The Power of Visual Storytelling

Yesterday, I wrote about the first session at the Blographer event I attended.  The information provided by Amanda Bottoms and Eric Cobb on how to make your photos blogworthy had to many tips and tidbits in it.  It's going to take me some time to play with them all, but I'm looking forward to it.  This session on visual storytelling featured another Amanda - Amanda Padgett - along with Rachel Devine.

The only downside to this session?  I had to scoot about a half hour before the session ended, so there was more information that I wasn't able to capture.  What I did get down on "paper" though, was helpful to me, and I hope it will be to you, too.

The Power of Visual Storytelling

Rachel Devine - Sesame Ellis (@SesameEllis)
Amanda Padgett - Everyday Elements (@amandapadgett) 

Amanda - Erin and Amanda Bottoms really set us up for this. They kept saying, "You'd better talk about that" so now we have to. We want to relate visual storytelling and photography to the writing process. A writer comes up with the story and then they do drafts and they edit it. You should have the same process for your photos to have the same impact for your readers.

Joel had asked if I would like to speak with Rachel, and I was familiar with "Beyond Snapshots" and I was intimidated because Rachel is huge and gifted, but she lives in Australia, so we’ve been working together in the morning and at night. We found out quickly that we are very different, so the best way to describe that is that we’re dusk and dawn. We have a lot in common, but we are very different. You're going to hear some ways that Rachel does things and the way that I do things; take that back and chew on it and decide what works for you.

Rachel - We just talked a little about the storytelling process. I'm a photographer and an accidental blogger. I started my business in Los Angeles in 1995, so I photographed for companies like Target and the like. I had a child and started photographing her; that story will come a little later on.

The storytelling process isn't just throwing images up on the blog. I have a rhyme or reason to it, and we're going to teach you to have beautiful stories represented in your images as well as your writing. I'll talk a bit about photo theory that most people don't talk about. There is a lot on the mechanics of the camera, but not often about the multi-dimensional and broad photo theory. I want to talk about why it's important to bloggers. It's a visual medium.

We wanted to poll the room - who is a photographer by trade? Do you blog as well? Who's a blogger by trade? Who here is DSLR, point and shoot, camera phone? Basically, this applies to everything and everyone. It isn't just a fancy camera thing. If you do have one, we encourage you to learn how to use it. 

Great visuals will bring in your audience and up your numbers. That will bring in sponsors. RSS feeds - you can read an entire post in an RSS feed, but you’ll click on a photo to see it better. Pinterest - craft, food and mom bloggers. I'm talking to all of you. You're not going to pin an ugly picture. If your sauce isn't lit or photographed right, no one is going to make that meal.

It applies to every type of blogger. The images will increase your reader engagement and have them come back. They will want to read your story and wait for your posts, which goes into numbers again. We're talking stats, which gets you sponsored posts and reviews. If a company gives you a product, they want a good photo of you using it in your home.

Digital content creation creates a spoke content for blogs. The brands can push out to their social media, and it's more personalized than ads shot in studio. I did this, and for me, then the company wanted to buy the images - they're beautifully shot, but real, and using the product. I've been employed to shoot a big brand's bloggers' kids wearing their clothes. I'm working with a bunch of different agencies to bring more of this to market.  I'm a brand ambassador for a lens company. I love the brand, and that's another thing that comes out of it.

Building your brand - it's real and your life. People know what I tell them about me and what I show. They keep coming back, and I'll tell you a bit about my story next. My clients as a professional photographer come through my own blog. It started when I got postpartum depression when I had Gemma who is now 7 1/2. It wasn't talked about in the States, and I joined Flickr. I didn't want my clients seeing my digital photography because I was afraid they would see the real me going through postpartum depression.

I just last year split into two place with Rachel Devine Photography, which is the professional stuff in addition to the Sesame Ellis I've been forever. I clawed my way back from postpartum depression by using Flickr to show the images. The twins were IVF, so I was going through fertility problems and not telling anyone, so I decided to just start sharing images on Flickr of that journey. The response I got back was that it helped me and it helped them.

I want to help solve problems, which is the "Beyond Snapshots" book. Rarely will I post a client shoot on my blog, but when I do, my stats go down. I want to talk to real people, people who are going through the real things. I'm now an expat and have gotten a lot of great feedback on that.

If you are selling anything, people are going to buy from friends. If they see you as a friend or as someone they know - and I mean people coming back to your blog or crafts or food - they will follow those stories. It has to be your story, not dramatic.

All three of my kids have Instagram accounts. We try to accept that its' a digital world, and we do our best to keep them safe. I moderate comments because I get a lot of trolls. Knowing your story means knowing you to your readers. If they trust you, that's how you can monetize your blog or just have people keep coming back.

Sharing stories broadens your audience. Instead of showing me recipes, show me your kitchen. Expand to create your story. Show me the farmer's market. It can still be your brand and your topic. Don't tell me about it, show me. I really want to see things - I don't have a lot of time to read. The same holds true for fashion bloggers - show me a thrift shop, walk me through your shopping. Personal blogs are not faceless magazines. This is you. A personal blog is your story, so share it and expand on it. Crafters, show me your crafting room, or focus on different things. Every Wednesday, maybe do something else. It's still your story, and you can show people that they're not alone. There are other people like that out there.

I photographed the door (shown in the picture on the screen) and didn't think about the fact that the initials of my twins were on the door, because we didn't say the twins' names. Things like that can spur conversations with your audience unexpectedly and people were guessing the names like crazy. We announced that they were twins by Gemma holding a pink and a blue pacifier.

Gemma saved for over a year to save for an iTouch, so we created a savings jar and I did a craft post on how to do that. What is visual storytelling? It has purpose. That is the one word that sums it up. If you take away anything from this, it's purpose. When I started the infertility journey, you have to give yourself shows and can't do it on your belly button, so I shared details showing my shot marks. It's a way for me to heal and for other people to be healed. That's purposeful shooting. It does include time focusing on technical elements.

If you have a vision in your head and can't make that photograph look like what's in your head, it's frustrating, so know your camera. A DSLR has all these controls and so figure them out and use that tool to tell what you want the story to be. Think about other photographs and what they tell you. Knowing my settings and being ready for it with what story you want to tell, that's how you get the photos you want. Happy accidents happen, but being ready is more important.

Identify what works in a photo. As photographers, we have the frame, what we put in it, what we don't, where we put it is all key. Think within that box and try to get it in camera, but yes, you can crop later. I try to spend as little time editing as possible. I want to get the pictures right in camera.

My goal is no clutter in my photos; they are the repeating characters you don't need to know. Learn what to leave out by simplifying. What's outside the frame is not featured for a reason, and that makes a stronger image. This is the real important part: What does it say to you when you first look at it? What you see may not be what is meant to be told. Your viewers may have a different background, so you have to build up context for them. That's why you keep telling your story over and over again.

