I’m learning to take great pictures of my children and I hope to be able to take professional quality photos in the next year.  I had a great chat with an old friend today who is a self taught photographer.  She had some great advice and suggestions on how to get going with my photography skills.  I wanted to post some of her advice here so I could refer back to it when needed.

• If I had the choice of any camera right now I would still probably go with the d750 or maybe switch to the Canon 6D
• I think having a full frame camera makes the biggest difference
• A photographer I knew in CA told me to put my camera in manual mode and never take it off. Just tons of practice
• Also learning Photoshop or at least light room will make a giant difference in your photos.
• I love and use Phlearn on YouTube for editing tutorials and creative live has so many classes you can take
• Photography is all about light placement. You never want light directly in someone’s face because it’s flat looking in pics. You really want light to create shadows and depth.
• Golden hour! The hour leading up to sunset is my favorite. I avoid shooting mid day. Sun is too harsh
• Always try and place your subject facing away from your light source. So I almost always shoot with people’s back to the sun (research back lighting techniques)