Archive for the ‘Portrait’ Category:
Reflections on a Happy Engagement
The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is pretty much Minnesota’s largest photo set. There are so many fantastic locations here to shoot portraits you almost can’t go wrong. The landscape shooting isn’t bad either! This shot worked a lot better in black and white – mostly because the heavy shade with direct sun overhead gave everything a STRONG green cast. Dan and Jacqie don’t look as good as they could with a green tint.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 131mm ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/40 sec.
Pretty Maids All In A Row
Photo tip of the day – try to get group shots where people are all on a different level. Triangle patterns are very dynamic – so are circles. Whatever the case, try to avoid the ‘lets all stand in a row’ formation.
This is Whitney (the bride) and her beautiful bridesmaids at her wedding last Saturday. I sort of dig the fact that they went with non-matchey-match dresses – I like the spectrum of greens!
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 24-105 f/4L @ 24mm ISO 1600, f/4, 1/60 sec.
Whitney
I had the privilege of shooting the wedding of Whitney and Jim last weekend in Northfield. This is Whitney – the beautiful bride. It was a ton of fun to shoot – Whitney and Jim were great sports and their bridal party were a lot of fun. This picture was taken in front of some full-sized windows with white gauze curtains – which effectively made it a very large full-sized softbox. This delivered the most wonderful light for portraits!
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm ISO 1600, f/4, 1/200 sec.
Elizabeth and Grandma
Here’s another shot from Elizabeth’s first birthday portrait session. Grandma set the session up and was very excited about getting her portrait taken with little Elizabeth. Since we were doing diaper shots right after this (of Elizabeth, not Grandma).. it was REALLY warm in the studio when we took these shots.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm ISO 100, f/8, 1/200 sec.
Elizabeth’s Cake Smash
I had to do it – the traditional messy birthday cake session. Elizabeth recently turned one – so it was time to get a cake and load up on cleaning products. She’s got a pretty good sweet tooth – so we expected the cake to be a big hit. After a few tentative fingers poking into the frosting, we plopped her down next to it and she got straight to business. She lasted about five minutes – then she threatened to leave the ‘safe zone’ covered in frosting so we pulled the plug.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 24-105 f/4L @ 45mm ISO 100, 1/200 sec. f/7.1. Three lights (all Alienbee AB800′s) were used – the key light with a 4′ octobox is at camera right, the fill light with a shoot-through umbrella is at camera left. A third light on a boom is blasting the background to blow it out.
Walking into the Sunset
This shot was taken at a wedding I shot in La Jolla, CA last fall. I picked this shot today for three reasons:
- I was back in La Jolla today
- I went to see David Ziser talk about portrait/wedding photography today
- I LOVE the shot
This shot was taken with a super-wide zoom as I quickly walked backwards. In retrospect, it was a minor miracle I didn’t biff into a parking meter.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 10-22mm @ 10mm. ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/160 sec.
Lady Party
You’re never too young to have your first Lady Party. Elizabeth got together with her two best local gal pals – Eva and Annika. Now – it was sippy cups and brownies. In twenty years – Margaritas?
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105 f/4L @ 95mm ISO 100, f/13, 1/160 sec.
All went well until Eva took out a hit on Elizabeth:
Happy Birthday To Me!
Hello? It’s me, Elizabeth. Guess what? It’s my birthday! I’m one year old today!
It’s hard to believe my little one is a year already – amazing how it flies by. In a year she’s already become a little person with a full personality that walks around and has opinions on things. She also knows nothing but love.
Happy Birthday, little sweetie! I love you!
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm, ISO 100, f/11, 1/200 sec.
Gimme a kiss, baby!
This is a picture from the night I was trying to dial in all the studio gear. I had just recieved my first AlienBees light as well as a reflector, back background, and radio controls. Fortunately, both kids were in a great mood – and giggled a lot during the shoot.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 70-200 f/4L, ISO 100, f/8.0, 1/100 sec.
Ready for the Runway
Here’s another shot of my favorite little girl Elizabeth. She’s just as pleased as can be that she can stand and you can see it on her face. She also thought the flashes were pretty funny – as well as the noises that Daddy the Photographer was making.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 24-105 f/4L @ 60mm ISO 100, f/11, 1/200 sec.