My mom is 85, and she's getting ready to move to Australia (photo shown on screen of an older woman in a bedroom folding clothing, shot from a distance through the doorway). I was visiting my mom and saw a reflection in a mirror or her in her bedroom, and I saw the aging and the passing of time, and if I keep telling that same story over and over, it will come through. But you can sometimes just have fun and practice to revise your own vision by breaking free from your normal process.

If you are telling someone else's story, you can't separate yourself from that story. I'm putting my views on it, but that's what we do, and it's fine. Tell a story when you're traveling from your point of view. When it's not a struggle is when you know you're getting it right. Occasionally people will see something like that and be surprised, but if I completely changed my style and everything looked like this, then it wouldn't be my style.

Camera therapy is my process. It's what I call my storytelling process, and it might not apply to you, but it works for me. Everyone can identify an image that is poorly shot where the story gets lost, but the real thing is teaching the eye. People say you can't teach the eye, but then dance classes would be steps and music classes would be scales and writing classes would be spelling and grammar. Most photography classes are just teaching you how to us your process. Enjoy the process and learn.

If you get a process, and mine is camera therapy, I think about what I want to say and I prepare. I know ahead of time what the lighting will be or bring the right lens. Then take a deep breath because it's just pictures. Push yourself to look at things from different angles and think about how you can take it better. Don’t just keep taking the same photo over and over again. You can do that with your own photography and get to know your subjects to create characters. Gemma thinks she's hot stuff, and you tell the story of the character's you've developed.

I'm going to suggest two books. The first is "Bird by Bird" that is an amazing book on process. Think of ABCD. A is action - What is going to happen in the photo? It's your purpose and your message. That's what's most important. B - Background - This is your background. What are you bringing to the story? C - Content - It's your focus - what are you putting in the picture, what are you leaving out of the frame? D- Development - What's happening with the story and develop those characters? This is your story and your protagonists. Develop them, and tell people about your characters. Show them your characters, and that's how you create a visual story.

Amanda - I wanted to tell me story. I started blogging in 2008 when my dad was diagnosed with cancer. This whole blogging thing seemed like a good way to keep my family members in the loop with what's going on with my dad. I would share pictures of my dad and update them on his progress. Not long after that, I saw other people's blogs, and their pictures looked a whole lot better than my camera's photos. My husband didn't want to buy me a big camera because he was convinced I'd never use it.

When I started, I had everything dead center with the head in the middle. When my dad died in 2009, about 6 weeks later, I went out and bought a camera because life is short. This is something I had wanted to do and didn't want to lose a moment. If you shoot on auto, you have an expensive point and shoot. I put my camera in manual and figured it out. I started teaching workshops on Photoshop Elements, and that's how I'm here today.

People have the story on paper. With a writer, they want to write the best they can, they want to get it out as best they can to start with because the editing process is hard. Do the same. Get the best image possible out of the camera.

The things you need to focus on are exposure - you need a well exposed image - focus, light, composition, proper equipment, setting image limits. Cheat sheet: http://bit.ly/helpsheet that has tips for every one of these items and how to correct every one of those things.

Exposure really really matters. If you put a photo on your blog that is dark, people are going to want to see it better. There is an exposure triangle: the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. If you aren't controlling those things, your camera is going to try to make a best guess. It won't be right. There is a big difference between too slow of a shutter speed and too fast. Set your ISO, set your aperture, and then use the wheel at the back to set your shutter speed when you're shooting in manual.

Backlighting is beautiful, and people really love it. You have got to know how to shoot and set the exposure for the person though, or the person is going to be really dark. You have to control the shutter speed to capture the movement. You need to have a fast shutter speed to capture action.

What about focus? Focus seems like a really simple topic. I'll just get it in focus! I am surprised by how people don't know that you can move the focal point of a subject in your camera. There is a menu of closest subject, matrix, and single point. I recommend having it on single point and you can choose where you focus. Pay attention to that. That's how you can do the aperture changes with the background blurry.

What if your photos are out of focus? I always say, "Can I see the EXIF data?" There is a lot of information and your shutter speed, and I find that it's almost always too slow for the moment. Your shutter speed needs to be roughly double the length of the lens you're using if you're hand holding and not using a tripod.

Rachel - Make the light for you. Don't just move around, and be sure to use the natural light. My favorite thing in the world is the big foam core boards. I love to cut holes using an X-acto knife so I can have the light come through it and then bend it down over your item. It looks like it's lit with a giant, very expensive soft box. I have examples on my Facebook page. Check Beyond Snapshots with all sorts of tips on various topics.

Aperture and bokeh
Aperture affects the exposure in terms of how small/wide the opening is to allow in light. With f3.2, the focus will be just on the horse's head and the tail is already out of focus (photo of a toy horse sitting on a counter). At f8, you can see everything that's in the background because it's in focus. It impacts the depth of field. This goes to storytelling. Is what's in the background important? If not, you can use depth of field to get rid of what's not important. I'll often shoot at f3.2 or f4.

A big difference is in the distance from me to my subject and my subject to my background. I'm further away from my subject, and the background is somewhat in focus. I move in closer, and the background is more creamy and out of focus. The distance is key. Pull your subject from the background and you get in closer. If you zoom in, it works even better. I love it.

When you're composing and crafting your picture, the composition can be so off that you can't save the photo. Compose it correctly in camera; it does matter. Alter your positions; don't just take the same photo over and over again. Don't just shoot down at children, but get to their perspective. Think of the rule of thirds, which I'll show in just one second. Look for leading lines that draw you into your focus of the photo. 

Negative space
Get your subject in one part of the photo with nothing else going on in the photo, which will really draw the viewer to your subject. Sometimes, fill the frame with your subject. Use a natural frame for the photo.

What not to do?
Tilts gone wild. You don't want to make it so severe that your subject that looks like they're falling off the world. Tilt a little can be fun to give a little different perspective. Tilt with reason and purpose. Be careful with it.

Have the right tools
Lenses do matter. I don't want to tell you to go into debt for a camera or lenses, but they do matter. The new cameras all do what you need them to do. The Nikon and Canons are great. You need to get a different app for your smart phone, though. I use Camera Plus.

Don't buy the kit lens for your camera. You want a 50mm f1.8 or a 35mm f1.8 are great lenses. When you have a macro, you can get in super close, not that you should all the time. A 60mm f2.8 is an affordable macro to do that. Other brands are good, but the most help can be found for Nikon or Canon.

Rachel - I come from a film background, so I tend to be precise. I would shoot an entire session on two rolls of film, which is 72 frames. Who here shoots hundreds of frames in a session now? You don't need to take hundreds. Get a small memory card and dedicate it to this - take 72 frames, and take pictures like your lens in back is broken and you can't see what you've shot.

Do it with no in camera deletion. Record the lighting and what you were doing at the time. Figure out your f stop and shutter speed. Don't even look at the back of your camera. You'll get to 72 so fast, but this will force you to be careful. You have to slow down and force yourself to think of what you're doing. Explore your city or take your kids on a scavenger hunt.

