Sarah VanDyke Photography & Design

08/11/2022

Photo Challenge Week 2: someone you love

Have fun playing with different ways to capture your image.

08/04/2022

We're going to take a break from the photo tips for now and move to a weekly photo challenge.

Each Thursday, I'll post a theme for the week and you'll be challenged to try and take a picture that fits that theme.

I hope several of you will participate and I'd love for you to share your photos in the comments, but if you're not comfortable doing so, just comment on what you took a photo of.
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Photo Challenge Week 1: Self Portrait (not a selfie)

Here are some tips to help you get a great shot:

Location: look for a location with a simple, non-distracting background.

Lighting: try to find a spot where you can get some good indirect natural light, maybe near a window or outdoors in a shaded spot or during golden hour.

Posing: lean towards the camera, roll your shoulders back, extend your chin forward and down. Sit or stand at a slight angle from the camera while still looking forward into the camera.

Camera: Find a way to steady the phone (a tripod is great, but you can also try propping the phone up). Use the timer to give yourself to pose or use a remove if you have one.

Have fun with it: try multiple angles and different perspectives, add interest with your hands, etc...you can always delete the ones you don't like.

Edit: Feel free to play with filters and basic edits after you're done. Don't forget to crop as needed - it can be difficult to get the exact composition you want when taking a picture of yourself.

07/29/2022

How to take better pictures: Try playing with an external lens.

There are some relatively inexpensive lenses you can purchase that attach to your cell phone. It can allow you to try some fun perspectives and extend the range of what your phone camera can capture. There are lenses from macro, fish-eye, wide-angle, to zoom lenses.

I've shared how zooming in from your cell phone doesn't create a good quality photo. When taking this picture, I didn't have my good camera, so I attached a zoom lens to my cell phone to play. Though not as good as my good camera would be, I was able to zoom in and get a much better result than the cell phone alone would have.

07/25/2022

If I gave you $1000 — how would you spend it?

07/22/2022

How to take better pictures: If you use flash, only do so during the day.

Using the flash at night can create very dark contrasting shadows, uneven light, and odd coloring. If you are shooting against a bright background, you can use your flash to fill in some light in the foreground or use it to remove some harsh shadows you may want to get rid of.

In this example, the photo on the left was taken without the flash and the one on the right was with the flash.

07/18/2022

What’s the best app on your phone?

07/15/2022

How to take better pictures: Steady yourself.

Use a tripod or try to find a way to sturdy your hands to avoid camera shake in your photo. You can also use a faster shutter speed to help when there’s enough light.

To get the angle I wanted for this photo, I had to lay down on my stomach and shoot up. I used my elbows to steady myself since my tripod was too tall.

07/11/2022

What’s your superpower?

07/08/2022

How to take better pictures: Be aware of what is in your photo frame.

Look at the preview and check for distracting items or people in the background.

In these examples, I took the picture of the church from my initial perspective so I would have it if I couldn't get something better (left), but then I waited for the people to move. When they weren't moving, I moved to get a different perspective where I could take them out of my shot, and it also removed the distracting planter in the photo too (right).

07/04/2022

How to Take Awesome Photos of Fireworks With Your Phone

Planning to watch some fireworks tonight? Here are a couple articles you can refer to for tips on how to take pictures of fireworks with your cell phone:
https://www.wired.com/2014/07/fireworks-photos-2/
https://fireworks.com/blog/how-take-pictures-fireworks-your-phone

Use these battle-tested tips and camera settings to capture dramatic shots of those aerial explosions.

07/03/2022

8x10 Vacation Photobook Template for Blurb Bookwright - Etsy

I'm very excited to release my newest album template! This one was designed for vacations and travel - I know many of you are traveling this summer and going on vacations. Try this template out and see how easily and quickly you can create a beautiful printed keepsake book of all the pictures, stories, and memories!

This Wedding Albums & Scrapbooks item is sold by SarahVanDykeDesign. Ships from United States. Listed on Jul 2, 2022

07/01/2022

How to take better photos: Don't put your subject right in the center of the photo.

Add some interest to your photo by using the rule of 3rds. Divide your photo into thirds from top to bottom and side to side, and work to put your subject so they're to the left or right 1/3 of the picture, not right in the center like a bullseye. When you're taking a landscape photo, compose your photo so the sky takes up 1/3 or 2/3 of the photo (depends on whether your focus of the photo is more the sky or the landscape).

