A Beginner’s Guide to Documenting Daily Life: Processing and Editing

Welcome to the fourth installment of this series! Check out the previous posts, one, two, and three.

Okay, so I took a bunch of photos.  Now what?  There are two separate actions at this point, post-processing and editing.  Post-processing refers to the actions taken to refine a photo, to add contrast, modify color, brighten or darken an image, and apply any necessary changes to make it look as close to the actual scene as possible.  Editing refers to the selection of images chosen to best illustrate the story you want to share.  Both processes can be an exercise in frustration, but with practice, they become easier.

Processing

The first step to processing is selecting images to be adjusted in post-processing software, like Lightroom or Photoshop.  As I posted previously here, I take a lot of images of one scene, but I only choose the best ones (maybe up to five frames for each specific image I was trying to make) to refine in Lightroom.  My post-processing tends to be minimal (which is why I use Lightroom), and the goal is to make an image look and feel like it did to be there in person.  This is incredibly important when it comes to personal expectations.  In documentary photography, the scene is not manipulated.  That means, you use available light, even if it’s middle of the winter indoor/incandescent light (which tends to be very dull and yellow-ish) or middle of the summer mid-day sun (which tends to leave harsh shadows).  Light is light, whether it’s the light you would like or not. What is important is to use that available light best in camera and later, process the image to make it look like it felt to be there in the moment, which usually includes adding contrast, adjusting exposure, straightening a horizon, and adjusting white balance.  

The street light made the scene very yellow, so I had to work on the white balance to correct it. I also added clarity and contrast and darkened the top part of the image.

Images that are straight out of camera tend to be dull. Here, I adjusted the tilt, raised the exposure and shadows (so you could see Bennett’s curly hair!).

My goal is to make the scene look as close to it did in person. This was a day with a bright blue sky, and so I wanted to retain the colors and texture that I remember from being there.

Editing

The second step is looking at the images you have and choosing the best ones to tell a story.  To evaluate which images are strongest, it’s important to refer back to the post on composition.    Which background is the cleanest?  Is the frame filled?  Which one has all the elements you intended to capture?  Which ones are you drawn to?  Which images best represent how it felt?  Once you have that narrowed down, you can edit images together in sequence to share a story.  Some images stand all by themselves, sharing the story of the scene.  While others belong in a series, a way to share multiple viewpoints, details, and stories about the individuals within the greater story.  It can be a story that takes place within a few moments or one that stretches out over time, when you see a pattern begin to emerge.  It can be a story about a “day in the life” or a family vacation or the first day of school.  Sharing the elements in a cohesive way will add visual impact to the viewer and communicate exactly what was happening and the feelings that went along with that experience.

Moving Day

Here is an example of the day we moved out of our house of 13 years, this past June. This was an emotional, stressful day, one that I had been looking forward to and dreading. While the movers were at the house, I took the time to take just a few images. It felt so strange to see the house that way and even looking at this images makes me nostalgic for all the years we spent there. And even in chaos, the kids still wrestle and get in the way of helping . . . and that day, my husband was at work, so it really felt like this quiet, sudden shift for the four of us who were there to pack up the last remains (The last two images were taken on an iPhone and edited with presets in Lightroom mobile. When it comes to smartphone images, I take shortcuts, and you can find the presets here!)

The Lost Tooth

Another example of a story is when my son lost his tooth. I use this one because it shares a more specific, shorter story. And yeah, I did include the blood and it’s a detail I actually love. Parenting is messy, and I have been dealing with other people’s teeth for way too long. We have a method now that works, but is reserved for the brave . . . and as usual, there is always a flare of dramatics.

A Final Note on Processing + Editing

It’s a lot to learn and takes a lot of practice . . . but it doesn’t have to be perfect. The best thing to remember is “less is more.” Less images in a series or story help bring focus. Simple edits, like color correction and adding contrast, have more of an impact than heavy handed presets. Photography, like any other art, has trends that come and go, and keeping the images simple are a way to help them feel relevant in the years to come . . . until our current hairstyles and eyebrows shapes age to the point of giving away the decade (so 20’s!).

Posted in Documentary photography, Family, Family Photography, Motherhood, NJ Shore, Ocean City New Jersey Photographer, South Jersey, Summer, Teens

A Beginner’s Guide to Documenting Daily Life: Composition Part II (Details and Environment)

One of the common threads you’ll often hear documentary, reportage, and street photographers discuss is curiosity.  In a world of constant scrolling, it often takes effort to step away from technology and allow ourselves the space to be curious, to day dream, and to wonder about the things we find interesting.  Curiosity about the world, its people, and our experiences are critical to creating images of personal value, whether those images will be featured on the front of the New York Times or displayed with magnets on the family refrigerator.  Both have value.  