Amanda - I go out once a year to shoot with other photographers in Savannah where I could come back with 150 images and another photographer would come back with 1,000. She had to go through editing for 1,000 photos. That time matters. When someone writes a story, the editing is where you get to the right story.

You hate to see typos in a book. There has always been an editor going through books to kill off the run on sentences. They add elements, too, to make it more interesting. They make more exciting verbs or adverbs to liven up your story. Editing will do that for us. It takes a so so image and brings it to life.

The basic workflow is to import, tag and select. How are you managing your files so you can find them? If you use editing software, you can tag your images so you can find them easily later. I can find just about any photo I've taken in the last three years because of this.

Go through and select the pictures you want to use right away, the ones that are going to tell your story the best. Then you correct the problems. Almost all photos have some problem that needs to be fixed, white balance, composition, exposure. We'll possibly add some creative effects. Then well crop or recompose the photo. We'll sharpen the photo before resizing and possibly watermarking. Tip sheet: http://bit.lyhelpsheet

And yes, there was more... but this is where I had to leave.  My favorite tip?  Tagging the photos.  You have no idea how often I am searching for a photo I know I took but can't find easily.  If you have the rest of this session, please let me know!

Ten Ways To Make Your Photos Blogworthy

Before BlogHer in New York, I attended Blographer, a first time event put on by Adorama.  It was a full day session focused on photography, specifically blog photography.  And you all know I can use all the help I can get in that area!

The first session was on ten ways to make your photos blogworthy, featuring Amanda Bottoms and Erin Cobb.  I learned so much that my head is still spinning.  And the almost two hours of this session?  It wasn't nearly enough.

Erin - You might know that in the south we say "Bless your heart," but here's the more authentic Huntsville. It is "God love her," so you can use those two things. "Bless her heart, but she doesn't know what she's doing up on stage, bless her heart."

I'm going to tell you a little about my blog and my journey to where I am now. I started to blog when my daughter was born in 2006 - for my mother, and that was it. I was in Colorado and had a baby. I never had any aspirations beyond that. I had a little point and shoot and that was great. I wanted something better, and it went from there.

About 10 months after I started blogging, a picture I took of my daughter won the BabyGap contest. Then all of a sudden, people cared about my blog, so it started getting hits and my friends and friends of friends started saying, "Can you take pictures of my child?" I decided I will, but you have to pay me. I started a photography business and moved to Alabama. I have a blog for my life and a blog for my business. 

Huntsville is the land of engineers - the largest per capita in the country. How do you know an outgoing engineer? He looks at other people's shoes. How do you know an outgoing blogger? She looks at other people's phones....

 Amanda - I am a full time blogger. I also live in Huntsville with my husband and two dogs. My photography and blog are both food and travel oriented. My blog focuses a lot on food, travel, and landscape, with a lot of desserts. That's what I take pictures of.

Erin - Empower your images to tell your story. I'm going to tell you a little about each of my blogs. The Pig Bear is my personal blog. I feel like whatever you're blogging about, food, shoes, engineers, work, kids, you have a story to tell. You have to have something you want to say to the world. The Pig Bear is the story of my family's life. There is a constant theme that runs through the blog, that life is fun and quirky and real and colorful. That's the story of my personal blog.

When I say it's real, we know everyone's' life has crappy stuff in it. I try to document that a little, but that's not what I want to remember about my life. I do blog positively knowing that my children will read it someday, and I want them to know that I treasure them. This is the story I want to remember.

My other blog is my business blog. My clients can go to my personal blog and my friends and readers can go to my business blog, but I keep them separate. I don't want my client's grandmother to have to read about my four year old's fit. The story I want to tell here is about a fun, exciting client experience.

I'm conscious with both these blogs who my audience it. On my personal blog, it's still my mom and my sister, and my friends and the guy who googled pig bear. On the business blog, it's my clients, my potential clients, other photographers, and the most important audience for me is the potential clients. I want to blog about this fun and engaging client experience to make people want to call me. If you know the overarching message you want to get across, you already know the images you need to capture and how you need to reinforce the story.

I always want to keep the things that I share in line with my overarching story. We want to remember that we're happy, that my house is warm, that we're quirky. And that we're real. The picture of my child crying is real, and we have to remember that, too. I try to feel the realness, too. On my business blog, I want to keep it engaging and fun. What mother of a teenage boy doesn't want to see her son mugging up with her to the camera? That's what I want to show on my business blog.

You know the story you want to tell, and now you have all these tools in your toolbox to tell that story. The trick is how to tell that story to your advantage. You've got perspective, the way you approach the scene in front of you - high or wide, close up or not, you've got shutter speed and aperture, you've got composition and storyboards - the series of images you use to reinforce your story.

A little about perspective. 
When you approach whatever you are photographing, before I take that shot, I am thinking, "What do I want to tell? What is the story here? What do I want to tell?" If I were sitting right here, there is the story that the girl in front is scared and everyone is staring at her, so I'd want to take a picture of me up front with some of us in the audience. I'm not just shooting everything. I'm thinking about what story I want to tell and then finding the images for this.

This picture (on the screen during the presentation - showing a baby in focus with the top of a little boy's head who is holding the baby) is about Baby Jude and being loved and adored. It's focused on him with my son there but not showing the child loving on him. About five minutes later, this is Ephraim loving on Baby Jude (focused on the boy's face, with the sleeping baby in the picture but not the focus), so it's focused on him and his face with Jude there just to show what he's loving.

You can use objects in your view to show your perspective. Having a door in the background really gives that perspective of peeking around a door. Closer in really gives that perspective of being a part of the scene. Really focusing on the eyes with a big aperture will give you a lot of attitude from the subject of what she can do.

Find the Best Light 
Amanda - One of the best tools you have in your toolbox is the light. Finding where the light is coming from, how it hits your subject, honestly it's not something I thought about at first. I didn’t see where it showcases the highlights and the shadows. It took a long time for me to learn to take the best photos to evoke emotion.  I have to find the best light in my house and move things to that area. It can take things from dull and flat with flash lighting to dramatic if you have shadows and highlights.

This is my kitchen (another photo onscreen), where I take most of the photos in my house. That's good since I take a lot of photos of food. I get a lot of natural light from the big window. I get the sun in the morning. Right after the sunspot goes away, it's completely flooded in the room. I turn off all other lights in the house because you don't want any competing light because that's going to mess up your white balance. I like to have the light just flooding the picture.  If I don't have enough light, I will move the table by the window to get as much light as I can possibly have.

Here's an example of a picture I took in that lighting. The light hits the food directly from the side and highlights the chocolate. What's also great about the table is I love being able to just walk around the table and look to see where the light is hitting. The first picture shows the light hitting it from the side. The next photo has it hitting from the back where it has shadows in the front where it then highlights the frosting on the macaroons.

