Jessica Lemmons Photography Blog, Longview Washington (Wa.) photographer.

Want to take better pictures?

Who doesn’t? Everyone wants to capture their memories in the best way possible. And you can’t have a professional photographer 24/7. So I thought I would give you some tips on how to make your family snapshots a little better. Most of us don’t think much about it when we see a picture opportunity. Instead we run and grab the camera really fast and snap away. Right? Well, there’s a few things you can thing about to make each shot you take better.

1.) Get down to their level! For babies and crawlers, often times I lay on my belly and take the pictures. For a busy toddler, I crouch down to their level. Put your subject on a chair or steps to bring them up to higher levels.

2.) Get lots of angles. Walk around your subject and take shots from different angles. Your natural reflex is most likely to take the picture straight on. Changing the angle gives a different perspective and look to the image.

3.) Fill the frame. Zoom in or move closer to your subject. When using your point and shoots flash, stay further away and zoom in on the subject. The flash won’t be as harsh. Filling the frame takes out the distractions in the background. It helps keep the focus on your subject.

4.) Try to stay away from white or extremely light colors for clothing. Yes, I know white polos and khaki’s make for classic shots, but light colors also absorb light much more than darker colors, therefore you lose detail in your shots in bright light. Bright colors usually work best.

5.) Stay away from busy patterns and logos! 500 cars or trucks zooming across a shirt can be very distracting in pictures. It draws your eyes away from your main focus. Don’t get me wrong, some patterns are way cool for pics, such as polka dots, or really cute plaid shorts.

6.) And lastly, try to keep your background simple. Look for spots that are kinda plain, or interesting. Simple is good in keeping the focus on your child, and not what’s behind or around them. Tight shots that fill the frame help this a lot. Take a cool barn that has been weathered and fill the frame with the wall, and you’ve got yourself a cool shot.

Hope that helps in making your pictures better when a professional photographer is not there to capture that special moment. If you decide to use the information I have provided you, I would love to see what you got! Send me your shots using these tips to jessicalemmonsphoto@gmail.com

Hey everyone – a friend of mine from church has this AMAZING blog called the “Grocery Cart Challenge“.  She feeds her family of 6 on just $60 a week, and shares through this blog exactly how she does it!  Local Longview people might recognize her from her daily news column “Common Cents”.   Her blog has been a huge inspiration to me during this crazy economic time that we are going through, and her articles and recipes have GREATLY helped me with my personal family budget.   So I thought I would share her blog with you all, plus this week she is having a totally cool contest to win a free Keurig coffee maker valued at $250 – go HERE if you would like to enter the contest.

All you have to do is leave a comment with your e-mail on her blog and your in.  And, if you want to post on your own blog, I’m sure she would appreciate that too.

Enjoy!

Miss “A” arrived shortly before Christmas.  I had the pleasure of meeting her and her lovely family yesterday for some newborn/1month photos.   She was a little cuddle bug, and not to thrilled about having to lay by herself for photos.  But once we turned up the heat, she got comfortable and fell into that deep sleep that’s just perfect for those precious, sleepy newborn photos.

Congratulations to the “M” family on their new addition!

Doesn’t she just have the most beautiful eyes?  

Baby “N” was recently welcomed into the world by his loving family.   You might remember his parents from their winter maternity session here. I’m always so excited to meet newborns after doing maternity sessions with their families.   It’s so much fun to see who they look like and what their little personalities are.  This little guy was very peaceful and so cuddly.    I love newborn photography so much – I’ve probably mentioned it before, but it really is my favorite type of session despite the fact that they are typically my longest sessions (3 hours is the norm).  They are just so precious and it’s so rewarding when you get “the shot”…..I just love it. 

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. A on your precious little guy and lots of blessing to you all as you begin this new chapter in your lives!

Miss “C’s”  adoption was finalized recently and she arrived here in the United States to be with her forever mommy 3 weeks ago.   What an amazing blessing adoption is!  I felt so honored to be asked to take this precious little gals one year old photos.   She was just adorable the entire session, so full of smiles and toddling everywhere.

Thank you for having me as your photographer Julie and Miss “C”.   I hope for lots of blessing and joy for the both of you as you begin your new journey together as a family. 

Her mom bought a little cake for her to smash into – but I don’t think she knew what to think about all that squishyness and sugar, and she was totally done by the time it got on her foot. 

Last weeks floods made for some beautiful new scenery at Willow Grove beach in Longview – lots of crazy looking new driftwood and logs.   My kiddos and I (and my sister in law and her kids) made a trip down there today to play and take photos.  My kids had so much fun throwing sticks in the water and making sand castles, they were both muddy and wet by the time we left but you could tell they had fun!

My nephew “D”

My kiddos building a “king castle, NOT a princess castle” (at least according to my son)

Since traditionally January through April are the “slow” months in the wedding biz, I thought I would run a quick special for all of you last-minute off-season brides.

All weddings booked for dates between today and April 30th 2009 will receive a 20% discount off of my current wedding pricing.   Also, if purchasing an engagement session with your wedding package I will include a custom designed 10 x 20 storyboard for free!

Offer ends January 31st 2009.

Just a quick preview for Miss Sarah, she will be graduating from Mark Morris High School in Longview with the class of 2009.  It was pleasure getting to meet this sweet little gal, she had such a beautiful relaxed smile and was so photogenic.   I felt bad for her with how cold it was out – we were running around in the leftover snow and in the windy weather for the photos, and I was totally bundled up with gloves and everything and still freezing my rear end off.  She was a tough girl though, and never once complained!

Congratulations on your graduation Sarah!  It was great to meet you – the rest of your photos will be finished very soon!

I took a drive today to check out what was going on around town -  it wasn’t pretty.  I’m very blessed to only have had my yard and crawlspace flood this time around.  The Longview and Cowlitz County area has had quite a bit of destruction going on and I’m sure all of the residents here are praying that the rains let up and we can go back to normal.   My thoughts and prayers are with all of you that have had to evacuate or worse, lost your homes.

For those of you in the area, this is under the Kelso Dr Bridge looking towards I-5

Looking towards I-5 from the Grade St Bridge in Kelso WA.

Westside Highway on the way to Castle Rock WA.

Camp Kalama

I have to sincerely apologize to a few recent people.  Gmail has an EXCELLENT spam filter and unfortunately it came to my attention today that it has been eating some of my e-mails from legitimate clients.    If you have tried contacting me recently and didn’t receive a response within 24 hours, more than likely your e-mail was sent to my spam box and possibly even deleted if I didn’t catch it.  (I get approximately 300 spam messages a day!)

So please, try contacting me again, or bettter yet – give me a call at 360-431-9265.  I’ll be looking into getting this problem fixed as soon as possible!

I sincerely apologize and will do my best to take care of this problem in the future.