06/27/2022

What are some good weird questions to ask someone to get to know them better?

06/24/2022

How to take better pictures: Avoid harsh, bright sunlight.

The bright afternoon sun can create harsh shadows you don't want, and can lose details in your highlights and shadows.

Look for ways to get into some shade or somewhere that you can have indirect light, or take pictures during the "golden hour" (the hour before sunset or after sunrise).

The example photo was taken during golden hour - notice how soft the light and shadows are.

06/20/2022

Share your best "dad joke."

06/19/2022

06/17/2022

How to take better pictures: Don't crop people's limbs at the joint!

When aligning your subject within the frame in your viewfinder, or afterward when you’re cropping the image, try to avoid cropping right at a joint, i.e. the wrist, ankle, knee, elbow. Also, try to avoid cutting off the ends of fingers or toes.

In this example photo, the subject is cropped between her elbow and wrists.

06/13/2022

What's your biggest pet peeve?

06/10/2022

How to take better pictures: Bump up your ISO in darker situations.

If your camera allows you to adjust the ISO, when you're in a darker situation, you can increase it. This makes the camera's sensor more sensitive to light and allows for a brighter picture. If you're in a bright setting, you want your ISO lower so it's not so sensitive to the light and over exposing your pictures.

There are other adjustments you can make to shutter speed and aperture to also help in darker settings, but sometimes the ISO increase allows you to still have a faster shutter speed when needed for movement or lower aperture to have more depth of field.

Something to remember though, when you increase your ISO, it does introduce additional noise into the image. Some newer cameras or better cell phone cameras may do better at high ISOs, but be familiar with the limits of the camera you're using.

In this example picture, the photo is taken at 6400 ISO, which is the camera's max ISO, and it does allow me to get a brighter picture in the darkness, but you can see the extra graininess to the photo when zoomed in.

06/06/2022

What do you wish you had more time to do?

06/03/2022

How to take better photos: Look for existing light.
When you're in a darker setting, look around to see if there is some sort of existing light that you can have your subject face. You want the light on their face, not behind them.

When I take pictures at the football games after the sun goes down, I try to have the kids turn their back to the field and their faces to the stadium lights. It provides much more light to work with.

06/02/2022

My first photo book album template is now available! The Activity Book template is made to help you record the memories from various activities easily and quickly! Easily customized to fit your activity and colors. https://etsy.me/3PXJLBO

06/01/2022

Well, I thought I was going to be able to add the first book template to my etsy store today, but turns out my file is too big after all, so now I need to find a solution for that. ugh. Here are some of the images I have to share. I'll be replacing some of these with pictures of my actual physical book as soon as it comes - I'm expecting it this week! yay!

05/30/2022

Along with photobook layout templates, I'd like to create some papers and/or word-art people could include in their book to help tell the story better.

What themes do you need to preserve in a photobook? Vacations, sports, pets, school days, etc...

05/30/2022

Today we remember and honor those who gave everything for us.

05/27/2022

How to take better pictures: Pay attention to the horizon.

Try to keep the horizon straight when taking the picture, but if you find it ends up a little off, you can always rotate it afterwards when editing
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(Photo by Kyleigh)

05/23/2022

It's Motivation Monday - What's your favorite motivational saying/quote?

05/20/2022

How to take better pictures: Be aware of reflections.

You can find reflections in water, mirrors, windows, metal items, sunglasses… Use them to give a unique perspective or add artistic creativity to your photo, but also watch out that something you don’t want doesn’t show in a reflection!

(photo by Kyleigh)

05/19/2022

I've been working for quite a while now on a new design product that I'm really excited about and hope is helpful to others. I hope to have it completed and ready to share soon!

I'm working on some book templates that will allow you to quickly and easily create a photobook using a free book design software. The first book template is designed for documenting all those pictures from an activity that your kiddo participates in, but in reality, you can use it for anything!

In addition to the book template, I'm planning to make some kits that would allow you to include specific activity pages and colors.

What sort of book theme do you need?

05/16/2022

Are you a cat or a dog person?

05/15/2022

International Family Day.
Tell us about your favorite family "time" (an activity, a trip, a vacation, any sort of family time).

05/13/2022

It's Friday the 13th. Are you superstitious?

05/13/2022

How to take better pictures: Use a small aperture for landscape photos.

When you want everything in the scene to be sharp, try using a small aperture like f/16 or f/22.

(Photo by Kyleigh)