Every picture you ever drew of an apple has the shiny spot on it. We drew it in because our brains know. Find the shiny spot - the interesting highlights - to take the photo. Light coming from the top just isn't as interesting as light coming from the side or backlight. If you don't have a good shiny spot, look for the shadows. You can see them up front on the won ton wrappers, because if you have front lighting, you can't see the dimension as well.

That's indoor lighting. Now if you're outside, look for some shade to take pictures, but you want to treat it like that big window. Look for a lot of sun and then move just out of it into shade. You don't want to see a bright patch of sun in your background because that will be way too bright. It's the same type of light as indoors with full natural light. Then walk around and see before you even take your picture to see where the best light is. That way you can take 8 instead of 50 photos to get a winner.  Look to see where the highlights are hitting the subject. Have the person look at you to see where the catch lights hit their eyes, and that's where you want to take that photo.

If you're ever outside and want to get that beautiful landscape shot with a bright blue sky, shoot with the sun behind you, hitting whatever you want to photograph. Shooting towards the sun will give you a white blown out sky. Turn a 180, and you'll have a bright blue sky that's illuminated with gorgeous shadows and reflections. For outdoor shooting if you do want to have the sun behind someone, use the popup flash on your camera. The bright light coming in will make the person completely silhouetted. 

Expose for the light. Take your camera to where you can just see the sky and hold down the shutter to focus, then move down so items are silhouetted as you want. It depends on what you want to see. Move your subjects to the light.

This photo was taken in a pitch black restaurant where we could barely see the food (gorgeous picture of a dinner that looks fully lit). We want to go out to eat during normal times, but we want to take pictures of our food anyway. You could always use your flash, but I like light coming in from other directions. I have the candle that I moved closer to the food. There is a bright light to the side, where I had a friend turn on her phone to illuminate the food, and it looks like daylight. Most phones have a flashlight app, but that would be too harsh. Hold it at a high angle, to a blank browser page so it's a white screen.

Be Consistent in Style & Skill 
Erin - I feel like when I am about to click on Amanda’s blog, I know exactly what I'm going to see. You have an expectation of a brand and what you'll get from it. Use GAP, Diet Coke, and Google as examples. You know how it will make you feel.

Every person is a brand; every baby has a blog. Did you know that two years ago, 92% of two year olds and under had an online footprint from a picture or a name on the internet? When someone sees you coming, they have a thought about how they're going to feel about you, what you're going to say, or how you're going to say it. It's the same thing with your blog and the pictures you put on your blog.

It could not be more important for you to be consistent with your style and skill. There's nothing more frustrating than not knowing how many pictures they're going to put up or if they're going to be good or not. Really establish who they are and what they do. You have an expectation. When my clients come to my business bog, they know they'll see cute families and girls, adorable babies, and happy images.

First, set the expectation through your images what their experience is going to be, then live up to it every time. On my personal blog, I’ve established that story. It's going to be warm and fun and engaging. It's going to be a story in the photos. You're working with this in every post to live up to the expectation to reaffirm the brand. You may not think you have one, but you do.

Don't forget about that little bit of fun and spark every now and then. Even Coke has Vanilla Coke or Coke with Lime. Don't forget about that element of surprise. You know the product is reliable, but there's an extra little fun sometimes. You can do that on your blog, too, and it will help keep them coming back.

Use Aperture to Focus on Important Elements 

Amanda - One of the tools you have is aperture. There are things you want a lot in focus and others that you want just a little in focus. Let me tell you a little about aperture; it controls whether you have a lot or a little in focus, if it's a blurry background or whether you have it all in there. If you have a small number (f2.8) it's open wide and the background will be blurry. If it's a larger number, then it will be all in focus. It's AV in Canon and A in Nikon (and Sony) then turn the dial down as far down as you can go. One of my favorites is the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens that's about $100. It's how I get the backgrounds to beautifully blurry.

When you're doing a blurry background, make sure it's an interesting background. If it's just a white or solid background, it won't have bokeh or be interesting. A picture of perfume sitting in front of a ton of jewelry is reflecting light off the beads. Look for repetitive objects, trees and bushes are fabulous and Christmas lights are great, too. Set it up before you take your shot. That's what makes great bokeh.

If you want everything in focus, you can go up to 22. Turn the dial all the way up to do that. It's a narrow aperture with just a little light coming through, so you need a lot of light to come through. That will bring everything into focus. This is something that I use a lot for landscapes. I want the story to include everything. One of my favorite things about using a high F number like 22 is that if you're taking a picture of the sun or any kind of light, it will create that awesome sun flare. It works all the time whether it's coming through trees or shooting straight at the sun. It works at night with streetlights, too.

Use your Shutter Speed to Dramatically Freeze or Blur Motion 
Amanda - You can use shutter speed to tell your story to either dramatically freeze or blur and slow down motion. When I go outside and I want to take photos of action, the first thing I do it put my camera in Shutter Priority Mode - TV in Cannon and S in Nikon (P for Sony). If you see inch marks on your screen, that's actually seconds for your shutter speed. You need a lot of light because the shutter doesn't open as wide. I turn it to 500 and, you'll capture the action. A high number is a fast shutter speed and it will freeze. The camera will handle everything else but the shutter speed.

On the flip side of that, you can use an extremely slow shutter speed to create a dramatic motion effect, but you need a tripod or something to keep it steady. It's recording the whole time the shutter is open for a quarter of a second or five seconds or thirty seconds. Nothing else in the background (of a photograph shown on the screen) moves but the water, so the background is in focus but the water is blurry. If you move at all, then it won't work. This is great for places that are action central where you don't want to have people or cars in the photo but instead shows the image you want to see.

If you're going to use a tripod, use a quick self-timer mode like 2 seconds or something. Any shake or movement on the camera will shake or blur it. Even pressing the shutter button will shake the camera. I press the shutter then get away from the camera while it's taking so the camera has time to steady itself.

The next time you're taking a photo, think about what images might benefit from a slow shutter speed. If I'm going to do photos of water, I love a slow shutter speed because it gives a slow dreamy effect. The water is choppy and looks flat with no interest to it. There are always railings in places I seem to go, where I can turn on the self-timer and set the shutter speed and let it record. It makes a more interesting picture. If you shoot in manual mode, you can up the aperture to get sunburst, too.

Select Images That Support Your Style/Brand 
Erin - You've taken all these pictures and now need to choose which ones to share that support your brand. I feel like I can see a picture on the Internet and know Amanda took that photo. There is a very signature look. I know that feels daunting if you aren't super familiar with your camera. If you’re consistent over time and figure out what you like, you'll find what's consistent with your brand.  Once you have defined your style and brand, work with each post to enhance and strengthen it. Whatever your style is, make it your goal that your images be instantly recognizable even without your name attached.