Going back to the previous post (Composition Part I), the idea of seeing with your heart ties directly in with curiosity and observation.  The intention driving most of my work is my experience as both a mother and a woman and the desire to document those identities and their intersection in the world at large.  Ironically, very few of my images include my actual face, but every single one of them is my voice and my perspective.  I have been curious about my children from the day I found out I was pregnant for the first time.  There are journals full of stories about them, the things they said to me, the struggles I’ve felt in never being enough for them.  A few of those pages have ink smeared by falling tears.  Life is complicated.  Our children are complicated.  To wonder about our children is just one part of parenthood.  We see them at their best, and their worst (and they get to see ours).  We get to know their quirks, their passions, their likes and dislikes.  We bend over backward to make their childhood dreams come true, like the time I cut up cardboard boxes during the winter olympics and made “skis” for Jackson, used all of my eyeliner to draw beards and mustaches on Carter’s face to make him into a “real pirate,” or slept in a too small tent with Sawyer on our back deck, only to be awoken at 4 am by the sound of raccoons having a fight to the death.  We see them for who they are, their strengths and weaknesses, and we spend nights wide awake with worry over them.  In many ways, the best photographs are born out of relationships, where there is a sense of trust and comfort, where the participants in the photograph can be their honest selves.  Photographers often have to make quick work of gaining trust of their clients (especially children) and most documentary photographers (who often spend entire days photographing families) will tell you that the more time they spend with the people they are photographing, the better the images will be.  There is a sense of trust and comfort that builds and makes space for vulnerability.  It is in that space where it is possible to create deeply meaningful images of people, as they are.  

As we make the conscious effort to document our family life, we create that space for the people with whom we share our lives.  Then, in this space, it is so important to be curious about people and the details that give them character and shape in the world.  Details that include their passions, schedules, quirks, gestures, messes, possessions, needs, and dreams are all potential photographs that tell the narrative stories of the people we love. 

INCLUDE PERSONAL DETAILS 

A photo doesn’t need a person’s face to tell their story.  It can be toys left on the stairs, beach towels and sand in the garage, cups at a bedside, Cheerios on the ground, or sparkle shoes in the corner.  Be curious and observant of how people express their personalities, whether it’s through environmental details or evidence that shows how they have left their mark in a physical space. 

LOOK FOR PATTERNS 

Lines, shapes, similarities, opposites are elements in the environment that can be used in composition. In the first image below, Carter were at a vet appointment with our puppy and I noticed that the shape of their legs in the same plane. I took this directly from above them with my iPhone, and the details of the toy and Carter’s shoes and socks tell more about the story.

USE SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS

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If anything, this can be one of the greatest compositional tools to help share about a person’s identity. It’s an opportunity to use what’s around you to strengthen an image and tell a deeper story. Take the first image below as an example. Instead of taking a photo of Jackson in front of the castle, I noticed the reflection in his glasses and used that to tell a deeper story. We were walking into the Magic Kingdom just after he turned 13, and I thought about the fact that he wasn’t the little boy he used to be, but he still loves the magic of being in Disney World. There is a lot of deeper personal meaning in this image, because of the details I intentionally included.

GESTURE AND BODY LANGUAGE

Details can also give the sense of a person, through their gesture and body language.  Sometimes, one of my kids will give me a look that makes me see so much likeness of someone in our family, even if just for a split second. But when I see an image like the first one below, it’s all uniquely ONE person. He’s the one who always turned his leg like this waiting for the bus, who wore shorts all through the winter months. Be observant about the subtle details that make a person uniquely them and make an intention to document that when you see it repeated.

PERSONAL SPACE AND ENVIRONMENT

A person’s environment or place that they love can be used to communicate ideas about that person in a photograph. As my kids got older, like in the school aged years, I noticed how their bedrooms became more important to them. They wanted certain toys out, certain things hung on the walls, furniture arranged in a certain way. Some of that drove me crazy, like when someone used packing tape to hang up ripped magazine pages of professional athletes or took liberty to rearrange furniture, I have a lot of love for the images of them in the spaces they used to express themselves. Now that we’ve moved to a new house (and they have moved on from the toys and characters they loved when they were small) I’m thankful for those images because they say so much about each of my kids. On the other hand, my husband reminds me of an excited kid every time we go to the mountains, and I do my best (with frozen fingers) to try to capture his happiness when we’re traveling to places he loves.

