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Tamara's Top Tips Recap

We talked about these five things in terms of as it relates tio my top tips with simplify the shot like what can get out of the shot that you don't need and how do you pull it out as quickly as possible how can you shift situation second you direct the energy how can you be the location how do you mix things up family the nature of family is so powerful and it's so impactful way talked before about why I don't know did you guys see this one before I can't remember we talked about why you want to do that why you want to get to the root of your family is even on these shorter sessions we did for this course you get to build an understanding of how they relate to each other and then you have to find that if you remember I kept telling dad like teasing them to make dad suffer like jump around but he tended to have that experience where he thought that was a lot of fun and it cracked the girls up and so you can kind of call that up the whole time there's other experiences I've had where the...

bomb might be a little self conscious about how she looks in pictures and instead of being something where we're all kind of tiptoeing around that we address it very directly in a very sweet way and I have the children constantly compliment the monk this kind of dynamic plays out so well, it's such an interesting thing, so we go from being self conscious to like guy, stop it toe like giggling thank you think you think I do? You see the ship to see it show up in photographs and trying to hone in when you're talking about families and understanding, you know, the way they work together and how you can connect them better to each other so you can show how they are to each other better is just a wonderful tool to have in your arsenal, um, and then changing the energy that the two brothers in this family work everywhere they want to run and race and laugh, but the energy of the mom and daughter were very different. They were it was a lot more quiet and calm and dude everything's cool, it's fine on dso, making sure that we tone down our energy to match that on literally, even as I say that I'm toting that my voice to match that, the energy that I'm giving out when I'm shooting versus when I'm teaching at a quiet kind of setting like this is also very different because it's simply not doesn't make sense for me to be shouting and yelling, and this and that so. In that respect, there's actually a bit of a persona that we take on when we shoot have you guys ever noticed that for yourself having your own persona? My friend peter hurley calls it his shtick he's like I got my stick when I'm out there were actually how would you say it? I get my stick with him out there people I actually had a conversation with him he's like you've got your so I'm like no, I don't I I said I'm exactly the same with people when there there there and he's like but when you're on a shoot it is different and he's right not on purpose and not in any way no, but I'm so conscious of how I'm constantly directing it if you can think about how am I just a little bit different when I'm on a shoot than when I'm not and what works for me and how can I be a little more conscious about doing that and being that person and falling into that persona which feels really natural but building a whole style from there there's that can tie and a lot to what we're talking about when we constant question comes that paddle I stand out that cash the question comes up so much how do I stand out? The best way to stand out from any crowd is to know who you are and be really really true to it and and the best way to do that is ask those deeper questions to free yourself from self consciousness, understand what shuts you down and what opens you up and see who your persona really is and build on that. So changing the energy we did some of the water features, you know, I want to talk a little bit to this image. We had this seventeen year old wade into the water and as she went through and we found the one spot we wanted, we worked to it, we build to it, do we not like? When I started, I keep saying, did we know? Remember when we were all clicking at the exact same time how we did that, but building up to it because, you know, we're starting with her, just getting out there getting comfortable. Okay, let me do a test shot. Let me see what I am let's, look at the color about let's look at the changing everything and then finally got the one click that I really, really wanted a couple that I liked, but the one that I really wanted. One thing I note about this shot is if I don't know how you could, but when you look in, we do have catch light from the water, which is good, but it's soft and it's faint but this is a little bit more in that editorial kind of softer look and one of the questions I hear from photographers all the time is I'm struggling with sharpness and struggling with sharpness, them struggling with focus, not ever single image you produce that you love has to be so so sharp like there seems to be this lost love for justice like a soft feel. This to me is a softer image up and down, but that's because it's what isthe it's a softer image it's kind of a different look for her it's not nearly as sharp as they would be here with eyes are clear and sharp and you can zoom in and see everything to end degree. This has got that softer editorial field and there's a place for this and I build is into my shoes all the time. I think sometimes we're so super obsessed with sharpness were losing from the beauty of have looks like this that are a little more soft, fast moving subjects in low light. Well, this girl I love that every single time they saw her like twenty times, it was all hysterical everytime, like the funniest thing ever with her two dads, who clearly you could tell she's showered by affection and there's. No doubt going back to that idea belonging that we've talked about before and we'll talk about again, there's something so incredible and being able to see that so tangibly, the way people can create the belonging that they have for each other and technically working with a fast moving subject in the low late light, what do you have to take into account if you looked at the siri's of shots produced it's a working up to it? Ok, they swung her ford and he's blocked, they