Episode #11: How to Confidently Shoot Photos of Your Kids with Emily Supiot
In this episode on the HobbyScool podcast, I chat with Emily Supiot with Cozy Clicks. Emily who is a photography educator teaches moms how to gain confidence behind the camera to that the can confidently shoot photos of their kids that they love.
Highlights
Do you really need to have a "fancy" camera to take good pictures
What gear do you need to get started
What are some opportunities for beginner photographers
A few simple tips for getting started with the camera?
Mentioned In This Episode
Free Handbook: Learn the Manual Mode of your Camera
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Transcript:
00:00:02 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
And my special guest today is Emily Supiot. Emily is a photography educator, and we're going to be talking all about how to confidently shoot photos of your kids. And Emily, thank you so much for joining me. I am super excited to chat with you today. I have some kids myself. I have two middle schoolers and one older one, but two middle middle schoolers. And I just don't feel like I'm very confident like when we go to sporting.
00:00:32 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
Maybe a baseball game. I just don't feel like I'm ever getting the right shot, so I'm super excited to chat with you. But before we get into all the questions that I have for you, can you tell the good audience a little bit more about you and how you help people?
00:00:50 Emily Supiot (guest)
Sure. Well, Destini thank you so much first and foremost for inviting me on your show and everybody that is listening, thank you so much for taking your valuable time.
00:01:02 Emily Supiot (guest)
You know a lot of you are parents so time is super limited so thank you for listening. My name is Emily Suprio. I am a mom of four and Destini I have a 2 middle schoolers 2. I have two middle schoolers, a high schooler and an elementary kiddo. So I get all of that, all of the the kids stuff. I'm also a photographer. I was a photographer all for a long time and I wanted those great pictures of my kids when I started to have.
00:01:33 Emily Supiot (guest)
Kids and like you in the beginning, I wasn't getting those shots. I didn't understand how to get those shots.
00:01:41 Emily Supiot (guest)
And.
00:01:42 Emily Supiot (guest)
I wanted to figure that out, right. I wanted to get those shots. And that's why I have evolved into, you know, what I do today, which is helping moms that remind me a lot of how I was when I first started. So that they can feel more confident taking those pictures of their, their kids and having, you know, these beautiful professional looking photos and really just creating the freezing time, you know, creating those memories of their kids.
00:02:07 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
So, so let me ask you something. So my my sister. Fun fact here my sister is.
00:02:12 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
The professional photographer, she's been doing it for many years and every time she goes somewhere I feel like she has this very fancy camera, which I do not have. So I'm, you know, I'm, I'm going out there and I just have my phone really, just to take the pictures. Do we really need to have some type of fancy camera to take good pictures of our families?
00:02:34 Emily Supiot (guest)
I think that depends on what your intention is and what you want to do. Like if you're just, if you want phone pictures.
00:02:43 Emily Supiot (guest)
Of your kids and family and you're cool with that. And you, you know, pay a professional photographer a couple times a year for, you know, your holiday photos or your, you know, professional looking shots. Then you know, just having your phone camera and taking those shots is perfectly fine. But if you are a mom or maybe a grandma who you know is a more of a creative person who wants to learn how to capture great photos on their own, who wants to have more professional looking pictures of their.
00:03:13 Emily Supiot (guest)
It's not just the ones that you know, they schedule one time a year. But if you want to be able to capture that, maybe you even have, you know, like a little bit of a dream or some goals that it would be cool to, you know, make some side money with photography or maybe even start your own professional photography business one day with something you really enjoy doing. Then, yes, you need to have a more professional camera, and it doesn't have to be the most expensive one out there. You can start by getting, you know, a simple DSLR camera.
00:03:44 Emily Supiot (guest)
Like a Canon, rebel series is a great one to start with.
00:03:50 Emily Supiot (guest)
You can't borrow someone's camera, rent a camera, get an older model camera. Like I said, doesn't have to be the most expensive one out there, but if you have a desire to be a little more creative than just taking shots with your phone, then yes, you want to invest in in that DSLR or mirrorless camera.
00:04:09 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
So you mentioned the Canon Rebel series, so that's a good tip. What other gear would I need to get started if I wanted to do something more than just take pictures with my iPhone?
00:04:21 Emily Supiot (guest)
Start well number one. You want to start with the getting the camera. OK, so.
00:04:27 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
You need to be on my Christmas list for this year.
00:04:31 Emily Supiot (guest)
So what a lot of moms do, what a lot of grandmas do, or a lot of people, parents, anyone who's has that creative bug, that that interest in wanting to take better pictures. Sometimes we think that the more expensive the gear, the better gear, the more lenses that we get or the more novelty items we see in the camera shop or on Amazon. The more of that we get, the better our pictures are going to look. And that's not true. OK, start with.
00:05:01 Emily Supiot (guest)
Just a basic your basic DSLR. And like I said again, the Canon Rebel series is what I recommend. When I started out, I started with a borrowed camera. I borrowed an old model Canon rebel XS I they don't make those anymore. You guys don't search for those ones. This was years and years ago, but I started with a borrowed camera. So if that's what you have right now, that's what you need right now. OK, you start with that. That camera. Don't run out and buy all of this other fancy, expensive gear.
