Now that you understand the fundamentals of light, it's time to get down to a few quick-n-easy tips and tricks. I thought about just giving you the tips and tricks and leaving the "why" behind. But at the end of the day, I'm here to help you become a great cook, not just give you a few recipes.

So, first tip is for all those times when you just want to get a quick snap of your kiddos that will give beautiful results in terms of light.

There are endless instances when this is the case. A cute outfit. First day of school. Messed up hair. I could go on and on.

What I'm wanting to give you is the fail proof place in your home where you can always create a quick n beauty-full pic of your kid. Rain or shine, sunny or cloudy. Is there a spot that does it all?

First, the video:

When I'm at my house, or a client's house, no matter how sunny it is and how bad all the options are, I can almost always count on the front door to give me something.

Yep, open up your front door, place your kiddo(s) in the doorway, and fire away. Here's my example from the video (all pics SOOC):

Here's why it works.

1. Most of the time, there's an overhang or porch over the front door. This keeps the sun from directly entering through the door. You're left with open sky that acts as your big light source. Thus soft light.

Of course, you might have a front door that gets blasted by the sun early in the morn or late in the afternoon/evening. If this is that case for you….sorry, this tip might not work as well for those few hours out of the day. But that's okay, because the golden hour is a great time to get out of that doorway and get into the warm, low sun.

2. Most of the time, the front door opens into a foyer area or the main living room. This is usually a decent sized room. That's good because the room will often give you a dark background, which works well for you.

You might not think the background will be dark, but trust me, you'll probably be surprised. Fact is, it's usually way brighter outside. So your camera's "pupils" are adjusted to the outside light, thus leaving the inside rendered dark.

3. This spot is further fail proofed because it's nearly always front lit, and thus very forgiving. All that light only comes into the doorway from one direction…the front.

4. Last thing to keep in mind, you need to place your kid near to the light source for best results. Have them just inside the doorway or even right even with the doorway. Remember, we can increase our light size by moving closer to the light source.

Easy. Simple. Almost fail-proof.

I've literally used this spot hundreds of times for clients, and perhaps thousands of times at my own home for personal pics. It's even our go to spot for a quick snap of our kids with the iPhone.

All right folks, thanks for being here! If you have questions, insights, discoveries...please head to the Facebook Group.