The Art of Organic Photography

This article is all about Organic photography.

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Photography is a hobby for many but a passion for a few. In our day to day lives, most of us simply enjoy taking pictures, uploading them to the web, sharing them and preserving them for generations to come.

Photos are our way of looking back and cherishing those special moments in our lives - those special moments captured never to return. Being successful in taking pictures and making them seem real is an art on its own - a separate art from the typical point-and-shoot snapshots - and it is only certain people who can capture the moment and make the picture speak more than a thousand words.

It is not only children who like to have their photographs taken but also adults, as it gives them a chance to capture a moment and treasure it forever.

Looking at soft, warm pictures, full of emotions, always melts one’s heart and it is a feeling which can forever be preserved and treasured whether offline or online in galleries such as flickr or photobucket. In and around San Francisco Bay Area, in places like Palo Alto, Berkeley and Oakland are homes to many families from very diverse ethnicities and cultures, who enjoy having their portraits taken - both adults and children alike.




Talking about renowned photographers, we must make a mention of Anat Reisman Kedem (also known as Anat Kedem), who is one such lady for whom photography is a passion and a way of life. She lives in Foster City, near San Mateo, San Carlos, Belmont and Burlingame in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA - and specializes in taking pictures of babies, toddlers, children (kids), pregnancy, maternity and families.

Anat Reisman Kedem has been recognized many times for her skills - and has a track record of shooting quality pictures, unique photos in natural lighting and surroundings in places such as Menlo Park and Sunnyvale, home to Silicon Valley companies, such as Intel, Cisco, SanDisk and Adobe - as well as the Great America park and the Round Table Pizza chain of restaurants.

Hillsborough, Atherton, Los Altos are beautiful small towns and home to generations of families living together. Natural settings as such can really make photos stand out - whether everyday photos or holiday season photos for Christmas, Hanukkah and other holidays where family pictures are a joy to share.

Anat Reisman Kedem summarizes it best when she says:

"I believe in taking pictures in a soft, natural ambiance and lighting, creating an atmosphere which adds depth and dimension to my photos. To that end, I generally try to photograph either in the late hours of the afternoon or in the early morning hours when the sunlight romances the lens. While photographing, I will seek the alternative angle, that special look, an honest expression, or a captivating smile. Pre-orchestrated or directed poses are practically out of the question. I simply don’t believe in doing things this way."

Located at the tip of the Bay Area is Los Gatos, which borders with San Jose, San Carlos and Santa Clara. This town has many small and large families, with a setting that serves as a real time, amazing backdrop and opportunity for taking photographs which showcase the town and its lovely residents. The suburban town of San Mateo is part of the Bay Area and has many country style houses which form the perfect setting for that cozy photograph. Known for the Coyote Point Park, its golf courses and beach - as well as its proximity to the San Francisco Airport (SFO), the ideal Mediterranean climate here paves the way for a calm and comfortable life. Sausalito and Tiburon in Marin Country, as well as Redwood Shores, Foster City, Alameda and Santa Cruz also provide waterfront scenic backdrops like nowhere else - a perfect setting for perfect photos.

A person can not only enjoy the visuals but also learn more about a person through photographs. And in this way Anat has gone to prove that it is not necessary to have studio lighting, layers of makeup, or a designer dress for a person to look great and resonate warmth - be yourself and let your personality and natural aura shine through the photos, taken in a natural setting with no "artificial preservatives" of any kind. In a sense, it's organic photography. And it's a talent only a few photographers possess.






Encyclopedia Of Twentieth-century Photography

Top Tips For Achieving Great Children's Photographs

In my work as a pro photographer I would guess that a good 70% of my images are of children. As a result I have discovered various methods of achieving the completely natural images that people love. There are many things to remember when trying to capture children’s images. There are some methods that work and some that don’t, here are a few hints that I have learned along the way.







Don’t rush into things.

Children can be very shy at first and it takes a real skill to get a child’s trust in a short period of time. I have an advantage over studio photographers in that I regularly shoot out doors (about 95% of the time). This means I can often meet the children at there home or a place familiar to them which makes it easier for the child to be relaxed. Having arrived at the location I set about gaining the child’s trust and breaking down the shy barriers. This is essential if I want to capture the completely natural images I have made my name on. I never take the camera equipment in to the house straight away. I’ll leave it in the car until I feel the child is ready. This also helps the parents to settle down. Its important to realise each little one is an individual and as such there is no hard and fast rule of how to treat any of them.

