Now that you are outside shooting in the sun, in the shade, on a lovely overcast day…it is time to find some interesting places to shoot.  We have a lovely landscaped yard (paid for by the first owners of our house…God love ’em), so I have found some fun little niches in our yard that work for photo ops.

Take a trip around your yard, look at your trees, your flowers, your fences, and the exterior of your house to find spots that would be good backgrounds for taking photos.  Even a nice expanse of green lawn works well.  Then walk around the neighborhood.  Does someone have a cool brick sidewalk or nice landscaping next to the path?  You don’t want to just walk up into your neighbor’s yard to take pictures, but if it is next to the path then you are on public property, so shoot away!  If you have a good rapport with the neighbor with the extra wonderful landscaping, compliment the heck out of them and ask if they would mind if you take some pictures of your kids in front of it…and give them some nice shots of their beautiful landscaping afterwards.

Is there a nature area that is within walking distance?  If you read this blog, you know we take evening walks to a nature area that is close to us.  I have gotten some really fun shots on those walks and nothing is ever really planned.  I just tote my camera with and take pictures while we are enjoying the outdoors.  Even if I don’t get a lot of keepers, it is great practice.

Here are some pictures that I took either in our yard or on one of our walks.

So look at your house and neighborhood with fresh eyes.  See the potential.  Even if you don’t find huge areas that are good prospects, if there is enough interesting background to fill the frame, that is enough.  Don’t try to see it as an expansive spot.  Look for the niches, since especially with photography children they are small and don’t need much for the background.

Have fun scouting!