PUMPKIN PICKING - PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

 

Another year, another Pumpkin Picking trip! My favourite family activity. Every year we head to Pickwell farm and here are the photos of our family. We've been doing this for nearly half a decade now and it's crazy to think that. We started off when Lucas was two and I was heavily pregnant with Iris the first year we went and haven't missed a trip since and now I am a Mum of three children and they all love it just as much as me. Oh, the memories! P.S I am sad they don't allow me to host photoshoots on the farm because it's my fave place to photograph ever! 

My tips for photographing your family or yourselves in the Pumpkin patch are really simple but things I didn't take into consideration until 2018. 

WHAT TO WEAR!

If you're going for photographic purposes as well as buying half the patch to decorate your house too then it's definitely worth wearing Autumnal colours and match. We usually go down the mustard colour route or Ochre. It's my favourite colours to wear at this time of year and it compliments the orange of the pumpkins too! We tend to all wear matching colours and this year I knew was more for me taking photos of the children so I made sure they matched but was less worried about Brad and I matching. I have a huge confidence issue this year and although I am getting in photos for the littles' memories and keepsakes I don't overly like being in front of the camera, more behind it. BUT yes, matchy matchy and go Autumnal with colours. Neutral autumnal colours are perfect for the pumpkin patch.

CAMERA SKILLS!

So if you're photographing on a DSLR, go for an aperture rate around 3.0f if you're photographing 3 people, basically up your f rate per person. I tend to go 1.4f if I'm just capturing one of them and go to around 4.8f for all of it as I tend to be able to get us all in focus around that. I would go for a shutter speed for around 250-600 depending on how bright it is too. My children move super fast so I tend to go for around 600 but can sometimes get them perfectly around 250 most of the time to be honest but occasionally need to go to 500-600 depending on their moods and excitement. If you're going for auto settings on a DSLR, go sports mode if you have it, rarely failed me before I taught myself manual and for phone photography, go to portrait mode if you can for photos of them separately but go for normal photo for group shots or for a less blurred background. 

COMPOSITION!

Get close to the ground, this is literally my go to when photographing. I am usually found laid flat in mud or water or crawling around like the exorcist but hey! GET THE SHOT! GOT THE SHOT. 

EDITING!

Always edit your photos! Please, even photo photos. Theres so many free apps for your phone to get a nice edit. I use presets and warm them a lot more with the temp slider around this time of year, I love moody, warm autumnal shots around this time of year, they make me super happy, so make them lovely and warm. I would also suggest Lightroom for dslr and phone. Buy a few presets if you can, Little Paper Swans sells them for a reasonable price and they're super easy, usually one click presets. I use presets to make my editing consistent but they're not one click fixes, they require a lot of tweaking but it keeps the colourings consistent throughout the gallery. P.S Edit people out the background, we went when there was literally not one other person in the patch but if there is the clone tool is your best friend. 

I hope that's helped you with your photography! GO GET THE SHOT! Tag me on insta if this helped you and show me your photos :) HAPPY SPOOKTOBER!