In the end, a technically perfect photograph that lacks passion or a message is just a photograph.  But when composed and created with intention, it becomes a story.  In the next installment, I’ll be sharing about how to use photographs together to create a stronger storytelling narrative.  Stay tuned!

This post is the third in the series “The Visual Time Capsule: A Beginner’s Guide to Documenting Daily Life.” You can see previous posts here and here.

Posted in Documentary photography, Family Photography, Motherhood, Ocean City New Jersey Photographer, Parenthood, Teens

A Beginners’ Guide to Documenting Daily Life: Composition (Part I)

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I talked about why photography has been so meaningful to me, how with no formal training or education, I dove into photography as a means to document the time I felt slipping away as I watched my children grow up.  Like anything worth doing, it took a lot of work and a lot of practice to make images that have gained recognition.  Over the years, I’ve had lots of people ask for advice about photography or for help figuring out their SLR cameras.  A good camera is like any other tool . . . it’s only as good as its operator.  It’s also important to remember, the best camera is the one in your hands.  You know what’s (almost) always in your hand?  A smartphone.  Over the summer, in the chaos of our move, I was volunteering at an outdoor church service when I realized I didn’t have the right memory card for my camera.  Instead, I made images with my iPhone, edited them, and uploaded them to our shared drive.  The next week, someone said, “I can’t believe you took those with your phone.  I only knew they were from your phone because I could see you shooting with it.”  It’s just about the highest compliment I’ve ever received.  The camera doesn’t make the photographer.  Photoshop or editing software does not make a photo.  

Shot on iPhone

The truth is, there is no one trick to making a great photo.  In fact, my personal experience has shown that it takes making a LOT of garbage images to make one great one (a fact that I will discuss in detail later).  Here is what I have found to be the most helpful things I have discovered along the way, and with a little bit of knowledge and practice, anyone can raise the quality of their photographs using ANY type of camera.

THE (VERY) BASICS

I have been shooting in manual mode for about 5+ years, which wasn’t easy to learn, but allows the photographer to have complete control over the images.  While shooting in manual isn’t necessary for the average person trying to document family life, it’s helpful to understand what each setting means.  The exposure triangle includes aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.  Aperture (or f stop) is the amount of light allowed through the lens of the camera, sort of like the iris of a human eye that expands and contracts to control the amount of light let inside.  The higher the aperture, the smaller the opening, and vice versa.  A high aperture allows objects in the distance to be as in focus as objects closer to the camera.  In low light, a LOWER APERTURE provides more light to the camera’s sensor.  In bright, outdoor sun, a HIGHER APERTURE is necessary to capture details by limiting the light.  ISO refers to the brightness being added to the image, so in a poorly lit space, an image can be brightened.  However, the higher the ISO, the more “grain” you will have in your image (which isn’t a bad thing!).  Shutter speed refers to how long the shutter remains open to capture the image (and is written as a fraction of a second).  If the shutter speed is set too fast, the image may be dark.  Too slow, and you will notice a lot of blur (the rule of thumb for moving subjects is a minimum shutter speed of 1/125).  The exposure triangle is a careful balance, and after having a lot of practice, I can pretty much walk into a room, look at the light, and know exactly how to set my exposure.  (I’ll share some settings for images as a reference.)

Exposure aside, there are three elements that make a photograph work:  light, moment, and composition.  As a documentary photographer (not manipulating the scene or subjects in any way) there is only one element over which the photographer has control: composition.

COMPOSITION

Simply put, composition is the elements within an image and how those images work together.  The intention of the photograph, the elements and details you include, and the representation of the person in the image all speak to the viewer in your voice as the photographer. While there is no secret that makes a great photographer, there are simple ways to improve the composition and quality of images.

1. Intentionally choose viewpoint. Where you position yourself before you hit the shutter will allow you to photograph as you see the scene.  Get closer to focus on the person or people in your images.  Back up to include more environmental information.  Shooting from above or getting lower will change the story you tell with an image.   Use the distance or closeness between subjects to communicate what’s happening in the scene

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2. Choose the cleanest background.  For example, you may find yourself taking photos of your children at a playground and you have two options for background.  One would be the busy playground and equipment.  But if you change your position, there might be a brick wall or an open field to clean up the background.  You may choose to include the playground but position yourself so that your kids are framed by a visually open space, an example would be getting low and using the sky as the background instead of a visually distracting playground.  Try to position yourself to find your subject in the “cleanest” space.

