The majority of what most people photograph are people and pets. Whether they are using a professional camera, a point and shoot, or their phone cameras, most people take photos of their friends, family, kids, and pets. So I put together a small list of helpful tips to help you improve your photos with this subject matter.

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Tips for taking better photos of people/pets:

• Move in closer to the subject – cut out all the noise and background distractions. Even move the subject (if you can) to be in front of a more simple background.

  Even though there is a busy background behind him, since I got close to him and put some distance between him and the background, he stands out more.

• When photographing kids or animals get down on their level – most pictures of pets and children are from up above, when you get down to their eye level it makes them more important visually.

• Don’t be afraid to take more than one photo, try different angles – with digital photography it doesn’t cost you anything.

• Putting distance between your subject and the background will also minimize distractions and emphasis to your subject. This will also help blur the background if you want that effect.

• The eyes are the most important part of the face, so if you are taking a photo of a face put those in your area of emphasis/focus.

• Leave a little bit of room in your photo for cropping because not all print ratios (4×6, 5×7, 8×10) are the same. This will help from unwanted cropping of your photo when printing.

• Only use your flash when you absolutely have to, the light from your on camera flash is very unflattering.

• If it is a bright sunny day, don’t have your subjects look directly into the sun – you’ll just have squinting eyes. It is much better to photograph them with their face in shadow and use your flash or bounce the light with a reflector as a fill light to illuminate their face.

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	A New Year, A New Challenge	Carnevale in Venice!
	A New Year, A New Challenge
Carnevale in Venice!