Focus on Photography- Summer through the eyes of children

As we near the end of summer, I reflect on the summers from my childhood and the activities that I thought were so great; some of which, I now think that they weren’t as exciting as I remember.  Looking back on this summer and the things we have done as a family fondly.  Since we didn’t do a big vacation this year, I wanted to make the most of our “staycation.”  I asked the kids about their favorite events and was surprised at their answers.  This got me thinking about my article and I wanted to share my thoughts about summer photos and layouts.

To really make the most of the wonder of childhood, it’s important to look view summer through their eyes.  Imagine you’re seeing things for the first time, or bigger than life.  Take photos from their perspective or take photos of how they are seeing them.  Capture their favorite moments and their excitement when seeing new things.

TECHNICAL TIP:  Light, our most important consideration, is in abundance in the summertime.  Use it to your advantage!  The sun is high in the sky and as bright as can be. Shoot with your subjects back to the sun or late in the day.  Photographers love the “golden hour” – the hour just before sunset.

Another fun idea is to add some whimsy to your photos.  In this example, I used my Lensbaby Composer Pro with the sweet 35 optics to add blur.  It’s a perfect way to really show the magic of the moment.  You can also use the blur features to mimic the tilt-shift effect.

 

Other ways to add whimsy to can be done within Photoshop when editing the photos.  Try a Black and White conversion to add moodiness, or increasing/decreasing the contrast, depending on your mood and photo.  And, what better way to add whimsy than to grab an action shot!  Missed it the first time?  Don’t worry, kids love action shots and are always willing to try it again, and again, and again.

 

Another great idea is to hand the camera over to the kids.  As I was pulling up photos for my Project Life pages, I came across this gem that my daughter took on one of our short trips when I’d given her my phone to play with.  I love that instead of looking out the window at the passing scenery, she was watching me.  I look at it now with fond memories of our little trip and can’t help but smile. 

Here is another example.  My son took this photo of my husband and I relaxing at the pool.  Going to the pool was a huge hit for the kids; so thankfully, we spent a lot of time at there this summer.

And one more example of a photo my son took.  The advantage of letting your kids take the photos is that you get to be in some of them, and at the same time, the main subject is my daughter and her excitement as she points out the monkeys at the zoo.

Now that we’ve looked at summer through the eyes of our children, let’s highlight them in our scrapbooks!  I’ve chosen A template from the Summer Time set by Jimbo Jambo Designs.  This template shows a perfect blend of highlighting the photos with my journaling to tell the story of our day at the fair.  I used papers from Gina Miller’s Whisper set and a Journal Card from Valorie Wibbens’ Cotton Candy.

The Circle of Life template is simply perfect for the carousel LO for the opposing page.  Here, I used papers and elements from Vintage Carnival by Sahlin Studio & Jenn Barrette.