With a blog, you don't really know exactly who is reading your blog. You can look at Google stats, but it doesn't tell everything. When it comes to blogging, think about the story first - and mine typically are of children, family and people. I just don't take photos, or care to take photos, without people. I typically know the story I want to tell.

Do you ever see interactions where you want to freeze them and they're so poignant or special or funny? That's the story I want to grab. I don't necessarily know the tone that my blog post will take. I don't know when I take that picture of my kids snuggled in the bed on a Saturday if I’m going to go funny or poignant with it. It's when I'm editing the photos that I really start to form the tone and post in my mind. I take the images and know the story then craft the post around it.

The tone influences the number of images I share and the order in which I share them. If I'm doing a story about my day in New York or Blographer, then I'll share a lot of pictures and punctuate it with information. Storytelling posts do really well with lots of images. The sweet or poignant stories tend to not need as many images.

Some of the blogs I really like frustrate me because I feel like a quarter of the way through the blog post, it has already told the story and it just goes on and on. It feels like I already know this story and it's just too sweet. If it's sweet, keep it short. It gets too heavy when it's serious. Keep it short. With storytelling, you can use more images to tell the story. This is my husband and daughter playing soccer. My daughter has learned to do the "What's that?" to my husband who plays the fool for her.

Oftentimes, leaving an image out can do more for your blog than putting it in? Does this image support my story without being redundant? It may just be so cute and a different angle, but no one cares if it's a different angle. Be sure that each image you choose supports without retelling. Does it bring something new to the story?

Is it safe or anonymous enough to be respectful of friends and family? Everyone has a different line, and you have to know that. Most people I'm photographing know that I'm going to put things on the blog, and if they don't want up, they'll tell me. Nothing will make your images less blogworthy than friends and family not wanting to be up there.

Shoot with Skill and Edit for Impact 
Erin - I’m going to tell you something embarrassing about me. In 2005, my daughter was born. I learned everything my point and shoot, including shooting in manual mode. I knew all it could do. Then I decided it was time for a new camera and got a Canon Rebel. I had no aspirations to be a photographer, so I started researching online. I had no idea that Photoshop existed. I didn't know about image editing at all. I saw these pictures, in a time where oversaturation was big, and I spent a good six months working my camera to look like these photos that I know now had been edited.

I'm really glad I did this though because it taught me to shoot with skill. When I discovered Photoshop and I can edit, that's great, but I still know how to take that photograph. My editing philosophy is that Photoshop is like makeup. It works best when it looks like you're not using any. You don't want people to walk into a room and say, "Wow, did you see her eyeliner?" You want them to notice your eyes.

If you really like to go for it in Photoshop, then go for it. I sell a Photoshop product that teaches people to use it like I do, so I'm not bashing Photoshop. I want images to point back to your story and not to the editing that you did. You want them to notice your image.

Lighten to emphasize Detail 
Amanda - The first thing is the light. I personally think that most photos need a little bit of lightening. You can do this in editing photo tool you have from Picasa or just uploading it somewhere. Everyone is going to have a tool to lighten. It's when it's a little bit brighter that lets you emphasize your detail and enhance it. You don't want to do it too bright because I look at blogs and look at things where it's just too bright all the time.  It's always ok to shoot just a little darker than you think because you can fix that. You can't really do too much when it's too bright and light.

Train your eye to recognize proper white balance 
Amanda - There's nothing worse than seeing a picture that is great but just a little too blue or just a little too yellow. All I do when it's a little too blue is add a little warmth. It looks like I also lightened it or saturated it, but I didn't. It instantly adds so much to just add a little warmth. If a plate has anything white in your photo, use that as your guide. If you aren't sure, start playing around with a photo to see what makes it look better or worse. If it's too yellow, you can cool it down a bit, which will help you see the colors a little better. The items just pop out a little bit more just from adjusting the white balance.

Finally - Prepare properly for the Web 
Erin - Back when I discovered about editing, I learned about RAW. Photographers have a huge debate about this. I started shooting in RAW. I kept dumping all these RAW files with no in camera processing with all the original data in there, which gives you more freedom to change them, but then all I was doing was to go into a RAW processor without touching any of the sliders and turning them into .jpgs. That wasted so much time for me. And now I shoot for the last 5 years shooting in jpg.  I say this because RAW is a superior file type. It is. But if you find yourself pulling your RAW files into your converter and not doing anything with them, save yourself time and heartache by shooting in .jpg.

The last thing is preparing for the web. Karen Russell lives in Oregon and teaches online and in person. I went out to see her about two years ago about my editing processes. We spent time together, and it was great. "There was something else," she kept saying that I was doing to make my photos better. After days, we decided to do a post about me being out there. I started to prepare mine for the web. And that's where she figured out what I'm doing differently.

I think that there are bloggers who don't know that you have the option to prepare your file for proper display on the web. It resizes to a smaller file size so it uploads faster, and when you put them up there that way, it looks just a little softer and smoother. The web does something different from when you print it.

If you sharpen it properly for the web, suddenly you'll figure out how much better it looks. I have a web sharpen action that I will give to anyone who emails me. Do some research into this if you aren't already properly preparing your images for the web. There are benefits and drawbacks to this. One of the benefits is that you can upload them faster because they're smaller. If people were to download your images to your computer and print them, then they can't print a 16x20 from your web file because it will look terrible. Another benefit is that your images will look sharper and display better for your audience.

A drawback is to think about the purpose of your blog. If your purpose is to document your blog and then slurp it and put it into a blog book that you can save as your family history. If you have resized all your photos for the web, every single one of your files will have to be replaced manually because you will get messages that they won't print well. If your purpose is to present your images in the best way possible or you don't mind putting in the extra time, then go ahead and do this. As far as the optimal pixel size, it depends on your blog and whatever site you're putting them up on. Amanda will discuss this.

Question and Answer
Audience: Do you watermark your photos? 
Erin - On my personal blog, I have given up the fight on my personal blog because it takes a lot of time. I do not watermark my images. I try to make them inaccessible by disabling right click. There is a great picture of mine with a couple horrible quotes that is floating around the web. Those sorts of annoying thing happen. On my business blog, I have my logo on every picture that is resized for the web and has a border around them. I don't know if this is the right answer, but it's what I do.
Amanda - I depends on what image you want to present. If that's what you want to do, go for it. A lot of cameras now will include your copyright information on every picture you take.

Audience: As a photographer and a blogger, are you calibrating your pictures for print?
Erin - I am calibrating my pictures for print. Unless you're a photographer, no one else notices it or cares.
Amanda - My philosophy in life is to get it to 95%, and that's good enough. I get it there and then just don't care about that last 5%.
Erin - I am a professional photography making my money from selling pictures, Amanda is a professional blogger.

Audience: With both a personal and a business blog, how do much time do you spend?
Erin - I've toyed with putting them together. I do a sneak peek for every session, and I do three sessions a week. I also do some filler things. I try to blog on my personal blog every other day or so, but that falls to the side when I get busy. I spend 5 to 6 hours a week blogging. My business has been in my house until last month, so now I'm trying to really recommit my evenings to things I want to do, so I blog on my personal blog more often.