Timing

Not only is your timing of each shot vital but also the time of the day. Children normally run on a routine that involves sleep, food, drink and play. If you schedule the shoot to take place in anything other than a child’s natural play time you are asking for trouble.

It should be fun for all involved.

If you want to capture natural expressions of joy (and who wouldn’t) then the only way to achieve this is to make it fun. Depending on the age group the way this can be achieved differs but the basic guideline is, you play by their rules. Find something that would entertain them. For example for 0-4 year olds can be easily distracted with a bubble machine. For over 4’s perhaps a kite or remote control car something that is both colourful and enjoyable. What you are aiming to achieve is a happy child who soon forgets about the camera and really is having great fun.

Don’t force things

As any parent will tell you trying to get a child to do something they don’t want to do is as close to impossible as things get. You can guarantee tantrums and tears follow if a child is forced into doing something they’ve decided they don’t want too. The trick is to get them to want to do whatever it may be. Constant praise is all that should come from the photographer on how well they are doing. When I’m photographing children and for whatever reason they decide that they’re not going to lie down / kneel or even stand I try once and then move on to something else. Ten or twenty minutes later I’ll come back to the original pose and try it again, nine times out of ten this will succeed as the child has forgotten about not wanting to do whatever it was and we get the shot. As is mentioned before, you’re playing by their rules.

Be prepared

You never know what each second holds when photographing children especially when you’re outside. Many things can make fantastic photographs, throwing stones into a lake, patting a dog, throwing leaves all this and more. If you switch your camera off and put your lens cap on it’s a sure way to miss fantastic unscripted moments.

I hope these points have made sense and will help you next time you take on the challenge of photographing children. I wish you all the best!

Taking Portrait Photos with Blurry Background and Understanding Depth of Field

We have all seen beautiful photos where the object is perfectly focused while the background is blurred. Such a photo can be very dramatic and might seem to be hard to shoot. In this article we will give you a few tips on how to easily take blurry background photos that will impress your friends and family. You will also better understand what Depth of Field is and how to control it.







Depth of field (also known as DOF for short) is the most important thing to understand before shooting a blurry background photo. Depth of field is defined as the range in which the photo is in focus. For example an infinite depth of field means that the photo will be in focus from a certain distance from the camera and up to infinity. When taking a blurry photo the goal is to set the depth of field just around the object. In this way the object is in focus while the background behind it is not.

How do you control the depth of field? After all there is no “depth of field” menu in the camera (wouldn’t that be nice…). Depth of field is an optical figure that is influenced by a few factors:

The distance of the object from the camera:

This is obvious to understand when taken to the extreme. Shooting an object 10 feet from the camera will result in a smaller depth of field than shooting an object 100 feet from the camera. Obviously shooting an object which for all practical purpose is infinite distance from the camera will result in the camera focused on infinity and the depth of field being infinite too...

The aperture:

The wider the aperture (f number decreases) the smaller the depth of field and vice versa: the narrower the aperture (f number increases) the greater the depth of field. Just remember that the depth of field changes along with the f number: when the f number increases and depth of field increases and vice versa. Unfortunately you can not just change the aperture as you wish. Changing the aperture results in a need to change the shutter speed (either manually or the camera can most likely do that for you automatically). The wider the aperture the more light that penetrates the lens and the faster the shutter speed needs to be so there is a limit to how wide you can set the aperture to.

The focal length of the lens:

The shorter the focal length the greater the depth of field and vice versa the longer the focal length the smaller the depth of field. For example if you use normal lenses at somewhere around 50mm your depth of field will be much greater than if you use zoom lenses at 200mm. With long focal length the depth of field can be extremely small. For that reason zoom lenses are a good choice in order to shoot a good blurry photo that is practically focused only on the object.

After understanding the theory it is best to go to the field an experiment. You will get a sense of how your photo will look like and how blurry the background will be after playing with different lenses, different apertures and different distances from your object. If you own zoom lenses start with taking photos of a relatively close object while using your zoom lenses. You will find out that it is extremely easy to get a blurry background photo using this method even without setting the aperture. Once you feel comfortable with that setup start changing the aperture and also change to your normal 18mm-55mm or similar lenses.

Most cameras allow to manually change the aperture by putting the camera in “A” mode – while you are changing the aperture the camera will automatically set the shutter speed accordingly. Some cameras allow you to manually set both aperture and shutter speed.

In conclusion shooting dramatic blurry background photos is easy with some minimal understanding of depth of field and some experimenting.