In Home Family Photo Session

I did a photo session for an endearing family yesterday in their home. Their little girl had just turned one, so they also wanted some individual photos just of her. Here are some of my favorites:

This girl is a little doll. 

 

We set the kids up in front of the fire-place and hoped little sister would stay still for a few shots.

And she escaped!

Some of the whole family:

Mom and baby

Toes:

Mom and Dad

 And a true dad (and happy baby):

 Thank you for letting me take photos for you!

Christmas Photo Session

The week before Christmas I went to this sweet family's home to take photos of the family with the grandmothers. Here are some of my favorites. The first is of the mom with her mom. I love the tenderness they show each other, with the lights of the Christmas tree behind them.

The two older sisters were having fun for me in front of the tree:

I love this of all three girls together. I focused on the youngest and was delighted to capture the interaction between the three of them.

The youngest - around a year and a half - was very busy. This age is so fun. I followed her around a bit to capture what she was doing.

Older sister was doing some schoolwork on the kitchen counter, and the little one had her book out too!

I do love to capture the interaction between family members. Here big sister leaned in to whisper or give a kiss.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity! It blessed me to see the love and care everyone had for each other.

Beyond Photos

 I like to take photos beyond the pure photograph and create a piece of art. Here are several I have worked on lately. I believe childhood is something beautiful. And it is fleeting. I like to capture more than just a moment in time to remember, but also something of the spirit within the person. It takes time to understand a child enough to know what it is when I see it, and work with them to capture it. And the spirit is complex, revealing different aspects at different times.

When doing a photo session it is easy to work quickly, trying to get that group shot where everyone is at least looking toward the camera! Or we try to get that quick portrait of a child when they are still. I much prefer to take a little time to understand a child and work with them and their parents to create something lasting.

These three photos are of my own children. They are often my "models". I would love to take the time with you if you are interested in a different type of portrait of your child.

Fun times with off-camera flash

I took these yesterday with my little canon camera flash, with a diffuser on it, mounted off camera on a stand to camera right, and a large white reflector to camera left.

I did not mount the flash to point directly at her. Instead, I pointed it at the reflector so to feather the light onto her. The sky was overcast, providing very soft light which was nice but it was still too much overhead, causing "raccoon eyes" (shadows in the eyes). It did provide some highlight on her hair and shoulders, however, so my off-camera flash provided the main light (and the catch lights visible in the upper left side of her eyes). I always tell people to turn off their camera flash and use light from off the camera. When you use the flash on the camera, it flattens your subject (producing almost no visible shadows), and causes the catch lights to be dead center in the pupil (the cause of red-eye - not to mention just not looking great).

When photographing a two or three year old, you have to engage them. She was willing to pose initially, but quickly got bored. I wanted genuine expressions and smiles. I talked with her about her upcoming trip to her grandparents' house and that initiated the excitement in the third picture.

Albums

I had the opportunity to try out an album from Loktah. I love the materials they use to create their packaging, prints, and book covers. This was a mini album labeled "Earth" with a cover of homemade paper. The mini album has only six spreads which I designed, while a full album has options for more or less. This is not your typical press printed book. These are quality, archival prints on lay flat pages, preserved in a unique cover.

I think this is a great product for families to have or give as keepsakes.

Night View From My Window

High-school Senior Photos

We traveled over Thanksgiving, arriving back in town Monday night. The weekend before Thanksgiving I was given the opportunity to do a photo session for this sweet senior. She is a musician as well as an actress, and she is home-schooled. She wanted to take photos outdoors and she specified she loves green - the green of grass and trees. She picked a location and we met despite the chilly wind and had fun with it. Here are just a few of the images we created.

Reflectors

I want to briefly discuss the use of reflectors: some sort of object used to reflect light on to what you are photographing. There are 5-in-1 reflectors on the market that are a diffuser covered by a reversible case. Each side of the case is a different color for a total of four once you've turned the case inside out and re-inserted the diffuser on the round frame. These are relatively inexpensive, and very handy to carry along. But you can also use many other types. There are expensive ones on large collapsible frames (scrim jims) that are useful for providing a larger area of light. You can use a piece of white foam board for a nice white (diffuse) reflection, or even the bottom of a large white box.

So here are some examples. First is an example of using a reflector to bounce extra light onto the already lit side of the subject. I had my husband standing to my right holding a white reflector to lighten the shadows under the eyes, add extra light to the side where the main light came from (the sky) and therefore a bit of contrast (difference between the lit side and dark side), and also add catch lights to the eyes. He had to stand so as to catch the light from the sun and bounce it back onto the subject who was sitting in the shade:

Here she is without the reflector. I had to brighten it more in post processing.

Here is another example. Again in the first, my husband is holding a reflector to my right (adding light to the lighter side, adding catch lights, and lightening the shadows under her eyes):

Here she is without the reflector. The "catch-lights" in the eyes are actually reflections of sunny patches on the sidewalk in front of her. It required a little more editing on my part to brighten up her face.

Here is an example of a photo I took a few years ago with window light. I was following around my two children with a reflector, looking for an opportunity. Here they wanted me to use the reflector as a "roof" and willingly snuggled together to wait. I grabbed the shot and then did as they were expecting. I actually took the photo upside down looking straight down on them, then flipped the photo around later. The window light is lighting them from below, and my gold reflector is reflecting light onto the tops of their heads:

This last shot I also took several years ago with one studio light. A large white foam core (you can pick up at art supply stores) is to my left reflecting light onto the shadow side of their faces. This is called the "fill". The catch light in the upper left of their eyes is from my large softbox.

Texture

I've been working with adding textures to photos. Here are five I've worked with. The first three are recent photos. The last two I took several months ago.

 

Portrait of a Two Year Old Princess