Last week I got the awesome privilege of doing a Mommy Mentoring session with Christine. I love helping mommies learn how to take a few steps forward in capturing the pictures they really want of their kids' everyday moments. Unless among the rich and famous, no family always has a professional photographer in tow and because photography can be daunting to someone who is just starting out, Mommy Mentoring sessions are my solution. :) I believe every family should be capturing their everyday moments. They are priceless! And while no one can learn everything there is to know about photography in one day, let alone a one hour session, I worked on answering some of Christine's biggest questions in the time we had. Christine, like me, is a total hands on learner and I love that about her. In fact one of her biggest questions is one that I hear a lot, and I am going to answer it right here on my blog, in layman's terms of course.

Why are some of the pictures I take blurry?

While blurry photos can indeed be cool, most of the time that is not what we are striving for when we are taking our family photos. The simple, nontechnical answer to this question is that most often there was not enough light to capture the image without blur. When situations are too dark for your camera and lens capability the result is a blurry and/or underexposed image.

Here are 3 simple tips to help avoid blurry photos:

1. Know your camera's limitations. What is the highest ISO setting on your camera? Is it 3200, 1600, 800, etc.? And what is the widest aperture of your camera's lens? The smaller the number, the wider the aperture (5.6, 2.8, 1.4, etc.). Higher ISO settings and wider aperture lenses allow for sharper pictures in darker environments.
2. Before taking the picture ask yourself one simple question. "Where is the light coming from?" Strive to capture the moment from the brightest side of the scene. It is amazing how just changing your position can totally change the quality of the image you create. The better the light, the easier it is for the camera to take a sharp picture.
3. Pay attention to your shutter speed. The rule of thumb is to not hand hold a camera and shoot in conditions where your shutter speed is less then 1/60 of a second. (That will show up in your viewfinder or on your camera's LCD screen as a '60.') Any slow shutter speed makes getting a sharp image incredibly difficult because you can't hold your camera perfectly still long enough for the camera to freeze the action, resulting in a blurry image.

I hope that that you find these tips helpful. Enjoy taking pictures of your family's real life moments.