Tag: nixplay

Best Indoor Photography Ideas

3 Simple Tips for Great Indoor Photography!

We recently shared some exciting tips on how to take a family portrait, now let’s head indoors to get the best advice on capturing photos with your phones or DSLR!

Indoor photography can be intimidating because the lighting is more difficult to deal with than shooting outdoors. If you are ever faced with under exposed, blurry photos, here are 3 easy indoor photography ideas to use to help you capture a great photograph to showcase on your Nixplay cloud frame!

(1) Step out of the comfort zone of the Auto World

If I could tell everyone about indoor photography in two words, it would have to be white balance. First of all, what is a white balance? It’s as easy as it sounds! It’s all about the color temperature and keeping it “balanced”.

Tip for your Phone: Instead of using the auto settings, use your Instagram filters when taking a phone to approach indoor photography in a creative manner!

Tip for your DSLR: Our eyes are used to adjusting to the different hue of light sources provide, however our DSLR’s are not able to do this as well as our eyes can. Hence our tip is to step out of the Auto comfort zone, and to adjust the white balance manually to get the colors in your photographs as accurate as possible.

(2) Use one source of Light 

If you choose to shoot during the day, the best option for you is to use window lighting! You will be surprised with the results you can get with just natural lighting. It’s advised to avoid flash photography as much as you can as it replaces soft shadows with harsh shadows. This may make your photography lose some details. Whilst working with real light, you are able to learn more about controlled lighting and about your camera functions.

Tip for you Phone: If you are shooting a dimmed indoor area, the flash may be required to avoid blurry photographs, especially when your using your phone cameras. I’d also recommend using the Camera + app on your iPhone to edit settings.

Tip for your DSLR: If the photos are not bright enough, try to bump up your ISO settings until you achieve a satisfied result.

(3) Think outside of the frame. 

Be aware of what is in your photograph. There’s nothing worse than taking a great photo and noticing unnecessary objects in the photo. It is encouraged to photograph your subject the way you would want to see it on your cloud frame. Look around before you take the photo to check if there are little objects behind your subject. Make sure you get rid of those unwanted objects. If you are not able to remove the object, just simply move somewhere else!

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There it is: 3 quick indoor photography tips to take great photos indoors for your cloud frame. We hope these tips will give you confidence to experiment with more photos indoors! Enjoy clicking away!

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Our top 5 nixplay Easter photos!

Welcome back to our nixplay blog and hope you’re having a lovely Easter! Last Friday, we gave you 5 simple tips on how to prepare a fun Easter photo shoot with your family. As promised, here are our top 5 photos from the nixplay Easter photo shoot:

1. Happy Bunnies!

 

2. Bunny Baby

 

1

 

3. Bubble Break

 

5

 

4. “Did you say Chocolate Easter Eggs?”

 

10

 

5. Easter Egg Fun

 

3

 

Everyone had a fun and amazing time at the nixplay photo shoot. Energy was high as we provided the kids with Easter themed props/gifts. Now that our photo shoot is finished, we can’t wait to see your photos!

 

The nixplay team really want to see your Easter fun-filled weekend so share your photos by using the hashtags #nixplay #nixplayeaster on your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter Easter photos.

 

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

5 Inspiring Tips to Capture Family Portraits!

It’s that time of year to get the kids together for the family portrait. I know it can be a challenge at times, which is why I’ve created some easy tips to help you capture ideal family portraits you’ll be proud to show off on your nixplay Cloud Frame.

1) Be Creative!

Find your own style of posing that embraces your family’s quirkiness, and be creative about it! Look for creative ways to pose your subjects in the photograph and use some props to help you capture different shots. For example you could use bubbles, water guns, books and etc that elaborate each family member in their own light.

 

2) Don’t take it too seriously!

I can’t emphasize enough how important this is. The main idea of your photo shoot is to have fun and only to have fun. Don’t be afraid to joke around and enjoy yourself. Try to take a blend of serious shots and candid shots for your family potraits. Once the serious shots have been completed, ask your subjects to relax. Sometimes the best shots will show up when everyone is being themselves and not worrying about how to put on their best smiles, so get the candid photos coming! You’ll be surprised with how good the results can be.

 

3) Expression is everything!

When you’re taking photos of kids, allow them to be goofy! This will enhance their real personalities and encourage them to show a natural smile. If they’re not sure how to hold themselves, you can always suggest ways for them to pose. Or even consider using props by involving their favorite toys!

 

4) Destination – Familiar Atmosphere

There is nothing better than capturing the photos in a familiar atmosphere, such as your home! The best thing about shooting at home is that it’s a familiar place which will make everyone feel comfortable, and it’ll also increase the meaning of the photos! Worried about bad lighting indoors? Worry no more because window lighting will be your best friend. Window lighting could be used as a key light, fill light and even backlight. Be aware of controlling your light source wisely.

 

5) Manual, Manual, Manual!

For anyone with a DSLR camera, it’s time to get familiar with your manual mode. Your camera setting does not always know the right setting options for the environment you are in, so try to avoid the auto. Remember to shoot in RAW format. RAW file format captures all image data that is recorded by the sensor when you take the photo. This allows you to get the highest level of quality and greater levels of brightness. Not to mention – this also allows you to easily correct over or under exposed images without losing too many details.

 

Happy Clicking! In no time you’ll have an album of great photos to proudly display on your nixplay Cloud Frame!

Images : August 2013, Chandni Chotrani, Freeze Seize Conquer

About Chandni Chotrani, Hong Kong

Photographs to me are a way of encapsulating stories and preserving memories. They make us smile, laugh, cry and remember. It has always fascinated me how with just a simple click, you are able to capture the moments of our lives and to put together images tocreate a photographic storybook filled with timeless meanings.

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Smartphone photography tips & tricks you should know

Here are some great tips on how to take great photos for your nixplay Cloud Frame using your smartphone.

1) How to fit everything into your frame.

If you’re an Instagrammer, you would be familiar with the square frame format and will find that it is difficult to fit everything within the size restrictions. To avoid this issue, we advise taking the photos outside of the Instagram app so you can then frame your photo wisely. Don’t forget to sync your Instagram account with your nixplay Digital Frame so you can start displaying your best photos in your home instantly!

2) Filters! 

Don’t go crazy with choosing your filters – you want your photos to look natural. Choosing filters can be fun but bear in mind that you may lose certain details if you choose the “wrong” filter in smartphone photography. Sometimes a photograph can look best without having a filter at all. So choose wisely, and make sure you get the right feel with the filter you choose.

3) Editing beyond the filters.

If filters don’t do the job and you still need to edit your photo, try using the editing app “PE-Fotolr”. It allows you to edit all sorts of things from fixing the color tones of your photos to cleaning up your blemishes – this could definitely be your next favorite app after Instagram and next step to being a pro at smartphone photography! Happy snapping!

Photographs by Chandni Chotrani August 2013

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

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