"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit." ~John Updike

Some of my favorite moments of my day are when I'm working on my photography with one (or all three) of my boys. David, my youngest, who's still far too young to care about having his photo taken on a daily basis, is a terrific model when I'm working to fine tune my portrait photography.

Taking beautiful candid photographs is fairly easy if you take a couple of things into consideration first. Lighting in crucial, but don't let that scare you. Natural sunlight is your best friend. Don't be afraid to play around with it at different points in the day. You're eventually going to find that time of the day that you know you'll be the most comfortable with. After a while, you'll be an expert at positioning your subject in the light in just the perfect way as to bring out their own natural beauty like a pro.

Another trick is to work on your composition. It's one of the key factor's when deciding a really stand out shot from just an average, ordinary one. For example, when I'm shooting landscapes, the sky and clouds are always my main focus, not the actual subject itself. It's sounds weird I know, but having a great background takes the shot to a whole other level. Really, anything can become a part of your composition, the point is to fine tune that and incorporate it into your work. A good way to practice is by using unique angles and positioning. Just by changing the perspective a little bit here and there (point your camera above the subject instead of straight at him) can create a whole other composition altogether. It makes a boring old portrait fresh and interesting. This is also going to help you to define your individual style.

Finally, just have fun with it. If you're going to be overly stressed about capturing the "perfect" shot, it's never going to happen. The most perfect shots only ever happen unintentionally anyway.