Audience: Do you ever put personal stories on your business site?
Erin - I may put some there.  For example I may tell them that I came to New York. I do have a link saying that this is my personal blog if you want to click on it. I want them to have a choice. A lot of my clients do read my personal blog, but I don't want to confuse the grandmothers. When they come to see the sneak peek of their child, I don't want them to have to read it (my personal blog).

Audience: When did you start to figure out how to blog the personal stuff after you just started the blog for your mom? 
Erin - For me, it has changed. My voice isn't the same, and it's constantly changing. I am growing as a person, so I find myself influenced by other blogs I read, but I think I've found my confidence in myself after the GAP casting call, maybe about a year later.
Amanda - I have always been a blogger. I was a blogger when I was like 14 years old. We didn’t have Facebook back then. I was your typical 14 year old who wanted to plaster photos all over the internet. I used Geocities back then. I traveled a lot back then, too. I had family and friends all over that I wanted to keep in touch with, and I found the internet. I honestly did exactly what I'm still doing now. I put photos up and write about it. I met my husband when I was 20, and I was still keeping it up. For our one year anniversary, he bought me the domain name kevinandamanda. Even then, I had readers that I didn't know - not friends and family. I think two things to remember are that you have to talk about what you want. It's not real if it's not you. You won't enjoy it. Say it how you want to say it, how you would tell a friend. Sometimes I get stuck with the writing part. The photos are the voice of my blog. I pretend like I’m calling a friend on the phone. Also, your readers will let you know what they expect from you, so it's a balance. If I post 50,000 travel photos in a row, I know they want more food.
Erin - When Ephraim turned 2, we bought EphraimCobb.com. Someday someone will google him, and he can do what he wants with it someday.

Audience: How do you manage your SEO when you have a work blog and a photography blog, assuming you put your real name on both blogs? 
Erin - I'm not an SEO expert, but I want people to come to find my business blog when they google "Huntsville children's blog." I don't care if they google my name and find my personal blog because there is a link to my photography blog.
Audience:  Do you use other social media to promote your business blog?
Amanda - Yes, I use them all. I use a Facebook fan page. I use Twitter, but I resist Pinterest. I tried to resist Instagram. I'm addicted to that. If I could only use one social media, it would be Instagram. I do like Facebook, but the voice of my blog is photos, so I like the places I can share photos. I don’t do a lot of updates, but I'll share photos or a link back to my blog with what I'm sharing that day. Twitter does not come naturally to me. If I weren't a blogger, I don’t think I'd be on Twitter. It's not my thing, but I use it because it's where I can talk to other bloggers. I have found a lot of bloggers may not answer your email or Facebook, but they're good at answering on Twitter. I will promote my posts every time I write a new one, but I use Twitter to talk to other bloggers to build a relationship and network with them.

Audience: What do you use to publish?
Amanda - I use WordPress now.

Audience:  When you take pictures of other kids or when you travel, do you worry about that?
Erin - For my business, they’ve all signed a model release. I don't always ask friends and family, but they know that's what I do, so I figure they'll tell me. I'm cautious about what I share. Six years old is too old to show in underwear.
Amanda - We have someone talking about street photography later. That would be the person to ask.

BlogHer '12 McDonalds Breakfast

I wrote yesterday an overall recap of BlogHer in New York, the good, the bad and the ugly.  There were highlights, and I did come away with some interesting interactions.  On Friday morning, I was invited to the McDonalds breakfast where we tried some of the new menu items and heard from a panel of McDonalds executives

Personally, I adored the blueberry pomegranate smoothie we ate.  The oatmeal wasn't my favorite, primarily because it's instant oatmeal and I like my oatmeal big and chewy.  We also sampled some apple and yogurt dippers that were pretty tasty, and I really enjoyed the smoothie - did I mention that yet?

The real draw of the day was the panel of senior McDonalds executives from McDonalds US President Jan Fields, Senior Director of Nutrition Dr. Cindy Goody, and Nutrition and Culinary Director Chef Jessica Foust R.D.  The session was fairly open ended, with the McDonalds team looking for ideas and suggestions from bloggers in attendance.  While not all the answers were the ones I was hoping to hear - and the vast majority of the questions submitted by Family Arches members (including me) prior to the event weren't addressed, I'm hoping they still will be in the weeks to come.

This is strictly a transcript of the question and answer session, and I am placing no judgements on it.  I would like to know what you think of some of the information shared and the questions asked.  Where do you stand on McDonalds as a restaurant?

McDonalds Breakfast Q&A

At McDonalds, we Have done a lot - the 400 and under calorie favorites, adding more dairy and whole grains to menu, and more.

In terms of the new menu options, the nutrition information and access to it, what else can you do in local communities to make get the word out about how you can make more informed choices?

Question - As an adult, my mom had to be told to go on cholesterol medication and specifically told to not go to McDonalds, an aunt lost a foot to diabetes.  I'm now a vegetarian in response to a lot of heart disease.  What are you doing for vegetarians?

Jan - You can always ask for options with no meat.  That's a vegetarian option.  One of the things people ask me all the time is why you don't have a veggie burger. We never sell any, though we've offered it before.  We did it in Southern California, and it has been a real challenge.  We do continue to look at it,but if you don't sell enough of something in a given amount of time, you can't sell it.  It can't hold.  They can get everything from a grilled cheese to a Big Mac with no meat.

Jan - Can you talk about food causing one thing versus another reason for the health issues?

Cindy - We talk about heart disease and diabetes.  I love the ability to customize.  We have my meal builder on the website are hoping to build it out to the mobile app.  That way you can build a fish sandwich with or without tartar sauce, a two patty burger or not.  It will recalculate the nutritional values for you.

Question: I worked at McDonalds when I was 15.  I've seen a lot of the changes that McDonalds has gone through.  I've noticed the aspect of training people, and the issue of people are not thrilled about the new changes that are coming.  It's a big problem when I ask for no fries and they put them in the Happy Meal anyway.  Is there going to be more employee training?  I get that many are 15 years old, but is there a process to help relieve the frustration of parents?

Jan - I think that there is always an opportunity from a training standpoint, and we're working on it.  It's about customer satisfaction overall and that you're giving the customer what they're asking for overall.  I hear what you're saying.  We've gotten that feedback before, so thank you for that.

Question:  I do enjoy the new Happy Meals.  My son is autistic, so he rejects anything in sandwich form.  This can make things a challenge when we eat out.  Gradually, I'm seeing grilled or baked chicken bites for kids.  Is McDonalds looking at this for the future?

Jan - Chef Jessica is looking.  We are looking at grilled chicken nuggets.  Stay tuned.

Question:  There is a great campaign in Canada on twitter and elsewhere showing the process behind the food.  Is that something that will come here?

