Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?
Of course, what’s not to love when I get to photograph beautiful young women like this pair of friends?
They chose a spot with lovely gardens for their senior portrait session but they put every blossom in the garden to shame.
I would love to create beautiful senior portraits for you as well, so give the studio a call today at 720-281-9410 to schedule your session.
Do your kids drive you crazy when you get out the camera?
If they do, that makes you normal.
Are you happy with the results of your photographic efforts?
If not, that makes you normal, too.
Today I’ll share a few tips that will hopefully help with both of these problems and leave you with both happy kids and happy portraits.
I think it’s important to have a nice portrait of your children (either together or separately–or even both) at least every other year, but not every photograph needs to be a “formal” portrait. This portrait was taken just before my oldest daughter left for college. I try to get at least once semi-decent photograph of the four of them every time I have them all together. The one below was from #1′s most recent visit home. You can see they’ve all grown a bit. To me, this is one of the reasons we have portraits of all of them together. They didn’t coordinate their clothes and they didn’t pick a pose (yes, they chose the top pose themselves) but I love the way this portrait shows their relationship.
While my kids have learned to be cooperative subjects over the years, like most kids they prefer to play during our portrait sessions. Allowing your kids to relax and enjoy themselves will go a long way toward both good portraits and cooperative kids. Over the years, I’ve discovered that not having too strict of an agenda makes our portrait sessions less stressful.
If you’re like most people, one of the first photographic principles you were taught was to put your back to the sun when taking a picture. While this certainly does keep the sun off the lens, it unfortunately puts your subject facing right into the sun. I don’t know about you, but I personally think squinty, scrunched up faces aren’t particualrly attractive. Think about your subjects first–in this case, your kids–and don’t make them look into the sun.
While my personal favorite times of day are early morning and late afternoon (generally the first and last hours of sunlight in a day), you can get great photos of your kids any time. One of your best friends in photographic lighting is going to be shade. Both of these portraits happened to be taken on cloudy days. A light cloud cover is great for portraits. No squinting, no harsh shadows.
But if it is sunny out, just find a little shade for your favorite subjects. This mid-day photo was helped by a shade tree. This tree allows plenty of light but avoids the “squints.” Just try to keep the sun off the ends of their noses.
If you can’t get them in the shade, turn their faces away from the sun. We’ve still got sun on the top of his head and the side, but not right in his adorable face.
Sometimes turning their faces away from the sun makes their faces a little flat. Yes, you can definitely use a flash outdoors, but that doesn’t always give the effect you like–and with most cameras’ built-in flashes, you need to be pretty close to do any good. A reflector can make all the difference in the world. You can buy one for about $50 at most bigger camera stores–or you can make your own. A sheet of white foamcore works well–or one covered with silver paint or aluminum foil. Even those car sunshades will work if they’re reflective.
No, it’s not her best portrait by any means, but you can certainly see the difference a reflector can make. No other changes were made to the photos.
Do you have a hard time getting your younger kids to stay in one place long enough for a photo? Give them something to do. I had these adorable sisters climb on the fence.
Giving your kids something to do is one of the best ways to keep them happy while getting great portraits. Here we told the girls they could throw rocks in the stream (they wanted to do it anyway, why not turn it to our advantage?).
These are just a few tips. For more cute kid photos and more tips on making great portraits with your kids, visit my Facebook page and click on the album “Photo Tips.”
Have any questions or comments? Things you’d like to learn more about? Leave me a comment below or on my Facebook page and I’ll be happy to answer it for you.
I got to photograph another fun senior last week. I guess we’re on Eaglecrest roll here, because she’s a member of Eaglecrest’s class of 2012. I think high school senior portraits are my favorite.
And right now after all this wonderful rain, we have some beautiful green and colorful outdoor spots for portraits.
I’d love to create senior portraits with you at your favorite spot. Call the studio today or use the Talk to Me link for more information.
The Denver Metro is full of great spots. Whether you want green and park-like or the vibrance of downtown, I would love to help you celebrate becoming a senior.
Summer is here and that means everything is green and beautiful in our part of Colorado. We Coloradans love to be outdoors and there is nothing better than our beautiful summer sunny weather. That means it’s the perfect time to get out and make some outdoor portraits.
We met the H family at a local park last week and had so much fun with their family updating the family portraits. Kids grow so fast and the H kids are no exception. They’ve grown so much in just the last year that I’ve known them. And what a fun bunch.
They were great in the pictures and, after the family was done, the kids were all more than happy to be photographed by themselves.
We even had time for a little park fun when the kids thought the portraits were done.
Thanks, H Family. Your kids are so much fun and so adorable. I can’t wait to work with all of you again.
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Now really is the time to take advantage of this beautiful summer weather and have portraits made. Whether it’s all of you, just the kids or your high school senior, scheduling a session in July will save you $25 off your session fees. Get all the details here.
Summer is nearly here and that means it’s time for outdoor portraits. Here’s our first senior of the class of 2012. She’s an Eaglecrest senior and we had a ball at an Aurora park.
Everything is green and beatufil right now making it the perfect time to have your portraits done.
Rebecca is one of our senior Reps for 2012, so if you know her ask her about a special portrait offer she has for you.
If you’re interesting in becoming a senior rep for Marie Leslie Photography, go here to apply and get all the details.
It’s time to play a little portrait catch-up. The G family was one of the first families I had the opportunity to photograph here in Colorado. We met at the park and had so much fun. We started out with a portrait of the whole family–pretty much always our plan when photographing a whole family.
The weather and the light couldn’t have been more cooperative. After we photographed the whole family together, it was time to turn our attention to the kids. What an adorable bunch. We promised that after they made some more traditional portraits for us, we’d go play in the park and have some fun.
These kids were all about the fun–and so were we.
Well, mostly. It took us a little bit to convince the youngest that we were really going to have a good time.
The girls decided to engage in that favorite of childhood pastimes–throwing stones into the creek.
The boys, of course, had other plans–jumping the creek.
Our little one decided to take the smart way over the creek.
All in all, a fun portrait day in the park. We love outdoor portraits and we love fun families. You can find out what we can do for your fun family at our photography website.