florida 9: people 1... {and your tips and tricks, please}

{this is my husband's brother and sister-in-law. i think this is one of my favorite people pics that i've ever taken. of course, i got lucky. i had beautiful subjects to work with, a beautiful setting to work in, and the lighting was perfect right at that moment. we were all just in the right place at the right time.}

hello...

lot's of things today.

first, thank you to all who left me with your thoughts about my story in my last post. hearing from you was so appreciated... especially on something like that. it's just nice to know that others would take that as a sign the way we did. it helps us know it's not so far-fetched to think that way.

second, i had said {even before the whole florida box in the road thing happened } that i would try to post some long forgotten florida pictures from last april. i thought this week would be a good time for that while i was away guest blogging for seven days with kim and p.g. i thought i could just write over there and do pictures only over here. but who am i kidding? i'm way too gabby for that!

well, here it is thursday, and i have not posted one florida pic {until now }. but after my last post, i thought it would only be fitting. so here are some of my people pictures from that trip. these were taken on the beach at sunset one evening. we tried to go watch the sun go down over the gulf every night. i have to say, those were probably my favorite moments of the whole trip. it was always so peaceful and uplifting.

one of those evenings, i decided to have my husband and his brother and wife play in the sand for me. not making castles or burying each other so just heads and feet stuck out kind of playing. this kind of playing... i asked them to JUMP for the camera. we had a blast!

this was one of my fave shots, and i decided i could use it for lookers and leapers, even though at the time that i took it, i did not yet have this project in mind. but this shot works for it. i had taken some face shots that day, too. so i zoomed and cropped in on their eyes to go with the leap pic. i just posted it last night... my second installment. so glad to have this, too, because i was growing antsy to get out and find another subject for lookers and leapers, but have not found the opportunity since my first subject.

okay, all you professional or semi- professional picture takers out there! {or even the amateurs... if you've got some words of wisdom.} i have heard that late afternoon/early evening is a good time to get outdoor photos of people. and i feel that is the main reason some of these photos turned out so warm and nice. but what other tips do you have for me? if i pursue this people photography thing, i want to learn all i can.

tips? ideas? keep in mind, i have very limited equipment and a somewhat simple camera that does not have a lot of "bells and whistles". but i know a lot of the same principles apply no matter what type of camera you have. so let's hear it! what are your secrets to taking good people pics?

{one more thing. i generally don't put photos on this blog unless i took them. i have other blogs for other people's photos. but i had to post this one after writing what i did in my last post. while going through this group of florida pics, i found one of b. and me taken that same evening in the same place as the above photos. i saw it and felt comforted by it. i loved the way we were both looking in the same direction... it almost felt like looking forward. and it was taken in florida! after my last post, i had to add it! i just had to!}

{thanks to my sis-in-law for taking it.}