Overall, I feel the G11 is a great alternative for taking photos when you don’t want to haul your DSLR around!  It might not have the tonal-range or sensor size of my 5DMKII, but it’s definitely capable of taking nice, fun photographs.

Seriously, I couldn’t help myself when their balloons got tangled!

I love the dreamy look of this next image, and the slight smile she has:

We took a break from standing on rocks to get a few photos with the rising moon:

And then Reid joined Erin on the rocks.

All in all, it was an amazingly fun random shoot!

I’ll have prints of some of these images for sale soon in my brand new Etsy shop, so stay tuned!

To start, Erin danced around with our pink translucent heart balloon (same kind used for the SUGARHIGH/LOVESTONED shoot!)

Erin was awesome!  She had a lot of great movement, and kept trying new things! The balloon didn’t always cooperate, but we made it work.

Then, Reid joined in to be Erin’s fake boyfriend for the rest of the shoot. They’ve been good friends since they were little kids, so it was funny watching them pretend to be couple-y!

Then, to our surprise, some paragliders started flying around us, and we got some great shots with them!

I’ll post the second half of the shoot later! The first half was more the ‘cute’ part of emocute, so be ready for some serious emo-ness later! ♥

1.  The Mirror Shot

Strike a sassy pose, hold the camera with your head tilted ever-so-slightly toward it, and snap a photo.  Don’t turn off the flash!

2.  The Improved Mirror Shot

Realize that you should probably turn off the flash, so you get closer to the mirror to use two hands so the camera is steadier, as all your other non-flash photos were blurry even for you.  Since your face is showing, better show off those lips!  Pout!  Also, don’t look at the camera lens so you are making eye-contact with the viewer — just look at yourself!

3.  The Two-Person Photo

Wow!  You have to document that you were in a certain place with a certain person, even though we can’t see anything behind you, thus never knowing where you were! (Although red cups would indicate a party…)  Who cares if it looks like 90% of the other photos of you on Facebook, it’s so you can remember this exact moment!  It may take a couple tries, and it’s even better if you upload all the failed shots in sequence with your successful one.

4.  The Myspace Shot

This shot is best for putting a photo on Myspace that shows you at your most attractive.  Your body type can’t be seen, and your face tightens as you tilt it up.  Simply hold the camera above you as high as you can reach and point down!  Often results in mischievous expressions.

5.  The Simple Portrait

When no one else wants to take a photo of you, all you do is hold out the camera, tilt your chin, and snap the shutter!  It’s you at your most basic.  Who cares if the point-and-shoot you have is distorting your face with its wide-angle lens being held at arm’s length?

6.  The Contemplative, aka The Emo

When you need to show the world that you’re a serious, deep-thinking individual.  Look down and away from the camera, and hair in your face is a bonus.  If you’re really serious, make the photo black and white by desaturating the image and upping the contrast!

Okay, so, I guess it’s obvious that these styles of photos that you see plastered all over MySpace/Facebook/etc. irk me, but what can you do?  They are a style of portraiture for the modern digital age, where everyone has a point-and-shoot digital camera!  But really people, you can do better, it’s not hard.  Next time, how to improve your terrible-typical photographs!