this is fun for everyone…. especially the kids. The little boy in this portrait was very active. He would never have sat still for a posed picture. So, I put the father flat down on his stomach, piled the mother on top of him. As soon as he saw his mom climb up on his father, he ran to jump up on top of her. The rest is history.

Use window light inside the house…. but use it wisely

Inside your house it’s possible to take gorgeous photographs simply by using the light that’s coming in your window. There are a few things to look for when you’re doing this.

First, keep your subjects at least 3’ from the window. It’s really not necessary to stay close to the window. As a matter of fact, your pictures will look much better when you’re NOT close to the window.

Make certain that the light is getting into your subjects’ eyes.

Turn your subject to the light, but keep the side of the face that’s closest to the camera in shade. When you photograph into the shadowed side of the face you’re creating beautiful depth in the photograph.

A fun way to get children together for mom’s surprise picture is to simply pile them up. It’s certainly a great way to start, because everyone is having fun and it gets you off to a great start. Here the oldest is on the bottom with each successive brother or sister piled on top as they get progressively younger. Plan the picture before you begin. SPOIL the children until after you’ve finished the picture session!

It’s not a bad idea to include the mother, father or both with the children. Sometimes you have better control of the children with the parents included. Whatever you do, keep the picture session fun. Picture time is not control time. Let them get away with murder when you’re working with them. You can "kill" them afterwards! When working with groups it’s a good idea to first place the center person and then try to get the others to lean into that person. Try to connect them with the way they’re leaning into each other and/or the way you get them to touch one another.

Work with a composition of faces in mind. A group of four can be two in front, two behind – heads in between each other….not on top of each other. This group of five is three in the front row, two behind and in between….all facing almost directly into the window light. Try to keep all the heads equal distance from each other. Keeping all their clothing light and using a light background blends all of their bodies together with each other and with the background. The attention, then, goes straight to their faces. Expressions are the most important ingredient in every picture.

Quite often sisters and brothers don’t even want to TOUCH each other, much less hug each other. This is another time to spoil the kids. “Do it just once for me!” “Do it for mom!” “Just DO IT!” The way I got the expressions from these three kids was to simply ask them to “SQUEEZE!” Of course, afterwards they ended up choking each other, but that was with my approval. It’s a good plan to try keeping the heights of their heads according to their ages. The oldest should be the tallest in the picture. It’s not always the case that it works out this way in real life, but everyone loves it in a picture when it shows up that way.

Don’t necessarily look for a “pretty” background. Quite often people look for the prettiest background they can find when taking their pictures. The result? The background quite often takes away from the subjects. The location for these portraits was on the front steps of a church. The diagonal lines of the steps provided an easy way to create an interesting composition. The people aren’t just standing in a straight line. See how they’re all grouped together, so that each of them looks good individually and they all look good as a family group. Did you notice the handholding?

Here in the same location two little sisters were photographed wearing plain colored dresses or nighties. When photographing small children full length leave plenty of room around them in the picture, making them appear small in a large world. Get the feeling here?

A cousin of the other sisters really looks her age with all that space around her, doesn’t she?

When you’re fortunate enough to have three generations together at the same time, it’s a perfect picture taking opportunity. No careful posing was necessary here. Just keep heads close together and your fingers crossed that you can get everyone smiling at the same time. What a lifetime memory for all for of them, huh?

Finally, how about a mother’s day pictures of all three cousins together? Keep the camera on a tripod and hope for the best. Be ready for anything and take advantage of any opportunity that comes you way!

Keep it simple! Keep it fun!

The simpler the better! The more fun you’re having when you take your pictures, the more fun will show up in them. You want to have memories that become priceless treasures for years to come? Start now. No better time to begin than this Mother’s Day. For more tips, articles, and to watch some great photography shows from the only photography network in the world, stop by and see us at www.ZugaPhoto.TV!

Show off Mom's photos here!