Family Fun

You've seen the kids, and here's the fam.

Brothers and Sisters do not Hug

Another friend offered her children up for my shooting benefit. Aren't they so cute. M was a hoot, she had her poses down pat. And her big brother tried to be tough, but we coaxed some smiles. To really get the smiles coming I requested that they hug. Apparently that does not happen between brothers and sisters( well I guess I remember that from growing up).






But this was pretty close to a hug.

Lesson I want to learn: Pay attention to the focus!
There are so many variables to this whole photography thing. Lighting, whats in the background, what your subject is doing, trying to capture the right moment. But really, if the focus is off its all for nothing. I have quite a few lovely shots of these two that would just be stellar if I had made sure my focus point was exactly where I wanted it,
right between their eyes.

Urban Girls

My girls are such sports. They are always willing to do the things I ask. So today as we were scouting out some new spots I tried hard just to let them do their own thing, and it really paid off. I think these are some of the cutest pictures yet. Lesson- Just let it happen.

Some Fall

The S Family

The challenge this time was the weather. Our supposedly sunny afternoon turned into a very chilly overcast evening. As we were driving up to the park I noticed many cars had their headlights on and I was worried we wouldn't get anything good. Luckily, if you hold still enough and you are as cute as this family, you'll get some good ones as the light fades. I wish I could have done better though.

J Family pictures

My number one lesson learned today was pay more attention to lighting when you are choosing a location than how pretty the background is.

The day before, Adam and the girls helped me scout out some pretty spots in a park nearby to take the J family pictures. With the New England colors all around us, it is beautiful anywhere you look. There is a wonderful bridge that I wanted to use and some other nice looking places. When it came time to take pictures we were successful on the bridge and then stopped next to a lower lying bush to take some on the ground pics. This bush while quite lovely could have had much better lighting. I snapped away and got what I thought was a good group of family shots to choose from. So we took a walk to the lake and the colors just jumped out at us, but I didn't try as hard to get that great family picture because I thought I already had it in the bag.

Another lesson- always, always, try to get the money shot!

And I had a really enjoyable time. These two parents are the greatest, and their kids are so cute, and so expressive. I knew their little boy was exuberant, but I had no idea his little personality would show up in every shot. I think it is so adorable.

This is one of my favorite moments of the shoot, big brother is getting a little talking to as he takes it with a grin, big sister is being her cute self, and the baby is looking right at me. Plus the lighting rocks!

This another one of my favorites.

Trying out a Silhouette

Pioneer Woman gives some excellent tips for capturing and editing these types of shots. Go read it, it really isn't too hard. You can even do it with a regular point and shoot camera. After you get the right circumstances, sun setting or rising and people positioned, push your shutter button halfway down while aiming at the brightest spot of sunlight near your objects(this will make the camera measure the exposure of the sunlight rather than your subject), then move your camera to the shot you want and finish pushing the shutter button. Poof, you have a silhouette! Just put it into photoshop for that extra umph! Have fun and if you try it let me know how it goes.