Week three of the challenge already! Every week the group is growing and a wonderful suggestion was made to have a picnic at the end of the challenge for all the participants. So keep your eyes open for something scheduled for mid July or so! Photography tip #3

Natural light is your friend.

There are lots of reasons to try to take photos without your flash:

- flashes often blow out the photo so the person's face is too bright

- flashes can distort the look of people

- flashes can eat up your battery power so it either takes longer between shots or just kills your battery really fast

Try taking more photos outside or just by a window. But remember if you're by a window not to put the person up against the window or that will likely just cause the photo to be backlit. And direct sunlight isn't always your friend either (I distinctly remember the photographer on my wedding day wishing it weren't quite so beautiful and sunny out).

Here are a couple of articles by people who can say it better than I can on flash photography and using natural/available light.

Coincidentally Shawna, one of our contributors, just recently wrote a post about turning off your flash too - check it out!

Question: Is anyone interested in offering a tip for one of the weekly posts? Either a photography tip or a great spot in the Ottawa to go to take photos. Email me at kidsinthecapital(at)gmail.com

My two picks for this week:

C is for climbing

P is for playing (obviously flash isn't always bad :)

Participant photos

I am giddy with delight and how many of you are joining up and adding photos each week! Remember to post your photos to the letter discussion page as well as to the main pool. Go visit the pool. And tell people how much you like their photos, comments always feel so good! :)

Here is a sampling from new photos posted this week:

jhscrapmom takes gorgeous photos and has also been a huge asset in helping me figure out this flickr stuff :) This looks like a great spot to go and take photos - maybe she'll share where it is! (Z is for zoom)

I love this breastfeeding photo by Tiana. So quiet and peaceful. (Q is for quiet)

Dani was one of my inspirations for this challenge and I love that she's taking part! I love the way these TTV photos look! Also very thankful for her flickr help :) (v is for vehicle)