Jan - We love the campaign.  We are keeping a big eye on it, and things often move over borders.

Jessica - Social media is borderless.  You'll see that.  We may bring something in.  It's something where my boss Chef Dan showed how to make the sauce in his home. I love that you're seeing it.

Question: I have a son who is almost 3 who has celiac disease.  What is McDonalds doing to provide gluten free options?  I encourage McDonalds to be a leader in gluten free options.  People will follow you.

Jan - I met two nights ago with a mother and father.  It was about celiac disease.  Their doctor told them that the fries at McDonalds are safe, so they started going there.  I've been working on the food allergy issue.  There is a huge need for it.  You've got to be careful.  It's amazing how careful you have to be, and I learned so much about what you have to do.  That is definitely being brought up, and we're looking at it.  I was touched by it when you have a child who wants to do something and isn't able . We'll get there.

Question:  I have a son with food allergies.  I want to thank McDonalds because I know the food is reasonably safe, know what I can order thanks to the website, and I like to be able to customize the meals.  When I go to restaurants, especially the teenagers, they frequently say "I don't think so" when I ask if there is a nut in it.  Is there training for employees around food allergies?

Jan - Probably not enough.  This is being brought up to us.  The parent is always in control, and I know how they are about watching everything.  Over the past couple weeks, it's come to light even more to us about how we need to train more on the ingredient side.  When you hear a theme, it's there.  Half the room will probably give the same feedback.  How many people in this room have the same concern?  That's the beauty of doing something like this.  You have a room with 100 people and so many who are doing this.  There is so much pressure and demand.  I get it.

Question: I am the McMayor of my McDonalds.  My school does chicken nugget Wednesday and pizza Friday.  The parents revolted when they heard about it.  I think it's an education issue.  I was perturbed that they were bothered by it, but I would love to see a side by side comparison to campaign through parents to schools so they can see the results that this is actually better than the greasy cafeteria meals they get every day.  How do you reach schools or parents or communities that way?

Jan - Why we're doing the campaigns like we're doing now is that we are really proud to go side by side from a nutritional standpoint because we believe we'll win.  It's a perception thing.  People say, "Can you give me a Kleenex?" when they mean tissue.  Because of the size and scope, they say McDonalds, but they mean a term and not McDonalds specifically.  We're doing a number of campaigns. It's people like you who can help because it's people like you who are helping to educate and the campaigns we're running that are important.  In grocery stores, it's common to look at labels. I don't know that we do enough of this outside McDonalds.  When you start to ask the same question you ask now at other restaurants, you'll start to be surprised.  Not everything fits everyone's diet.  Then there is the whole activity component that schools need to get on.  It's about moving, too.

Jessica - What has shocked some people, if you look at our menu, 80% of our menu is 400 calories or less.  To Jan's point, people are surprised by this.  It causes people to look at our menu and think differently.

Question:  You brought up labels.  I have 4 children, 3 boys, 1 girl.  They all want the same toy.  They always assume we want 3 boy toys and 1 girl, but the boy toy  is the more fun one.  They feel horrible that they have to ask for the boy toy.  Any choice of taking that label away?

Jan - They are trained to say what the toy is to ask and not to say boy/girl.  It's a stereotype thing, but it doesn't always happen.  I feel your pain.

Jessica - As a parent, my son the other day acted like he was eating dirt when I tried to get him to eat a red pepper.  What thoughts or ideas do you have around fruits and vegetables?  We'd like to offer additional choices.

Fadra - I would really like to see a burger that some of the other brands where they have a lot of good lettuce, tomato, onion.  I don't mean a little sliver of lettuce.  It helps you fill up, too.  I know that there have been a lot of those type of burgers over the years.  As far as kids eating veggies, good luck with that.  I really love the Asian chicken salad and would love to see that as a regular menu item.  There was something I used to get called that All American Meal.  It was just a cheeseburger, small fry, and drink.  It's great for portion control.  I know people who do Weight Watchers can have that as an acceptable meal.  I can get it in one nice package.

Audience: I have kind of picky eaters.  One daughter would not touch yogurt.  Hummus and vegetables are good, especially if you package them like you do yogurt in a cup so it is less likely to spill in a car.  Do it with carrots, cucumbers, red peppers.  That would totally fly.

Audience: I'm a public school teacher in Philly.  We did the hummus and veggies in my school on a healthy foods trial. They didn't go for it.  What did work, I found if people bought the celery and raisins and made ant logs, they ate it.  When they're playing with it, they ate it.  Maybe advertise it with a picture of the logs and then they play with the food to make it (the picture on the ad).  They like to play with their food.  If they don't realize it's healthy, they'll eat it.

Audience: My kids love the fruit and snacks in the happy meals.  Could you make the package more like a cup so when you're driving, they can dip it more easily so they don't have to try to peel it back and not spill it?

Audience: I'm also a big fan of the Asian chicken salad.  My kids all take the edamame.  I would pay extra for a side of edamame.  My kids also love the baby cucumbers.  

Jan - We're actively testing different options. Whether it be kiwi, pineapple, or something else, we're looking at a number of different things.  I will tell you that the Asian salad is seasonal.  If there are ingredients that are only seasonally available, it's hard to do them in the numbers we need.  It's hard to say we want edamame all year when it isn't available in the quantities we need.  We rotate the southwest salad and Asian salad.  The southwest sells 5:1, so it gets to stay all year.  The unique ingredients - corn - are not as hard to get all year as edamame.

Kelby - Have you thought of yogurt parfaits as an option as a side for kids or adults?  I'm not that big of a fan of fries, but my kids won't give up a happy meal for a parfait if we have to build it out.  Have you thought about doing premium sides?  It's great that there are apples.  My kids will eat veggies and dip.  It would be great to offer 4 premium healthy sides for an adult or kid.  You may not have the volume, but I would pay more to have a good side.

Jan - We are testing right now where they have extra value meals where you can put together your own sides.  We haven't done it from a Happy Meal perspective, but we are clearly looking at what other options we can have besides an apple.  The choices are very involved in testing.

Jessica - We've heard a lot about edamame and seasonal.  We're looking at can we have blueberry as a side for happy meals when we have the blueberry oatmeal seasonal item.

Question: My kids love salads.  Buying a $6 salad when they can only eat half of it, I don't do.  Is it possible to make a half size salad even if they don't want a full one to go with a cheeseburger?  The side salads don't have meat, and my kids are meat eaters.

Jan - You can ask for a side salad and ask for meat.  You can ask, "Can I get a fish no bun?"  They'll charge for it, but you can do it.  Along that line, I am one who is very interested in portion control.  That's something we're doing - we lowered the size of McFlurries, we took away the large on them and on the shakes.  We're looking at more smaller portions available, and we feel like that's a good route to go.  Just go smaller.

Question: I didn't like a salad as a kid.  I loved the salad shakers.  I loved shaking it up - it was exciting to me. That's how my dad got me to eat salad.  

