Choosing a Custom Child Photographer

We here at the SCPS absolutely have fallen in love with this new site, and wanted to share it with you. The site is all about choosing a custom photographer: why you should, how you should go about it and the reasons for custom over chain photography.

After reading that site, come back to the SCPS and browse our registry for a custom child photographer to fit your needs!

http://www.professionalchildphotographer.com

Welcome New Member!

We are so pleased to welcome Vivian Matos, of Vivian Matos Photography to the SCPS! Vivian specializes in Maternity and Child Portraiture in the great state of New Jersey!

http://www.vivianmatosphotography.com

Welcome aboard, Vivian, we are proud to have you!

Inspired Childhood E-zine!

We just released the June Edition! Contact us if you are a Professional Photographer interested in receiving our magazine!

Our First Image Comp Winner!

Congratulations to Janice Morse of ADC Photography!

Janice’s winning image brought in more than double the votes of any other image! Janice will be featured in our June edition of our new magazine Inspired Childhood (which is set to debut within the week, we are waiting on last minute articles to be finished), she will be the Featured Artist on the SCPS web site, and her images will be featured on this blog throughout the month!

We will be having another Image Competition this summer, so be sure to start shooting for your winning entry!

Congratulations again Janice….well deserved!!

Voting is closed!

Voting has closed for our Spring Image Competition!

Check back tomorrow for the results!

Our First Member Image Competition!

It is finally here! To view and vote for your fave image, click on the link below and you will be taken to the Images Page. You should scroll through the contestants and choose your fave for the winner. At that time, click or copy/paste on the SCPS EMAIL (scpsmember@gmail.com), and referencing the photographer’s name whose image you want to vote for, EMAIL us!

The winner will be posted May 1, 2007. You may vote as often as you have different email addresses, but one vote per email addy is all you get!

Thanks for helping us choose our very first Image Comp Winner!

http://integrityinart.com/imagecompmain.htm

Member Image: Shoot the Moon Photography

Our members have the option of having their images featured on our blog, and Krista of Shoot the Moon Photography was gracious enough to kick us off!

Krista Schumow is a natural light photographer specializing in unique black and white children’s portraiture. Offering services to families in Lake County Illinois and surrounding areas.

Please visit Shoot the Moon Photography at www.shootthemoonphotos.com

Member Article: How to Take Better Photos of Your Kids!

If you’re a mother, (especially a new one) I would bet you are taking more photos now than you ever did before. Especially if you are shooting with a digital camera and can play and have more fun with your images.

I have several customers who are devoted scrapbookers and they all agree, the more photos you have the better! Even the mistakes and not so good ones can make really fun scrapbooking projects.

To help you make your photos better than ever, we’ve come up with a few helpful hints that might just help you not only improve your photography, but also have you trying things you never thought of before.

Have you ever taken the “perfect” picture of your children swimming in the pool or playing in the yard, then you get the image printed and the kids seem so tiny in the photo? Happens to the best of us. So next time, get as close to the action as you can get. Maybe even get in the pool. Changing your perspective can really get your creative juices flowing. Try laying on the ground and shooting upward while your child is walking toward you, or while they throw a ball in the air. Kids love to play games like this and you will have a blast.

I absolutely love taking photos of kids just being themselves, investigating the world around them. The next time you’re in the backyard with your kids, just sit and watch. You’ll see tons of terrific expressions. If your camera has a zoom lens, use it. Try to get close-up shots of those adorable faces without them catching you.

The next time you go to the park with another adult, have them engage your child in fun play and sit back and enjoy taking one fun image after the next. Grandma’s are really great for this, plus you’ll have lasting memories of the two of them sharing time together.

As for grandmas (and grandpas, too) try doing some different things with them and your child. Have grandma sitting in a sunny window reading to your child, or maybe tucking your child in for a nap. These will be priceless to you in the years to come, guaranteed!

Another fun way to involve family members is to take photos of your child’s hand resting on top of the older person’s hand. It shows comparisons in size, shape and age. These can really be stunning in black and white.

Watching your child grow through photos is really fascinating. You can see the subtle changes from baby to toddler to pre-school and all the way up to adulthood. I’ve met a couple of parents lately doing some really fun stuff to emphasize this growth. One mom in particular has really got a great idea. She photographs her two little girls in mommy’s wedding gown and her son in his dad’s high school jacket every year. I have another mom who has her child stand next to a tree that was planted the year the child was born.

Here’s a fun scrapbook idea - Start off first thing in the morning before your child wakes up. Using only available light, photograph them while they sleep and continue while they start to wake up. Take pictures at the breakfast table and off and on throughout the day, finally ending up back in bed, tucked up for the night. Then you can do “A Day in the Life” of your child.

Take photos of them doing normal things, that you maybe hadn’t thought of as photo opportunities. How about while they are getting a haircut or reading a book., or even doing homework?

Anytime you have enough available light, turn off that flash! You can take advantage of the natural light by setting the ISO on your digital camera to a higher speed, therefore needing less light. This will eliminate all “red eye” from your images and you will get a softer feel in your photos. Oh, and don’t forget to turn the camera sideways occasionally. If you are doing a photo of your child standing in front of you, turn that camera around and fill up the frame with the little rascal. Don’t forget to move in closer.

Another way you can take better photos, is to pay close attention to your background. Try to keep it simple, nothing too busy or your child might seem lost. Watch for items directly behind your child. The branches on a tree could turn out to look like antlers on your child in the photo.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the way you compose your images. If your child is moving in the photo, leave room in the frame of your image for the eye to follow where they are going. If your doing a full length shot of your child, cutting off part of their head would not be a good thing. But if you are taking a close-up of your little sweetie, don’t be afraid to crop in tight even if it means loosing part of the top. That will make the eyes your focal point.

Are you photographing digitally? If so, what are you doing with your images? Don’t just leave them on your camera, make sure and save them on your computer. But even that’s not enough! What if your hard drive crashes? You’ll lose all of those precious photos. So always remember to back up your images to a disc and store that someplace safe, like a safety deposit box, or a fire proof box at home. Most importantly, have some of them printed – and not just on your home printer. Those will fade over time, so get them printed at your favorite one hour place so you can enjoy them every day – even without your computer!

They’re only little once, so go crazy and have some fun with your photos!

Lori Reeder
Moments Photography
www.MomentsPhoto.com

New E-Magazine!

In May (ok, it may be June actually), the SCPS is proud to unveil its new e-mag: Inspired Childhood! The magazine will be for our members, and will contain tons of great stuff: from an in-depth interview every month with a different Child Portrait Specialist to step-by-step articles on the newest trends in editing and retoucing, all explained by experts in the field!

We will be opening the Vendors Area to advertising from non-members, so please email us at scpsmember@gmail.com for rates! Members will be able to place their ads for free, so another incentive to apply for membership!

We cant wait until launch day! Keep checking back!!

Finally!

We had some shake-up in the management sector for the past few months, so basically it is all in my lap now. But thats OK, I like doing stuff like this.

I am working on getting the contest up and running, so look for that within the week. The winner of the contest will become the new Featured Artist of the SCPS. You will be able to read an interview with the Artist, his or her bio, and view the beautiful images they have created, all right here on our new blog!

Please feel free to contact us at scpsmember@gmail.com for information!