There's no way any of us can remember it all and that is where our photographs take center stage.  They remind us of friends and relatives long past, houses we grew up in, haircuts we should never repeat, personal victories and world travels. When we look through them, we appreciate the emotional content the most. So the question becomes, how do I do that better? How do I tell the story in a way that will bring me back to this specific moment in time and allow me to relive it even just for a second?

The first step to better photographs is when you reach for your camera, quickly stop and ask yourself, what is the story that I am trying to tell? If the story is of your baby picking up her first Cheerio, that story is small. What I mean is that it only needs to include her hands, the Cheerios and maybe the determined expression on her face. We do not need the rest of the room, the laundry pile or whatever else is behind her. Conversely, if your kids are standing in front of Cinderella's Castle at Disney, that story is bigger and needs to include the castle and more background. The practice of asking yourself this question and being more mindful when you shoot will create images that tell your story much more clearly.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the story is different for everyone. Your most heartfelt images may not speak to me as they do to you and vice versa. You were there and I wasn't. So, don't worry too much about whether or not your images will speak to a stranger, think only about how to make them speak to you and the people in them. That is who matters the most. Whatever you do, don't get discouraged as you practice. Photograph as you would if you were taking piano lessons. Make yourself practice often and know that, with each shot, you get a little bit better. Your fingers become more nimble at the controls and your eye is being trained to see the story. Don't fret about missed opportunities or mishaps, not even the pros get the shot every time. Your families will be grateful for any part of the story that you tell.

When I look at this image, I see Sayer's funny Christmas skull socks. It makes me smile because, like me, he has an affinity for patterned socks with crazy stuff all over them. Finn does too. I love it that he's still wearing the Christmas ones in July. Steven always shakes his head at us and our silly socks. This picture was taken on the beach in San Francisco where we spent the month of July (go backwards on the blog to see what all we did). It makes me think of San Francisco and how cold the water was but they ran and played in it anyway. I also think about the day we bought those shoes. We had to have THOSE because they came in a cool box and had lights. In the not too distant future he won't want shoes with lights and might even only want to wear white socks. For now though, this picture is pure Sayer.

I'd love to see your pictures and hear your stories. Please share by leaving links to your images, blogs, Flickr, etc. in the comments section below. If you like, you can add your images to our Monday Lesson Flickr Pool. Don't be shy, your input makes this all so much more fun for everyone. Happy Monday friends!

Come check out the new site, Farrah Braniff Workshops!

Please pass the link around to your friends. I would very much appreciate a tweet, Facebook share, forward or whatever you can do!

If you have any requests for classes, please pass them on. I am also looking for creative people to come teach with me. If you know of anyone with a cool crafty skill, please let me know!

It's really crazy what we can do with our images in this day and age! If you can dream it up then it can be done. It takes practice learning the various tricks and it also requires developing a sense for when to keep going and when to stop. We've all seen the picture where the digital artist just went way to far. When you overdo digital retouching, you end up with people that look like mannequins. "Too far" is a matter of taste too and not something that everyone agrees on. Some people disagree with retouching as a whole.

Like everyone else, I have my own ideas about how much is too much. My goal is to make you look just like you, but on a really great day. I would never want someone to see the image and make a comment about it. It needs to look natural.

Today, I thought I would show you a pretty typical example of the kinds of things we do to my images. Here is an image straight out of the camera with NO retouching or cropping.

Overall it's fine but there are a few issues that we need to address.

The biggest issue was how the woman's earring looks like it is attached to the man's nose. That had to be fixed for sure! I removed the earring completely. Next, I removed some of the stray hairs along the man's neck above his collar. I also removed some stray hairs on the woman's face between her hairline and eyebrow. I also cleaned up the stray hairs right where the tops of their heads met. I removed the doorknob hole on the doors in the background as well as another dark spot. Then I removed the second catch light in the little girl's eyes and brightened the irises very slightly to show off their pretty brown color. I used a filter to smooth the skin tones overall. Lastly, I finished it off by adjusting the crop. Here is the final version:

I know that some of these issues were small and I could have let them go but I definitely think the details matter. I think it is part of what people are looking for when they hire me to create photos for them. I like how the little bit of polish makes the message stronger and allows your eyes to move around the image without hanging on little distractions.

