Spring Family Fun: Family Portrait Session

There are so many things I love about this shoot: the freckles (!), the smiles, the sweetest, cutest dog, and great morning light on the day before Easter. Spring is a fabulous time to shoot kids, especially with their new puppy, but it's especially fun when we can get mom and dad in the photos too. We originally planned a kids and pet shoot, but it turned into an awesome family session and I'm always thrilled when I can capture family photos. Group portraits are always a bit of work, but totally worth it!

"Urban" Alpharetta: Couple Portraits

I'm a sucker for taking couple portraits. I just love 'em. And although everyone wants photos of their pets or their kids or themselves with their kids, a lot of couples don't have photos taken of themselves with their spouse. A common comment I get from clients is, "We haven't had our portraits taken since our engagement/wedding." So, I'm always thrilled when I can photograph a couple (and their darling dog . . . isn't she a cutie?) and make sure they have photos after their wedding too.

Oh, and I love the setting, just a business park area here in Alpharetta--more urban than what I've usually done--but very clean (this is Alpharetta after all, the most manicured city in Atlanta). And this shoot and its processing is near the end of my crazy get-the-pictures-done-before-Christmas rush (big sigh of relief). So, I'm feeling good, getting a little more sleep, and feeling antsy to blog the gorgeous photos I've taken this season. Stay tuned!

Pets are family too!

This sweet girl and I did a mini shoot together as a surprise for Mother's Day. I loved doing the photos with her dogs, a last minute idea, but really appropriate because pets are part of the family too!

By the way, I've changed the wrappers on my blog to adjust for bigger photos in my posts. Yeah! (They really do look better bigger.) Thanks to posts on The Blogger Guide, Independent Fashion Bloggers and Blogger Buster that showed me how to do it.

Family in Fashion: Indoor Family Portrait Session

I have had way too much fun with these photos. I guess it's because my client presented a challenge and I was excited to research the possibilities and see what I could do! We were aiming for something a little more edgy and artistic than the run-of-the-mill family portraits. My client wanted her family pictures to look like something out of a magazine. So, my idea was to do a few "fashion ad" poses as well as my regular fare of candids and portraits. Then, in post-processing, I played around a lot with color, added quite a bit of brightness to the pictures, and even did some composite work to come up with what I think are some unique family portraits. I think the top one is my favorite. I love the blue color of their pants and used that color to design the rest of the portrait. I'm tempted to add a logo-like rendition of their family name in the upper right corner, but I don't post names on the website, so maybe that can come later.

Because we were inside for this shoot, we had a lot more wiggle room for the kids. We also had an easier time getting them to cooperate because they had little breaks in between photo sets. That was nice because, boy, did we do a lot of family portraits! Mom is a photo enthusiast and blogger herself, so she specifically wanted pictures that she wouldn't be able to take (mom with each of the kids, dad with each of the kids, couple shots, and of course, family shots). I snuck in a shot of the youngest girl holding one of the handmade purses my client makes and sells at boutique shows around Atlanta. It's so fun to know other moms who have their own businesses.

Golden Light: Family Portrait Session

Among the best times to shoot are the "golden hours" before sunset as was the case for these gorgeous family pictures last weekend. We weren't the only ones taking advantage of the location and light. Another shoot was going on at Bradshaw Lake in Canton, GA while we took our photos. Thankfully, we all stayed out of each other's way and I'm sure everyone got some great images.

I love using the ambient light of the setting sun to highlight the hair and outlines of my subjects while still preserving the details of their faces and clothing. This golden light made my job much easier especially in post processing; no need to adjust the color. The lake also acted as a huge reflector and I was able to get some fun lens flare and semi-silhouette effects.

We started the shoot about 4:45 and ended just before 6:00. According to online Sun and Moon Data, sunset that day was at 6:44 p.m. With daylight standard time and shortening days, I'm checking for light conditions very closely lately.

My son "helped" me process these images this morning and his favorite shot was the fifth one. "Cute!" he said, and "I like it." Yes, our 20-month-old is a talker with a thoroughly adorable baby voice. I like it too, the spontaneous action in the background and a loving mom and son in the foreground. The kids I'm also proud we got a couple nice group shots with the canine member of the family (a real sweetie, but hard to get in the right position!) Finally, my favorites from this shoot are of mom and each of the kids and dad with baby girl on his shoulder. I love capturing moments of parenthood, a real passion of mine.