00:05:31 Emily Supiot (guest)
Because what it's going to do, it's going to frustrate you. It's gonna overwhelm you if you're going to look at all the buttons and dials on the camera and think, oh, what did I get myself into? This camera isn't taking good pictures. You're going to get frustrated and you're going to go back to your phone just taking pictures on your phone because it's going to be overwhelming. So start with a basic basic DSLR camera or mirrorless camera and understand how to work the basic functions of that first. Once you do that.
00:06:01 Emily Supiot (guest)
And you understand.
00:06:03 Emily Supiot (guest)
The basic functions of that camera, you can move on to a new lens, something like the 50 millimeter 1.8 is a prime lens that will give you the most bang for your buck. So usually those lenses are about $100. So you're not spending, you know, 234, five, $10,000 on another lens. But upgrading to that lens is like kind of like the next step for taking those professional looking photos. But again, make sure you're learning.
00:06:34 Emily Supiot (guest)
Those basic functions of the camera before you move into buying the next thing and the next thing. So understanding how your camera works is going to be the most helpful in the long run for getting those professional looking pictures you want to take.
00:06:49 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
And thank you for those, those tips. I think that's some good tips and the important message I think here is either borrow it or start out with something that might not be the latest and greatest, but something that you can learn and is you can take it from there. So let it, let me kind of change gears a little bit with you. Let's say we have the camera, we have the gear. We're starting to learn a little bit more about the camera and how the functions work on it and I might not be using.
00:07:18 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
That terminology correctly because I'm not that familiar with it, but can you tell us what are some opportunities out there for beginner photographers? Where should we get started?
00:07:30 Emily Supiot (guest)
Well, if you have a great camera and you have and remember again, I want to just reiterate, great camera doesn't mean $5000 camera, but if you've got a great camera and you understand how to use it, if you understand how manual mode works, then there are a lot of opportunities out there for you to.
00:07:51 Emily Supiot (guest)
To do a lot with photography, right, like you can take great pictures of your kids, you can put them all over social media, you can share them with your family. You can save on, you know, professional photography. You can have, you can, you know, print and have these beautiful prints all over your walls. So there's a lot of opportunity there. But a lot of the students that I work with that once they really understand their camera and they have invested in that gear, they're so excited about this creative outlet and what they can do that they find that.
00:08:22 Emily Supiot (guest)
There's a lot of people out there that would like it, professional photos of their kids, and they end up making, you know, some great side money taking photos of maybe their friends, kids or maybe relatives or being able to volunteer their time or their services. So there's a lot of opportunity out there once you really learn how to use the camera.
00:08:45 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
I like those tips, and I know that, you know, a lot of times just even around our neighborhood, you know, some people I remember, like when we had COVID, we couldn't go out and see Santa Claus. Some people came by with Santa and took pictures on our front porch. So I thought that was a great way to, you know, a great way to earn extra money.
00:09:06 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
Um, Emily, can you give us any other tips, last minute tips for getting started with taking, you know, great photos of our kids and maybe even expanding it out into a little bit of a side hustle?
00:09:22 Emily Supiot (guest)
Absolutely. My biggest tip for new photographers that have this gear, that have this desire, that have this dream to take better pictures, is to be intentional with your learning. Be intentional with your goals and not compare yourself to other photographers that are out there. A lot of newer photographers feel a little discouraged in the beginning because we see.
00:09:51 Emily Supiot (guest)
These beautiful pictures on Instagram and Pinterest and we're like, yes, I'm going to get a new camera and the pictures don't look like the ones we see on Instagram or Pinterest. And you're like, but I've got this great camera, why don't my pictures look that way? And we have to remember not to compare ourselves to photographers that have been practicing for six months a year, five years, 10 years, because it will get us down. So always be intentional with your own goals. Always stay on your.
00:10:22 Emily Supiot (guest)
Own learning track and be be happy in the place that you're at and only compare yourself to your own photos and the work you've done. You know, six months ago or a month ago, and only keep comparing yourself to your own photography.
00:10:40 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
Journey, and I think that's really a good tip for us just in life in general, right? Not comparing ourselves to other people. So Emily, can you tell folks?
00:10:52 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
How they can find you if they want to get started in, you know, shooting photos of their kids or even making this into a side business.
00:11:00 Emily Supiot (guest)
Absolutely. Well, like I said earlier, Destini, learning your camera and manual mode is key. It's super important. And so I have a free handbook that is available to anyone who wants to learn their camera and you can go to my website, cozy clicks. That is my online photography school. So go to cozyclicks.com/handbook and you can download that manual.
00:11:22 Emily Supiot (guest)
About handbook for free so you can Start learning. I'm also over on Instagram. My handle is at cozy clicks and I am on there all the time, every day, just about every day. You know, sharing photography tips, tutorials, mindset shifts. I'm on their live twice a week too, with photography trainings for new photographers. So come hang out with me over on Instagram at Cozy place.
00:11:49 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
And thank you, Emily. And we'll make sure that those links are in the show notes.
00:11:52 Dr. Destini Copp (host)
The people can find you easily. So thank you so much for joining us today.
00:11:57 Emily Supiot (guest)
Thank you, Destini. I appreciate it.