Whew! Time to dust off the ol’ blog! I apologize for not writing like I used to. It’s easy to get behind on blogging but hopefully I’ll commit to posting again…starting now!
My mind is resting on family portraits. The fall is coming and our Zion weekend is almost ready to be announced yet again and as the weather gets nicer and everyone is well adjusted again to school and work and being in town, family portraits won’t be far. I thought I’d share with you all a fun family session from last December. I want to show you all the kind of lengths I’ll go to make sure your family portrait is as painless and gives unforgettable results.
I met with this family about a month prior to the portrait session. It was expressed to me that it would be a large group, they were worried about everyone being cooperative and they were unsure about where they wanted the portrait taken. Like many have told me in the past, they too had a negative experience in the past when they tried for a large group portrait. They said the results weren’t professional enough, families were stressed, kids were stressed and uncooperative, the group’s arrangement just wasn’t what they were hoping for, etc. I’ve heard these things a lot!
Inside tip: Why are there so many bad family portrait experiences? There are A LOT of people in town that claim to be family portrait photographers but lack training in posing, grouping, color harmony, composition, lighting (natural light or electronic) as well as basic photography knowledge and just want a quick buck. They are cheap and the results definitely show this, sadly.
I tried to put them at ease, went over details, sent them my clothing guide, explained the process of how I work and then there was just one more detail to work out; the location. They didn’t want to be far from home and they had no idea where they wanted the portrait to be taken. They knew it had to be nice as the portrait they were replacing measured a large 30×40. Large portraits demand beauty and planning since the final image will be displayed for years.
I went driving near their home and found a spot, on the side of a relatively busy street believe it or not! I messaged the client how it looked. Here is a screenshot of a video I sent their way. The video I sent essentially said, “I found a great spot, just trust me!”
They trusted me.
On the day after Christmas, I arrived at the location and set up the necessary equipment. Everyone arrived and I set up the group. Here is how it looked straight out of the camera.
This Las Vegas family portrait still needed some artwork!
There’s definitely room for improvement here. The road behind them is distracting, the street lights are unsightly and the buildings in the distance do it no justice. My beauty dish lighting the group did a wonderful job of evenly lighting the group but I don’t think we’d want to keep the light stand in the final portrait would we?
Luckily, I anticipated all of this and knew what would need to be done before I ever snapped the shutter. Here are the final results:
Ahhhhh. That’s better, isn’t it? The overcast that day made it convenient tonally but the sky was washed out and lacked detail. I didn’t want to add any clouds that were TOO dramatic but opted to insert a few into the sky that looked natural, unassuming and kept the image looking fresh. The street was replaced with the native plants that were there and the power lines and buildings were eliminated. The light of mine was also taken away. A total of roughly 13 or so faces were swapped from other photographs to make sure everyone was happy with their expressions and the young man in the middle of the back row was lowered a little to not be distracting from everyone else. This portrait now hangs on their wall as a lovely 30×40 masonite-mounted canvas with protective coating in a gold frame.
This, and all of the families I photograph, are truly an honor for me to work on. I enjoy the challenges each one offers and the creation process is very fulfilling for me. I look forward to this season’s family portraits! Please give me a call at (702)809-9763 as soon as you can so we can plan your portrait. I’m excited to meet you!
www.TNGphoto.com
Leave a Reply