On their third date, the Fandom Prince and Princes were sitting by the lake on the outskirts of the garden, listening to the toads choir croak melodies along with the other insects. Fire flies buzzed by, allowing for romantic lighting and mood. In his lap, the Prince had a pad of parchment and a special tool he used when he sketched. That night, he was sketching the Princess, highlighting the light of the fireflies floating around her hair, the warm smile that graced her face as she applauded after each toad song.

“William, are you not done yet?” She asked, turning her attention to the Prince as he quietly sketched.

“Not yet,” he replied, his eyes still focusing on his work. “I’m finding it difficult to capture your perfection.”

The Princess, although flattered, rolled her eyes and plucked a lily from the bank of the lank. She brushed the dirt from the stem and tucked it behind her left ear.

“Wait, don’t move!” The Prince suddenly exclaimed.

The Princess glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious? You want me to sit just like this for who knows how long?”

“It won’t be long, I promise. You just look so beautiful how you are right this instance that I must try and sketch it. Please, my Princess,” the Prince begged.

The Princess, secretly loving being the center of his attention, nodded curtly. “If you must. Toads, sing me another song, please?”

And so she listened to the toads croak more songs, all the while trying to move as little as possible for the Prince. At last, he set down his tools and touched the Princess’ shoulder.

“All finished,” he said softly. He turned the parchment over. The Princess could not stop smiling at the work of art, at her as this figure of utter beauty.

“It’s beautiful… I love it,” she said.

And it was on that night that the Fandom Prince and Princess shared their first kiss ever. The kiss to last a lifelong love.

So, part of this week’s assignment was to look at some tips on bettering our already pretty awesome photography skills! Now, I haven’t taken a photography class since my junior year of high school, but it was still very nice to see that a lot of what I was taught then still is relevant! I looked through a bunch of the tips from the web-based collection on Storify, and was able to come up with a short list of the tips that I loved the most (and how I applied them to pictures I had taken).

Tip 1: Be a Storyteller

This tip was the one that I identified the most with. I am a natural storyteller and I try to be in all forms of my life. The fact that someone else agreed with telling stories through photography, or even just getting the viewer to look at the photograph in a deeper meaning, resonated with me. The essay talked about identifying the subject, then asking questions about why exactly you are taking a picture of the subject; what story does it tell? So, I found an old picture that I had taken and that came to mind about this tip.

I chose this picture to emphasis this tip. The day I took this photo, I had spent a good hour setting up my camera, taking practice shots to make sure I got everything in it that I wanted to, and trying to do it when the sky looked just right. I know what I was thinking about at the time the picture was taken, but to someone else, I think it opens up questions as to what the subject is thinking about, doing, where they are, etc. Because of that, I think the viewer is able to imagine up a story based on this picture alone.

Tip 2: Take Your Camera with you Everywhere

With this tip, found on Photoble.com (#7) I found it to be very true! I used to carry my camera with me everywhere I went, and so it was nice to see a tip that suggested doing this! Below is a picture I took just because I happened to have my camera on me and there was just a moment in which I felt like I wanted to capture it.

My dog is a wonderful model, when he’s in the mood to listen to me and pay attention. But in this instance, I found it was interesting to snap a picture of him when he wasn’t even looking at the camera. The colors that contrast and he just looks so calm and placid that I wanted to showcase that in a photo. I think I did a pretty great job, yeah?

Tip 3: Changing Perspective

This tip, taken from TEN: Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear (which our professor so nicely summarized some helpful points) is probably one of my favorite tips, ever. I am constantly adjusting my camera just to try a different angle and see how different it looks than if I had just snapped it from a boring, dead on front angle.

The picture I chose for this was of Emily, a little girl that was one of my students when I worked at a daycare in Japan. She was the sweetest girl and had a ball of energy that never went out. She was always smiling, and during lunch time while we were on a field trip, she was looking up and smiling and so I decided to snap a picture of her, even though she still had food on her face. It was just a happy moment that I think showcases the focus of her youth and fun and adorableness all in one picture.

Thus, here are my tips and tries at taking better pictures! I think some of them could fall into other categories, but hopefully they are just good enough for others to identify with the tips!