When the sun is high, and people are in the sun, it creates harsh shadows on their faces as you can see below. But they really wanted to have a picture on the rooftop and have some of the skyline in the background. And due to their schedule, we could not shoot much earlier or later.

Another thing to consider is most people can’t help squinting in the bright sun… Being in the shadow can avoid that also.
There is something you can do in this situation, which I will blog about in another blog…

So the best and easiest thing to do is to find a shade, just enough to cover their face. For this picture, we had a little shade from a tree near by.

So if you are at a park this weekend and want to take pictures of your mom and family in the middle of the day, look for a shade or bring An umbrella.

Her office had a few nicely lit spots for us to shoot. One of them was at the lobby. Sun was coming in through the glass walls, shining her hair. There was a nice water fountain in front of the building, so it would have been nice to take pictures in front of it, but it was just too breezy…

Here is one in her office. We tried with some flower in the background,

but headshots are usually cropped into a square, so it would be more like this in the end…

Is your photo on your business card or website up to date?

It is so much fun to watch them interact and photograph their relationships.

Looking for more Easter egg hunt events? Head to the Central Park in San Mateo for Easter egg hunt today!
Eggstravaganza starts at 9 am. The weather is supposed to be nice, so it’s a perfect day to be out.

There will be a community parade, art & Games and pancake breakfast. And free entertainment by Andy Z, Happy Birds and Magic Mike!

I will be there photographing the event for San Mateo, so if you see a camera pointing towards you, smile!

But now for a fun fact. So why green? Or yellow glow? Dogs or almost all domestic animals have the tapetum, which enhances nocturnal vision. Light passes through the animal’s retina and is then reflected back through the retina a second time from the reflective tapetal layer. And the color reflected can be different from breed to breed. It can be green, blue, yellow or even red just like human’s eyes.
Most puppies and kittens have a blue tapetal reflection until the structures in the back of the eye fully mature at six to eight months of age.

So to avoid getting those green glow in your dog’s eyes, it is best to take their photos during the day when you don’t have to use a flash. Maybe when he/she is running around at a park or in your backyard having fun! Or get somebody else to get your dog’s attention, so your dog will look away. That can be a cute photo, too!
Here, he is looking at my husband while I am taking pictures with a flash.

So what can you do to avoid it?

It’s easier if you have DSLR with an external flash, but You have a compact camera with built-in flash. Don’t worry!

1. Most compact cameras nowadays have a feature called red eye reduction. What it does is to flash twice. First just before you take a picture, then when you take a picture. First flash causes people’s pupils to contract, reducing red eye dramatically.

2. Ask people to look away slightly. You can ask people to look at each other, so it does’t look awkward that everybody is looking toward the same direction. You can be creative with poses!

3. Use a flash diffuser, which looks something like this.

Is there something you always wonder about when you take pictures?