Fall Collages

Throughout the fall, I have been working on creating some collages from various shoots.  When the creative juices begin to flow, I like to play with some Photoshop brushes, textures, and gradients.  I like to setup the Photoshop images as 8×10′s so that clients can print them easily wherever they may take the images.  Here are a few of the collages I have put together this fall…

Just a Walk in the Park

I am sure that many of my clients are jealous that I can take pictures of my kids at any time.  Strange thing is, they hate the camera, and to get them to smile for it many times is a hassle filled with promises of cake, ice cream, and McDonalds.  As everyone else has gotten their fall pictures taken, we finally found some time to take ours.  I think its more difficult shooting the pictures and trying to convince our kids that what we are doing is truely fun.  In the short amount of time we were able to coral them, I managed to grab a few shots that might make their way onto some holiday cards this year.

When Family Matters

I hope that when I get older, and my kids are grown up that we still get together on a regular basis.  One would hope that they live close to home, but what you really want is quality family time together since they will most likely choose their own path in life and who really knows where that will take them.  I have not had the opportunity to shoot to many grown families.  Most of the time it is the new families with young children wanting to capture their childhood.

A really good friend of mine, and his family wanted to get their picture taken as its been years since its been done, and I had to accept.  It gave me a chance to use my new umbrellas in an outdoor setting.  Generally these are used in a studio setting, but I had wanted a chance to see how they performed outside.

Monkey See…Monkey Do!

No matter who I am shooting, personalities shine.  In this case, these twin boys sure had fun while running through the grounds at St. Fracnis Monastery.  Boy will be boys, and with sticks and twigs everywhere, they were in heaven.  We let the boys run wild and grabbed some pictures while they were exploring, as well as some nice portraits.

3 of a Kind

Its not very often that I get the chance to take pictures of a newborn…but when asked, I always accept.  Who doesn’t love little babies?  Working with the newborn, and her two older siblings in a studio setting was a much needed change of pace for the summer.

Uncle Nick

My wife and I have been waiting for awhile for her brother and sister-in law to join the ranks of parenthood.  In mid-July we were blessed with Clara Alana.  We were lucky enough to be one of the first ones to get to see her, and naturally, I brought the camera gear.  In the small area of their living room, I was able to capture some really fun pictures.  We look forward to seeing her grow up….but not too fast.

Hot Summer at Grand Geneva

A summer afternoon in Lake Geneva generally pans out to walks around the lake with a stop downtown for some refreshments.  This time I had the chance to walk the grounds at Grand Geneva with two young families to capture their kids, their expressions, and their youthfulness.  This summer I have been working on using the Canon 580EXII flash during the middle parts of the day to bring in a more washed out, over exposed look.  In many other instances, I like to back up the subject against the light, so that the sun is behind them and use my flash as fill light to light their face.  This has really helped with keeping some of that harsh midday shadows off their faces.

Back Home

With daddy being home on leave from the service, we were able to get everyone together for some candids.  It is so rewarding seeing this young son and his father!  Using the back drop of the St Francis monastery in Burlington, we were able to capture this young boy, his smile, and his wild side.

Family Favors

With all the family in town over the last week, I was asked by my wife to take some pictures.  Her closest friend, who would be considered her sister, and her husband were in town for the weekend.  They have not had any pictures since they we married a few years back, and this was a perfect opportunity.  Naturally, the two girls needed to get in one together.  Used an overhead halogen light to bring up the backdrop.  Again, I would really like to have more control over this light by using a third flash.  Sometime this year…

“Falling” for Families

I recently had the opportunity to take pictures for a close friend of mine.  The St. Francis Monastery in Burlington has a beautiful area on the property.  It is covered by many old trees creating an oasis from the sun.  Coming in the fall time was not ideal as many of the plants were withered, but there were still some great places to grab a few shots.  There are some great areas with old stone work that made great back drops.  I had recently purchased a EF 17-40 f/4 L and wanted to use it on this occasion as getting the two little boys in the picture was going to call for a really short lens.

One thing that I am learning with my own kids is that you must have patience, and have an itchy trigger finger because you never know when kids will look up at the camera.  Working with children at my full time job, I have learned a lot about how they behave in situations like this.  They have a time limit, and once that has been reached, it can be very difficult to find any usable pictures.  Naturally, bribery can work its magic, but generally its just an extention of the overall time they would have concentrated on the session anyway.  Sometimes I’ve found that the pictures of the kids goofing around after they have reached their frustration limit can be some of the best ones.  Many times the goofy, squirmish, and otherwise out of place shots have the most meaning to who that child really is.  The parents really seem to like some of these.

Lighting in some of the pictures taken is less than desired.  It was late in the day, and generally I like to take pictures then, but I was having a hard time with the fill light from my flash.  Sometimes the sun overpowered it, other times there wasn’t enough depending on the location of the shot and the sun.  A little bit of tweaking in Lightroom allowed to correct some of the inconsistencies with them, and over all I was happy with the shoot.  In other situations, the strange lighting through the trees created a really nice look to them.  I look forward to taking pictures at this location during the winter with snow, and in the spring with new flower growth.