Holiday Family Photos Part 2!
The Boones and Markum families came together for another holiday photoshoot. This is the second year they’ve come to me for their photos and I wanted this year’s pics to be even better than the previous ones. I think we were able to get some really nice photos! It was a cold Saturday morning, but we all arrived on site. The nature around us was beautifully highlighted with absolutely perfect lighting. I would definitely brave a little cold for these lighting conditions! One of my favorite photos is the entire family in the image above. Group photography is always difficult because you have to balance the aperture you want to use with how much light you want to let in. I think we were able to get the family in good sharpness with some excellent background falloff - we even have some foreground bokeh with the tree leaves at the top!
When I arrive on-site I’m already in full photog mode. Some of my favorite moments are the ones we get when we first arrive and are in between poses. I think it’s important to always be ready to go. Sometimes mirrorless cameras take too long to boot up to shoot. So I constantly eat up the battery on them by keeping them awake. If I sense the camera is going to sleep, I typically half press the shutter button so that it’s ready. Like I said, it uses up a lot of power, but I’ll take that so that I’m ready all the time.
Photographing kids isn’t ever easy. Kids are unpredictable and can be quite moody. So the best time to capture them is right when the shoot starts before their energy levels go down too much. We found a spot to take photos right away and I just had the kids go off and have some fun. These gals were just laughing and hugging - a perfect moment for some photos of them. The biggest challenge here was actually having too much light. I didn’t want to close down my aperture too much because I wanted a more dreamy look to the photo. I think I got the setting I wanted!
Kids AND pets… now that’s tough! Thankfully both the kids and the pet dog were in a very cooperative mood. These photos were taking with a wider angle lens so that I could really get closer to my subjects and interact with them. I could be mistaken, but I think this photo was taken with 35mm 1.4. That focal length is excellent for medium range shots that look very natural.
The adults in the family were quick. It’s nice not to have to coax the subjects into a pose. I loved that the family came prepared and dressed up for the photo session. When both the photographer and the subjects are prepared the shoot is typically a huge success.
Let’s do it all again come holiday season! If you’re looking for family photos, please let me know! We can all go to a gorgeous location together and create some long lasting memories!