What about you guys? Do you have any opinions on how much is too much? Do you have any before and after images that you would like to share? If so, please leave your thoughts and links in the comments sections below. You can also add your images to my Monday Lesson Flickr Pool. We'd love to see them!

I've given a few lessons here about how to make the background of your images soft and blurry by using your f-stop controls. One of the things I think people forget about is that depth of field works behind AND in front of your subject. You focus on the subject using your camera's auto or manual focus (in the case below, a rock out in the ocean). Your choice of f-stop will decide whether or not the background AND foreground are also in focus.

Image 1, the foreground is blurry

f-stop 2.8, shutter speed 1/8000 of a second, ISO 400

Now, it's your turn! You have an assignment this week. I want you to go out and take sets of images like this one. Focus on a subject further away and put an object on your foreground. Experiment with making the foreground object in and out of focus. I really would love to see your results. Post links to your images in the comments section or add your images to my Monday Lesson Flickr pool.  Good luck!

When I was in art school (mot sure if it was my art high school or art college years) but someone told me that for every roll of film you shot, you should be happy to get one awesome image from it. That stuck with me and I still hold to the idea that for every 24-36 shots I take I am hoping to get one really good one.

When I photograph children at my studio, I take anywhere between 100-200 shots on average. I may take more if the child is having a blast and doing really well or we do a lot of different set ups. I may take less, especially if the child is slow to warm up or a baby is fussy. Either way, I aim to cull that group down to 40 or less.

To give you a visual example of how I choose favorites, I have included three images from a studio session that I shot last year. We photographed him in normal clothing but, at the end, tried on his costume just for fun. Of the 15 or so shots of the costume, these 3 are my picks. This first one is the best looking at the camera shot of the group and I love his hands and the way he has them together.

Even though he is looking at us in the first picture and not in the next one, I actually like this next one a little better. I love the big puffy costume and his turned face. It has just a little bit more personality. I like how the costume looks puffier, the antennae are dropping and it's giving him a little belly. He's also looking over at his Mom, which is super sweet.

This next one is my favorite. There's just something a little bit more interesting about his expression than in the first one. I like the way the hood is around his face in an asymmetrical way. He never gave me the huge smile while he was dressed up, which would have been awesome of course, but I still love what we did get.

So, here are some thinks I consider in general when culling and editing for a client session:

1. An overall variety of poses and expressions.

2. Including all the outfits if that is a request (I usually try and limit changes to 2 or maybe 3).

3. I try to include close-ups, full body shots and 3/4.

4. If I am shooting for a particular product or item (for example: birth announcements), I make sure and include the things I might need for that.

5. Any special requests from the parents.

6. Images that really illustrate a milestone.

7. Images that really highlight the child's personality.

8. Technical issues: removing images that are not 100% sharp or not well exposed, etc.

9. I may take multiple images of a single set up trying to perfect the composition or the exposure. In that case, I would cull down to the best of the set.

If I am editing down a set of images for myself, I think most about:

1. Images that really show a sense of place (especially if I am traveling).

2. Images that show my children's personality.

3. Milestone images (quirky things specific to how old they are).

4. Anything that shows relationships.

5. Images that I know will help me remember what it felt like to be where I was or seeing what I was seeing.

6. Often when I am shooting, I will take several exposures of a given scenario- perfecting as I go. When I go back to edit down, I choose the best one from a series like that. The "best one" may be better technically (sharper, better exposure, better composition) or it may be better for the expression.

7. Images that tell a story either about the day or the people in the photograph.

I try to be pretty aggressive about my editing simply because I do shoot a lot and I have to be reasonable about disc space. I try and keep only the best. I can usually get my personal shots down from 100 to 40 no problem. Millions of images stored on my computer don't benefit any of us. I try to keep only the ones that really illustrate that moment in time.

I struggle a little bit more with client images because I want to make sure and give them them enough choices but use my own expertise in editing down to a reasonable number. With that in mind, if you are photographing for someone else, you need to make sure and include some for them to say no to. Allowing a viewer the freedom to pick their favorites without overwhelming them with far too many choices is a thin line to tread. That is something that comes with practice.

How about you? Any thoughts on editing down sets of images? Please share them in the comments section below!