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Photography means drawing with light.  While an eye for composition is important for good photography, lighting is the key to taking your shots from terrible to great.  We have seen objects as simply things or people for all of our life.  Now, when we are in our photographers' mindset, we should see them as a reflection of light with colors.

Except for natural artists, having good lighting skills is not intuitive. It was not for me but it can be learned.
 
A Sunny Day
What not to do.  For portrait shots of your children, the worst time of the day to photograph is at high noon. Most people can't wait for sunny days to get out there and start clicking. Landscapes can be fine on a sunny day because they are far away and need the harsh light to be visible (however there is little room for mood and nuance) but the stark lighting on a person can produce shadows which can ruin an otherwise awesome shot.  I try to wait for overcast days to shoot portraits or put my subject in the shade of a tree or building. (Watch out for tree shade as the space between the leaves can leave a dappled effect on the face.)

Sunny Day Tip
Light from the sun is natural and brightens a subject but when it is directly overhead the sun casts shadows from anything that is jutting out such as a nose, a chin, or even eyelashes. If you must photograph your child on the beach or on a sunny day ask them to wear a shading hat, particularly if you are photographing his/her face. If you don't have a hat, here is a little trick. Have a piece of white cardboard with you.  Ask your child to hold the cardboard at waist height with the white facing upwards reflecting onto the face. Move the cardboard around until you see the light is balanced or you see the shadows go away.   It takes practice but can be worth the effort.  If you don't have the cardboard and there is a tree nearby or a shady concession stand, use the shade.  

With so many people taking pictures these days, in order to stand out from the iPhone and "point and shoot" crowd, photographers have been engaging in a number of interesting trends. One might be the the trend to get back to black and white photography or the photography of the "olden days".  This craze began about ten years ago and is still in great favor today with many collectors and galleries searching for the perfect black and white image.

Effectively converting color to black and white is not as easy as it seems. I am sure many cameras today have a black and white option but it takes knowledge and a "good eye" to know composition and to give a photograph punch. Photography classes devote entire semesters to the process of taking photos more conducive to black and white conversion and the emphasis of drama in these photos.

The example that I posted is this seabird of Long Island Sound. I chose to convert it to black and white because of the intricacies of the lines in the bird and movement of the water.

"How to's" tutorials coming soon.