Stevens Family Photos: Take 2

As you may recall, this past summer I tried to take some family pictures. You also may remember that it didn’t turn out so hot. I was extremely excited to try it again; we finally had all of our family here, and I thought I had learned a thing or two from the last time. Turns out I didn’t.

WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE SOMEBODY ELSE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING TAKE YOUR FAMILY PICS…INSTEAD OF DOING IT YOURSELF:

1) A person who knows what they are doing will make sure to get entire body parts in the shot-

 

instead of cutting off a foot in what could have been a truly beautiful picture…or a baby’s head.

2) Somebody who knows what they are doing can create beautiful and natural poses and smiles-

instead of getting the Village People,

 

or having the husband call out at the last minute, “everybody smile!” when you had just told everybody to make a funny face…yeah. I look like the moron in that one

3) Somebody who knows what they are doing can get the perfect lighting-

as opposed to having extreme lights and extreme shadows on the family (duh)…

or even better, having a rainbow crotch. There is never a good reason for a rainbow crotch. Never….Never. Ever.

…And trying to fix it doesn’t help much…

4) Somebody who knows what they are doing can ensure everybody is looking at the camera, and at least trying to smile-

and NOT doing any of the following:

going to the bathroom,

looking angry,

or trying to fall asleep/close their eyes in the picture.

 

5) Somebody who knows what they are doing can line up a picture correctly-

and does not let one member of the family think they are cooler than the rest.

6) Last of all (and this is an important one), a person who knows what they are doing will make sure the picture is in focus-

which is the opposite of not being in focus. In my defense; I always lined up the picture and made sure it was in focus before I went and got in the picture. The problem is, one of my little darlings thought it would be a good idea to unscrew my entire tripod and then try and put it back together. Ever since then, no matter how hard I try, I cannot get it to hold the camera completely steady when it has my bigger lens on it. In these pictures I thought I had it in a good spot; but unbeknownst to me, it slid ever so slightly once I left, and this is what we ended up with; a bunch of garbage (sigh).

And somebody who knows what they are doing knows that sometimes crying is cute!

Now. The following eight pictures out of the 400+ I’ve taken in the past week I can live with. Keep on swimming, keep on swimming… Some day I shall conquer the stupid camera. And I apologize for the double picture, but I wasn’t sure which one I liked better.