Best of Nine 2021

Thank you so much for making 2021 an amazing year! We had so many great moments that I cannot complain too much about the state of the world we are living in. Here are my top nine photos from Instagram this year! Join me at instagram.com/dadSTL to follow me into 2022!

Yet Another Canvas Factory Giveaway

Didn’t get a chance to enter my last Canvas Factory giveaway??? St. Louis Dad isn’t done giving away Canvas Factory prints just yet! What you read is exactly right, St. Louis Dad is giving away one more Canvas Factory print. So, not only can dad get his own print, mom, grandma, or even grandpa can get in on the giveaway!

These prints are so fantastic and so easy to setup and order it’s a no brainier to get entered into this giveaway. Just check out some of these amazing examples!

I love how easy it is to create the perfect print. It’s like very easy that even a dad like me can do it without a problem. The canvas’ are beautifully printed and super easy to hang in your home. They are lightweight and just look amazing show casing those perfect photos you have stored on your phone.

Getting those photos from your phone to your wall has never been easier. Canvas Factory makes the process simple and affordable. There isn’t an easier way, believe me, I have tried! Being able to take a photo from my phone and easily create a beautiful canvas like these below is exactly why Canvas Factory exists in the first place. That is why I am excited to be working with them once again!

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WIN YOUR OWN CANVAS FACTORY PRINT FOR YOUR FAMILY!

To win your own canvas print from Canvas Factory you have to like St. Louis Dad and Canvas Factory on Facebook and comment on this blog post below to tell me what your idea would be for your print at Canvas Factory. I will randomly select a winner on Sunday, June 30th, 2019. So be sure to use a valid email address so I can contact you! If the winner does not contact me in 24 hours I will select a new winner. Giveaway only available to U.S. and Canadian residents. No purchase necessary, like and comment to win!

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This post and giveaway is sponsored by Canvas Factory. Check out Canvas Factory‘s website for more ideas for even more incredible Canvas Factory ideas.

The Inner Image: Taking The Best Family Pictures

Do you find that family outings are not visually captured as well as you’d like them to be? If you’re an amateur photographer, or you like a selfie or two with your kids, taking a good family photo is a fine art. After all, people have dedicated their entire lives to the endeavor of the perfect photograph. And while you don’t need to be Robert Capa, are there any fundamentals you can take on board to ensure that you don’t, at the very least, have your thumb over the lens?

Get The Focus Locked

Either you need to have the steadiest of arms, or you can go for the simpler option and get a tripod. You might consider this to be a bit bulky, but when you’re looking at capturing the perfect family photo, what have all the great portraits got in common? The camera has focus, and the subjects are still. So, making sure that the focus on the camera is locked, either by using the back button focus or manual focus, it will take a lot of the guesswork out of it.

Getting Action Shots

It all depends on the subject, but it’s much easier when you’ve got kids that are more than willing to mess around for the camera. You can get an abundance of action shots, but don’t feel that you’ve got to be static in these situations. In fact, if you’re looking to get various types of family photos, not just the still portraits, you may want to go a bit left-field and get a drone. On myrctopia.com there is a list of the best selfie drones, which adds another angle to your experience. And, if you want to get those really fantastic aerial shots of you and the family running on a massive beach, a drone is the best way to do it.

Get The Light Right

One of the most difficult tasks for any photographer is to get the light right because we can’t control it. And if you can’t drag piles of lighting equipment around with you, the simplest approach is to choose the right time to take these photos. Lighting is such an expansive topic, but the golden rule when getting a family portrait is that you get light into the subject’s eyes.

Undertake Your Own Education

Who are your favorite photographers? Do you admire anyone at all? For any budding photographer, getting into the work of one specific artist, whether it’s Pulitzer prize winner Kevin Carter or Vivian Maier, finding the right people to inspire your work and to go beyond the usual family portraits means you can create some amazing photographs that remain true to the subject. Your own education can begin right now, and sites like creativelive.com show some of the most common photography terms, so this can get you started.

We can all take a photograph, but the greatest photographs take the subject and show them in an honest and human light. When taking pictures of your family, you may know them inside out, but you can always benefit from learning how to get the camera to reveal their inner self.

This post is a collaborative effort by St. Louis Dad.

Surprise Mom with a Mother’s Day Canvas Pop!

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and now is the perfect time to get the perfect gift ordered and shipped so it arrives just in time for mom. Every year my kids make their mom a card. We get out the glue, glitter, construction paper, scissors and more and craft together a beautiful card. This year though we are planning something different. So instead of doing the personalized card we usually do this year we are going for something a little more thoughtful, something a little more sentimental, something different, and something that will last a lifetime, this year we are getting canvas prints!

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This year the kids and I are going to go through hundreds of photos and find the best ones to send over to CanvasPop to print off several beautiful canvas prints! Sorting through wonderful memories that we have all created together is the perfect excuse to print off those precious moments for mom to hang on the wall. With two kids and myself we decided to go with three different canvas prints to surprise mom this year on her special day. Unique and made just for her these prints will look fantastic on our wall and will definitely last a lifetime.

While sifting through thousands of photos we even came across some that would be perfect for those other moms in our life. Aunts, grandmas, and those other motherly figures should get a chance to feel special this Mother’s Day as well. Sending over a few photos to CanvasPop could not be any easier. Just upload and make some selections and there ya go!

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So what are you waiting for? Head on over to CanvasPop and start digging through those selfies and candid photos to find the perfect canvas print to have printed for that special mom in your life. Save yourself the time and headache from getting crafty and making a big mess that either you or mom will have to clean up anyways. Spend that extra time going through those old photos. You may even find something that you totally forgot about like I usually do. My kids love going through pictures of old memories. It is something that we can spend hours doing and really enjoying the time spent together.

Click here and get started today!!!

If you need more inspiration for Mother’s Day, check out this Mother’s Day ideas page at CanvasPop and save with an exclusive Mother’s Day code!

St. Louis Dad partnered with CanvasPop for this post. Check out CanvasPop.com for more awesome canvas prints!