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In this image, I got onto the ground, looking up, and moved so that he would have the sky behind him.

3. Compose for the moment.  There is a lot of psychology that can be applied to photography, and one of them is that people tend to repeat behaviors, especially kids who are doing something they shouldn’t.  If there is a moment that has been missed, just be patient, because as the rules of psychology apply, odds are you’ll have another chance if you are patient.  Position yourself where you have the best chances of capturing that moment, making an intentional composition choice.

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4. Keep shooting.  Treat each moment like a scene, and see it through from beginning to end.  Whatever you do, when you are shooting a moment and think “I got it”, do not put the camera down.  I have learned through experience that just when you think the moment is over something amazing can happen.  It is not uncommon for me to shoot 200+ frames of one scene, only keeping a few to edit.  An example is a photo of Sawyer from 2018, by far my most successful single image, winner of several awards and exhibited in two galleries.  When I went back to my contact sheet, I took 257 images, just to get ONE that worked the best.  

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5. Train kids to ignore your camera.  Most kids I meet are very camera aware when I first start photographing, many trying to “cheese” it up or strangle their sibling next to them, “posing” for a photo.  Back to psychology 101, reward the behaviors you want to see and ignore the ones you don’t.  If I think someone is intentionally putting on a show for the camera (and it’s pretty obvious when they are) I just put my camera down and ask them a question.  When my kids were little, I would sit with them while they were playing and just ask them questions about what they were playing, what is the story, tell me more . . . the more boring I make the camera by connecting with them, the less they pay attention and are more likely to give me what I am looking for: their genuine personality. My kids became so used to being photographed that they respond to me in the same way, whether I have my camera in my hand or not.

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6. See and compose with your heart.  I am 100% a visual person.  When I walk my dog on the beach, I’m always looking/scanning for something interesting, on the horizon, or in the sand.  Sometimes, I find random bones or sea glass.  But each time, of all the things in my vision, I noticed something and instinctively knew it was something before I could see what it actually was.  Now, I think in photographs and I have really found value in that split second reaction that makes me do a double-take.  I notice light on my son’s face or how the winter light makes shadows through my hallway.  I am intrigued by the nuanced gestures of people and the things that are their passions, or the ways in which relationships play out in subtle ways.  The heart reacts quicker than our eyes can see, so when you feel that nudge, take it all in and “see” what drew you there in the first place. Be curious about what you feel drawn to, follow that voice, and your images will take on new meaning for you. In each one of the images below, there is a deeper story, something beyond first glance. Even if it means nothing to the viewer, it means something to me.

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7. Look for moments of anticipation. There is a certain energy that exists right before something is about to happen, before a kid blows out the candles on the cake or jumps into the pool or reaches for a toy or pops the bubbles. Photographing that energy that exists in those tiny increments of time right before the action takes place is a potential to create great documentary images.

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Lastly, just to complicate things, there is one thing to remember: moment matters most.  There are quiet moments and there are loud moments. It doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary. But when the moment is there, the imperfections in an image matter less. An example I have is this one image that I adore, and it’s a mess.  It’s out of focus and technically off in so many ways.  We were in a record shop in 2017 and when Sawyer reacted to seeing the Nirvana “Nevermind” album cover with the naked baby.  The moment wasn’t even a moment, it was a split second.  Most of the images I make are not going into competitions.  They’re going into family albums, books, and printed to be stored in keepsake boxes.  It’s true for myself and for my clients.  The work that fills my soul is seeing the beauty in the simple lives we all live, the quotidian moments framed in a different way.

So, I will leave you with this: perfection is a myth.  And not only that, perfection is boring.  

You can read more about this series, “The Visual Time Capsule: A Beginner’s Guide to Documenting Daily Life” here.

Posted in Documentary photography, Family, Family Photography, Family travel, NJ Shore, Ocean City New Jersey Photographer, Parenthood, Personal Projects, South Jersey, Summer, Teens

The Visual Time Capsule: A Beginners’ Guide to Documenting Daily Life

In a year that has been arguably the most difficult of our lifetimes, we have all been forced to turn inward, to our homes and our families, a dramatic shift from living in the outside world.  My work has certainly changed, as major projects have been placed on the back burner and my client work has been nearly zero.  It has forced me to be more creative within my four walls, which is even trickier now that I have teenagers who occasionally flip me the bird while shooting (their direct method of letting me know they’re not participating).  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll publish a book of all those images one day.