swung her ford and there's a little overshadow their how do I need to change my angle? How do we need to adjust the lighting? How do we get the one we're going for it's always a buildup, and then we're where the last tiny little sliver of light what do you see in terms of the incredible impact of a tiny shift in film like it completely kills a shot? Either have the feel light you need or you lose it and how much attention needs to be paid when you're in more crucial situations to having that sliver of light managed. Um the expressions and closeness this guy, that expression just cracks me up so much one of the ways you can shift everybody looking at the camera and getting a little tired, of course is to create situations where they're looking at each other I have never been a fan of just saying, okay, you look at you, you look at you, you look, I just don't do that, but instead you create scenarios where they would naturally look towards each other. I think in this case, I told him to speak to her and there to have a sexy way any time you're asking the parents to be sexy with each other it's like, hilarious to children, I mean out of the top, but anytime you're doing something that is in that way, that is a little uncomfortable and weird it's usually hilarious situation to the children, so I try to build that in quite a bit, too, and then and then just the shift in these two in terms of the strait, ford and the way they act to each other, you know, you just feel a lot more of that closeness when they are interacting. So even though most clients want that image where everybody's facing the camera, the closest often khun b better conveyed when they're looking at each other, um and then subgroups outdoor mixing that up, pulling people apart, changing looks and feels and of course, keeping that expressiveness there, every single shot I take does not have that amazing expression that I want where it looks like they're genuinely in the moment and they're really feeling it in fact a lot of the times while we're working too that I'm trying to bring people back to me I'm looking at somebody who's already kind of left the building in moshe and they're not even in their space and I need to bring them back and what techniques can you use to do that because you saw me do that so many times I'm gonna put you on the spot right here and ask each one of you wanted of a time to tell me one thing that you took away as it related specific this bringing someone back when they faded away because this is something that over and over again when I see imagery online on social media and blog's and stuff I see that a lot everything's technically good and it's a nice shot it's a good light but it just looks like people are a little bacon the smiles a little weak the eyes are a little vacant what techniques did you learn over the last few days to be able to bring us on back just enough to click the frame we start with you uh to make him do something silly like making the kids do jumping jacks or run or just kind of get them energized again and then they're pulling into it yeah and then and then instantly act on it right yeah because you see that like that will happen right so instantly act on it give him a line that would make them react differently than they would normally eso if you're trying to stage a setting and you want a very formal look, next thing you say is now park exactly now, peter hurley approach like my kids know that like I hate that word I just that word makes me cringe that and boobs I just like the rest. Anyway, we could say that a great guy right, is that worse? But keep to more but what about, like pooches? Not cuter? Okay, something that was really memorable for me was the be the destination part which I actually used last night late in a family session that I did. It was really I really resonated for me and it really worked for me, so you're pretty. But what specifically do you d'oh? I was shooting a like eighteen month old and her mom and she was really into rocks and was like super micro focused on playing with the rocks. So I gathered a lot of rocks with me. I was trying to show them to her to get her to you know, come towards me, pay attention to me and just engaged in something that she wanted to dio rather than what I, you know, wanted her to dio that was that was really helpful love that perfect day the fan watch like breathe life back into it and watch their expressions as they like relaxed and woke up and and then I think to for me what was big was if I wasn't seeing it was slowing down and realizing we can stop there and then build on it there and back in because they sometimes if you don't feel it then you're moving on versus stopping and realizing that we could add her right and a lot of that shoe is like that self consciousness feeling like oh I don't push too hard that's way just missed it let's do the next one but having the confidence to be able to say no we do that again yeah I love that I would say getting right up close to the one that you've lost and getting in to re re engage with just you yeah it was big I think because there's usually one that fades first right fight absolutely and sometimes adults yeah personally I really just love the like throw the kid in there or just that that shake it up by removing physically removing them from the situation and then having the parent kind of like do that right last minute yeah think about it like in our own life how many times you say I gotta go take a walk I got to get the coffee I gotta do something way inherently know that something has to change that we can change and that's, very much true for our subjects, and I asked people in the chat rooms as well, what they're bigger stick ways were for this atomic and ambulance says, pretty much what other folks that distraction questions, silliness. Take a break, take opposing break for a second and let them do something they want to do and then leading them back. Um, let them throw sticks and pillows at you instantly brought him into the game of I like this one. I got to say it out loud web to five for, oh, noogie, you know you're gonna hurt whatever you may think, it's a good stuff. I love it. Good, good. So, yeah, all of those little techniques added up over the course of an hour and a half shoot, and you're gonna have constant engagement, whether they like it or not.