This was supposed to be my Wordless Wednesday post but clearly I am feeling a bit chatty. Enjoy : )

My son thinks my friend Amanda’s son is the coolest guy on earth. He says they’re best buddies. I knew he wanted to play trains with his best buddy before we left for Indiana so I hit up Amanda. She kindly drove ninety minutes to Ithaca so our little guys could have a play date. You already know what photographer playdates look like. 

Amanda and I hauled three toddlers, an Uppababy stuffed with trains, a shopping cart, my Polaroid, a vintage quilt, picnic basket, beautiful chair, and a handful of gorgeous props to an open grassy field next to Cornell’s campus. When we arrived there was a group of deer eating peacefully a few feet away. The weather was nice and the sun was warm.

The kids were…somewhat cooperative. Amanda got some incredible shots of Preston (I’ll share those next week) but when it came time to shoot Cameron things went awry. She was crabby. Shocking, I know. She is the happiest baby ever until I *really* want her to do something (anything!) and then a tooth decides to poke through. Oh well. Amanda snapped some great photos of Cameron. I didn’t since I was trying to keep an eye on the boys but I got a few cute snapshots.

Hmm, why am I sitting on this chair wearing these crazy leg ruffles while the boys look for snakes in the grass?

Oh. I see what this is. You didn’t bring me out here to play, did you? DID YOU!?!

See Mom, this is why I scribbled on your white couch. I’ll do it again too.

Oh, thank Elmo my big brother is here to save me!

How adorable is this vintage dress Amanda brought? I wanted to run away with it. SO CUTE.

Oh, and Cameron if you’re reading this (it’s a stretch but she already counts to 20 soo) take note: if you don’t want pictures taken of yourself, stop being so cuddly and gorgeous. There. I said it.

The Iheartfaces photo challenge theme is so cute this month. It’s “Hey Girl” and I love it. Too much. I had a gazillion images to choose from. My sweet little girl loves posing for the camera which is fantastic but made choosing a photo difficult.

I kept returning to the photo below. I am drawn to the color, her smile, her little skinny jeans, and her gut poking through the gritty swing. I know I’m biased but could she possible be any cuter? I swear those cheeks are constantly begging to be pinched.

A few weeks ago the kids were outside blowing bubbles while I worked on my Souvenir Foto School photography assignment of the week. A portion of the assignment involved mastering in camera cropping. If you’ve never heard of ICC it isn’t a camera setting, it simply means eliminating distractions and elements that detract from your image by repositioning yourself in relation to your subject.

I’ve read more photography books than I care to admit and I have yet to see a super simple explanation of the benefits of in camera cropping as it relates to cleaning up your photograph’s background. I was pretty excited for the assignment because in camera cropping is a technique I’ve had to master due to our apartment’s cozy space constraints. I’ve had to get really creative with my positioning and ICC since if I’m not careful I’ll show you all a lot more mess than you care to see : )

Allow me to demonstrate.

This image is definitely cute but notice the horizontal line of the fence running through Cameron’s head and the distracting toy bokeh and minivan to her left.

I moved and got closer to the kids but there is a tree protruding from Cameron’s head and some cars in the distance to Preston’s right.

Getting closer but those cars to the right are a little annoying.

Ah! I got a keeper. I turned myself again, got closer, and made sure to use a high aperture. In a perfect world I would have moved the picnic table in the distance but I try not to be too obsessive.

Hopefully you can see the improvements to the images. Had I been standing further away from Preston you would have seen the parking lot to his right. I only shoot with prime lenses which means I zoom with my feet : ) my lenses are fixed and don’t move. It’s a personal preference but the same principles apply to zoom lenses as well.

This is an easy photography technique to master. Grab your camera, pick a subject, shoot from various angles and varying distances. Keep going until you get a shot free of distracting background elements. It’s easier than you think and will soon become second nature. Your pictures will improve drastically once you’ve trained your eye to seek and avoid elements that detract from your images.

*To see my best two shots from this series check out this post. Looks a lot better without the trees and random cars right?*

Know any in camera cropping tips? Share them in the comments.

Cameron is all about fashion. My sister sent her this hat and coat and she doesn’t want to take them off. She’s only sixteen months old but very enthusiastic about choosing her outfits and attempting to dress herself.

We had more unseasonably warm weather yesterday. It was fantastic. We played outside for hours and everyone fell asleep nice and early for a change. It was perfect.

I’m linking up this shot taken yesterday at Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday.

Veronica