I found my way into photography sort of by accident.  I don’t have a degree in photography and I don’t consider myself to be particularly artistic or creative.  Rather, I felt the passage of time going faster and faster as my kids were getting older and I wanted a way to preserve that.  And since my kids moved through the day like three tornados, posed images were not an option.  I just started taking photos of them being themselves and enrolled in workshops related to documentary photography.  What I have now is a curated collection of images that share my perspective as their mother.  It sounds simple, but to me, it’s the most beautiful gift I can share with them.  Although it took an effort to organize, each of them has a box of printed images that are added to as time passes, images of vacations, adventures, holidays, and family gatherings, but the most precious to me are the ones of our everyday life.  

I recently watched a 2005 documentary of legendary photographer Sally Mann, who used the word “quotidian” to describe the inspiration for her work, which I just love.

Inspiration and meaning for me come directly from quotidian life, a mundane experience that has beauty and nuance, if you know how to look for it. 

As we round out 2020 and reflect on everything this year has meant, both good and bad, I wanted to share a series of words + photographs that are meant to show how anyone can document everyday life, with practical information that anyone can use as well as encouragement to look beyond what may feel quotidian to explore meaning, beauty, and love . . . even if the times feel dark and lonely.

Start with Why

The “why” is the greatest driver of the choices we make and the actions we take.  Without a doubt, my greatest “why” has been motherhood.  My desire to photograph is rooted in my desire to document my experience as a mother.  My images reflect how I see the world, and more importantly, how I feel as a mother and the love I have for my children.  When they were small, I felt like I blinked and they were all suddenly a year older.  The enigma of time is a strange one.  The days drag on but the years fly by.  Here we are, 10 months into a global pandemic, and I can’t even watch TV without a physical reaction to seeing people hugging in a crowded bar without masks.  Everything has changed.  In a small way, I became aware of the shifts that came with the passage of time by watching my kids grow up.  I wanted to hold onto that, so I began to commit myself to documenting my everyday life.

I used to laugh when we’d be walking as a family and I would try to run up ahead of my kidsso that I could turn around with my camera and take photos of them walking together.  When I would turn around, they’d be at my heels, running after me, like a bunch of ducklings following right behind.  So I started taking photos of them looking up at me.  They weren’t perfect images, whatsoever.  But now, those eyes that were once looking up at me are beginning to look down on me, because he’s taller than I am.  

For better or worse, life keeps moving forward.  And it’s worth documenting.  In this weekly series (over the next four weeks), I’ll share simple ways to document everyday life, improve the quality of personal images, ways to find inspiration, and organize prints as keepsakes.  

If there is any specific topic you’d like me to include or questions you might have, please comment or email me at hello@laurengayeski.com. I ‘d love to hear from you!

Posted in Documentary photography, Family, Family Photography, Motherhood, Parenthood

An October Afternoon

While planning our phone call for our pre-session consultation, this mom mentioned that her family would be close to home as they were potty training their daughter.  Although potty training is far behind me in the stages of parenting, it’s an experience that isn’t soon forgotten.  I have a whole host of stories about potty training my own kids that would make my them blush as teenagers (so I will spare you the details).  The only advice that I have to give is this: no child begins or ends that stage in the same way as another child.  Jelly beans and sticker charts work for some, while others will laugh in your face.  Some refuse to even look at a public potty, while some don’t care where they park their cheeks.  Parenting is messy, and there is a good reason why Clorox makes a bleach commercial with a story of potty training.  

It might seem ridiculous that “potty training” was something I jotted down in my notes about this family, but I think this stage of childhood says so much about what’s happening in the life of a family with a child that age.  To me, it means books and snacks and stickers and make believe and lots and lots of questions, a curiosity that cannot be satisfied.  To kids at this age, the world is so wide open and full of so many fun things, like neighborhood fall decorations and cracks in the sidewalk.  There are books and toys and favorite stuffed animals, and for this little one, there is lots and lots of pink (her favorite color).  She told me her favorite jokes and wasn’t afraid to swing high on her swing set.  And while she was swinging, she requested her mom read to her.  She read books on the bed, on the swing, and yes, while she was on the potty.  

The thing about stages in parenting is that we feel like they will go on forever.  But, they don’t.  Kids grow up and we grow with them.  My life is so different than it was when I was potty training and reading picture books and hearing made up jokes that I had to fake a laugh at in order to play along.  It’s a stage that’s physically and mentally exhausting, one that I frequently miss, and one that is worth documenting.  

Posted in Documentary Family Session, Documentary photography, Family, Family Photography, Parenthood, Philadelphia
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