Day 289

I had a senior photo shoot planned for this afternoon, so I made Mia pose as my stand-in model this morning so that I could check some settings.  Reminds me that even though she’s only 10-1/2, it won’t be long before I’ll be taking her senior pictures.  Time goes by so fast.  Oh, she’s such a beauty (if I do say so myself)!

Today’s senior portrait session was of my friend’s daughter, Kitt.  Of my friend’s 3 daughters, I knew Kitt the least so I welcomed the chance to get to know her a little better (even though it was my first senior photo shoot and I was nervous that I wouldn’t get decent shots).  She wanted her photos taken on her grandparent’s property out in the country.  The property offered some beautiful backdrops for our session.  Kitt is somewhat of an old-fashioned girl and so I loved her retro headphones for these first few shots.  Please imagine these photos with more vivid color….Blogger is making them look so faded and washed out, but I don’t have the time to upload to Flickr before posting.  Also, she is a simple and serene soul and likes rustic backgrounds and straightforward shots (not a lot of different poses, hand positions, etc.).

Next, we had an outfit change and headed over to the swing. 

And then onto a downed tree.  This first shot was difficult.  I wanted to capture the beautiful sky behind her but the sun was coming from that direction and it put her face in shadow.  I had to use my flash to light her up a bit and play around with it in Photoshop.  In the second shot, there is a rail missing from the fence and at some point, I will try to recreate it in Photoshop.

Kitt plays in a marching band and she wanted to wear her band shirt for a few photos.  Unfortunately the words she wanted in the shot were on the back of the shirt.  We tried this pose first, wanting to have her face showing, but the words are all off-kilter and hard to read on the far side.

So we tried this instead.

Here’s a shot with her clarinet.  She wanted it taken inside her grandmother’s house but the lighting was really dim and I didn’t have my external flash along.  I positioned her by the window but still had half of her face in shadow and part of her was so blown out from the sun.  I turned it to black and white and it looks better.

These next shots were taken in the backyard overlooking her grandparent’s beautiful property. 

And a final one in the front yard with some gorgeous backlit sun.

I got some great shots and I got some OK shots, but definitely learned a lot during this photo shoot.  And by the end, Kitt and I were both more comfortable.  Still not sure I love portrait photography though mainly because there is more pressure to get the “perfect” shots.  Nature photography is more my speed…calm & stress-free.