Jan - The salad shaker went down in history as one of our big failures.  Unfortunately it didn't shake well.  Either it didn't shake well or people felt we were cheating them because it wasn't very full.

Question:  In the 70s and 80s, my family did the regional advertising for McDonalds.  I have three kids and am a working mom.  I'm from a farm.  Thank you for telling the stories about farmers in your advertising this year.  In the fruits and veggies, it's important to tell where it comes from, and don't feel bad about it.  If you say that it's from California, say that.  If you're supporting the apple farmers in the States, tell us. People have a huge interest in where our food comes from . I would love to connect our farms with our food.  There's a great story to tell with the farm to McDonalds.

Jan - We're really proud of that campaign.  America is farmers.  Those are real farmers who produce food for us out of this country.

Question: Talking about options, both my kids have given up Happy Meals because they love the chicken wrap.  I would love to see that as a happy meal option.

Jan - I think we're going into a test with that....

Jessica - Yes, we are.

Question: I do like knowing where my fruits and veggie are coming form.  A grilled fish sandwich would be good instead of just fried.  I'd like to have bacon added.  I'd love to see, "You bought a burger or happy meal, here are some exercises you can do to burn off the calories."  It encourages not just healthy eating but healthy living.

Cindy - We've committed that 100% of our messages on Happy Meals will be positive where they talk about exercise or nutritional information.  There is something with the Olympics talking about jumping jacks and how to do it.

Jessica - What do you see as McDonalds' role in bringing awareness of the balance of activities.  Do we have a role in bringing that with 14,000 restaurants?

Question: I blog about tweens.  It's a hangout for kids and want to commend you for investing in a lot of space for a hangout with basketball and place for kids to play in the restaurant. It's not just the babies playing in the play spaces. They can go shoot hoops or ride the exercise bike, and that's awesome.  I'd love to see you do more of that, knowing that it's a space issue.  You recognize that this is a hangout, especially where there's space to do so.

Question: I know McDonalds does a lot of sports funding.  There's a backlash for it, because there's the perception that McDonalds is unhealthy but now you just funded this sports field.  I'd love to see more education around "Yes, we're giving a football field, but we're also doing more for nutrition for the football players."  I have a 3 year old and a 6 week old, and we're starting to get into McDonalds now.  I am big into BPA free plastic.  Can you address that issue, too?

Jessica - I know that is something that we have to go back to confirm, but most of our packaging is BPA free.  We'll get back to you on it.  We have looked at it, and we're continuing to look at it.  We're trying to make it more recyclable in our packaging.

Question: My kids will eat anything with dip.  Since you took the caramel away, they throw the apples away now.  They would eat the apples but not the fries; now that you took the caramel away, they don't eat the apples.  I would be happy to pay more and order it on the side.  I'd be happy to pay extra for ranch or caramel.

Jan - I've heard that before.  I know it is a challenge.

Question:  In a slightly different direction, not only does McDonalds get a bad rap for nutrition, but another thing my friends express concern to me about McDonalds is the environmental concerns and animal welfare.  Can you talk a bit about this?

Jan - They can add the technical stuff. We've been involved in the World Wildlife Fund.  We do a good job.  For some, there are infrastructures that cause a problem. We just made an  announcement for the sows to not be in gestation stalls.  Within the industry, there are people on both sides who think that this is not safe.  We continue to do research and worked with industry organizations.  We've been working with PETA from an animal welfare standpoint. We want to do the right thing, and there's no question that we can change an industry.  We can't do everything.

Cindy - We have an animal welfare council, a longstanding council at McDonalds.  We hire a lot, including partnering with Dr. Temple Grandin and continue to discuss these concerns.

Jan - We would be happy to share the sustainability reports.  I think you'd be very proud of what we've done.  I'm not doing justice to this, but I can get you the information.

Jessica - We do have an opportunity to share more about what we're doing.  We put out the reports, but it's not reaching our customers in the ways we're engaging.

Jan - You're a powerful group out there.  If someone has a bias or a slant on something, well now all of a sudden it's real.  We've got to do more to get credible information out there, but some people just don't want to believe.  Sometimes the things I get called and asked about, I can't believe.  We're in a position where everyone looks at everything we do.  If we aren't honest about it and don't look at it, people will find out.  We don't take any risk at all.  We're very careful and conservative in food safety and everything. It disappoints me when I see what someone has said and it's not factual.  That's why we come out and do listening tours.  We have people who go out and talk about everything.  We use outside experts to help us.  We're always looking to do better, but we are proud of what we do.

Cindy - The My Plate, USDA, FDA, etc.  My counterparts in industry are coming to us to talk about what we're doing.

Question:  I lived on a dairy farm, and unfortunately we were really small and sold out in 2009 because you have to go big or you can't feed your family.  Some of the decisions that McDonalds has made about the sow crates, etc are devastating to us.  We feel like people who don't know anything about a farm animal are now making us do things that are devastating for the animals.  We as farmers would love to help educate people on how you really raise a pig or what it's like to raise the vegetables.  It becomes emotional for us, but then we feel like we've been slapped in the face and don't want to go to McDonalds.

Jan -I can't tell you how much I appreciate your comment.  The industry has worked very closely with us, the farm bureaus and pork and beef producers.  There are two sides to everything.  No one cares more about the animals than the farmers.  That's their living.  They want them to be healthy and grow well.  We can't go down a highway without my husband telling me that's a John Deere 210.  He has it in his blood, too.

Question: My son was born missing half his heart.  I'm also a dairy farmer.  I was terrified when we flew to Seattle, and he's been in and out of hospitals.  I had no one to support me in these cities.  It was the Ronald McDonald Charities that were there for us.  In all the places he's had surgery, we have been able to stay in those houses. It was so comforting knowing that those houses were there for me.  We never want to forget where we came from.  We talk about the charities on my blog.  We try to do donation drops, simple things like fruits and veggies so the families can go spend time with their loved ones.  We don't eat at McDonalds that often, but I would love to be able to have a small drop box at McDonalds for the Ronald McDonald charities.  So many people would love to support your charity.  I would love to support it more, but I can't do the long drive to the closest house as often as I'd like.

Jan - I'm thrilled to hear about your son.  We have over 300 Ronald McDonald Houses around the world.  We just opened the largest one in Chicago.  We do the collection box in every restaurant where you can leave money, but I'll take that back to them.  If there's another type of donation that they can handle, I'd love that.  A lot of them do the bottle caps, too.

Question from Family Arches: What does the future of the McDonalds brand look like?

Jan - It's making sure that we are America's favorite, safest, and most reliable place to feed your families everyday. I want you to feel good about eating at McDonalds daily if you want to.  You can rely on, trust, and feel really good about eating here.  We need to change the perception that it's not good food.

Thank you guys so much.  We've enjoyed the dialogue.  It's not ending here today.  You can join the Family Arches community.  We wish you all the best.