These are a few ... er, 39 ... of my favorite things

A few of you have asked recently about my camera and photo-taking skills, or lack thereof. I’ve gotten a few private e-mails as well, so I figure now is as good a time as any to share with all of you my vast, immense knowledge about photography.

This really shouldn’t take long, since my expertise is pretty much limited to pushing a button.

"The rules of how to take a good picture, as per Kristie!!!!":

{crickets chirping}

Kidding. Even though what I know about photography could fit into a thimble … a very small thimble …. a tiny, pixie-fairy thimble …. I’m happy to tell you what works for me. Let me say first of all, that there are lots of professional photography sites out there giving tips and pointers and offering online classes. Lots of people who know WAY more about picture-taking than I could ever learn. But if you want to visit a website that I think has some of the most beautiful photos on the web, go to Pioneer Woman. She’s an amateur photographer … or at least she *was*. She actually had her first gallery showing this week, so maybe that makes her a pro now. Whatever. Bottom line, her photos are wonderful. And I’ll share with you my four tips, and favorite 39 photos; along with how they apply to me (and to her site, which seriously, you need to go see!)

Suggestion #1: Buy the best camera you can afford and learn how to use it. And for law’s sake, if you haven’t gone digital, go do it already.

I’m not saying you need to spend your life savings to get a good picture. But a quality camera can certainly make a difference in the quality of image you capture. My camera is a Canon Digital Rebel SLR; 6 megapixels. When I bought it, it was quite cutting edge, and I felt a little Ansel Adams-ish. Now, three (four?) years later, it’s obsolete, but I still love it. Yes, you can get decent shots with those little 2 mp digital cameras you throw in your purse, but a digital SLR gives you much more control over your settings, plus the beauty of digital means you can take 200 crappy pictures in search of five or ten good ones. I probably delete seventy-five percent of the photos I take because they suck, but that’s ok. It doesn’t cost me any more than the time it takes to push the trash icon on my camera's control panel. If you haven't gone digital, don't be intimidated. Just do it; you won't be sorry, unless maybe you're a professional film photographer with his or her own processing lab, in which case why on earth are you wasting your time reading pointers from someone like me?!?!

Make sure you get a camera with at least 6 mp. Sure, you really don’t need that many unless you plan on blowing a print up to poster size …. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken a regular image, and zoomed in and cropped a smaller portion of the image. The more pixels you have, the more you can crop and zoom and still get high-quality images. You might think a person’s close-up photo is wonderful, but if the photographer is anything like me, it’s only because they’ve already cropped out the trash can and ugly car and frowning sibling in the background.

I also use my camera on all automatic settings. I use auto-focus all the time, and auto-flash almost all the time. I have no idea what is with all the f-stops and aperture and shutter speed and mumbo-jumbo. I tell you that because the people who know how to *work* their camera, completely intimidate me. And while I'm sure I could get better pictures if I had a better working knowledge of how to make my camera work FOR me, I still think I do a pretty decent job with auto-everything. You can, too.

I do use the different modes on my camera …. Sports, portrait, etc. Best thing I ever bought was the telephoto lens, and I recently purchased an external flash in order to try and improve my indoor portrait photography. Again, you don’t have to spend millions, but if you buy quality equipment, you’re off to a really good start. And after that, like Pioneer Woman says, just practice, practice, practice. I can tell a huge difference in my own pictures, just through the last year or two.





















Rules #2-4 to follow. And yes, I’m aware that this journal entry is nothing more than a blatant excuse to post photos that I love of my family. So excuse me if I just gaze at my own website all day, and think about how stinking cute my kids are. It's certainly more pleasant than listening to them fight all the time, which is certainly more par for the course around here lately.

PS. Was I the only one with a huge knot in my stomach tonight during the reveal show???