One of my favorite senior sessions to date! Here is Alexa!
(Technical note: I processed all the RAW images in Nikon Capture NX2 first, then did my typcial post processing in Photoshop. I think the color and sharpness is WAY better than Adobe’s RAW to JPEG conversion… it was a slower and longer process, but I think the results were worth it. Hopefully you agree!)
Here are a few shots from a senior session I photographed last week. Dylon was a natural just like his brother Drake was last year. 
Lookout world, here is Alex! We had a great time shooting together last week before all the rain came through and here are some of the highlights. I used off camera lighting on every shot. : )
Alex is lit naturally here, but the red background was from my flash using a color correcting gel.
This next one is definitely one of my favorite shots.
My first Senior shoot of the year… and a fun one at that. I’ve photographed a lot more senior girls than boys in the last year, so it was nice to change things up a bit and do something different. Drake was a natural, comfortable in front of the camera right away, and easy to work with. Great work Drake!
I also experimented a with a new “action” (photoshop script for you non-photographers) that I created for this shoot to give it a different look. It is a subtle effect and much easier to pick out on a larger screen, but fun non-the-less. : ) I’ll point out a few of them for you below.
Here’s an image with that new action I created and mentioned above…
Love the look and feel of this next one. (another one featuring my new action)
A lighting / post processing experimental shot (below)
This last shot was a little bold…. but I kinda like it. I’m sure it fly’s in the face of some basic lighting rules someplace… but who cares! : )
This weekend I consider myself fortunate to have attended a workshop put on by Ali from Rock that OCF who flew out from Minnesota to brave the cold Michigan weather and show us her mad skills. I was invited by Lisa and Lindsey and was also glad to see Sam and Ben there to shoot with, as well as meet some other great photographers from around the state for the first time.
We started with some instruction and demo’s on Friday afternoon, and then shot all day Saturday and part of Sunday. It was very different for me because I’m so used to snapping hundreds of shots during a photo shoot, but when you have to wait for a flash battery to recharge, and are sharing pocket wizards with multiple people, it really made me slow down and think about my shots more. I’ve done some off camera flash before, but never really mastered it, so this workshop was great for me to hone those skills and strengthen those “photo muscles” a bit.
So here are some of the highlights…. : )
This first shot was a favorite right away. Way to work it Beth!
And check out the super cute Karyn May of Karyn May Photography! Way to rock the camera from the other side of the lens!
These next 2 shots were probably one of the biggest things I learned… the difference between broad lighting and short lighting. This first image is “broad” meaning the light is hitting the side of subjects face that is closest to the camera. This tends to not be as flattering as it can sometimes make the face appear larger… and is usually better used on men. HOWEVER its not bad… just not always as flattering. This particular shot I really liked even though it was “broad lit.”
And here you can see the difference… now the light has moved over to the right… and the camera is shooting from the “shadow” side of the face. See the difference? I’ve done these lighting techniques before, but never really knew the science or terminology behind it, and now feel I’ll be better at “using light” to flatter my subjects.
The lovely Karyn… so photogenic!
It was also fun to see Heather who modeled for one of our previous workshops! : )
A behind the scenes shot of Jess taking a photo.
Love this one!
It was FREEEEZINGGGG! The models deserve an extra round of applause!
Ben workin’ the angles (as usual) : ) – Ben you are full of Crop! (inside joke)
My turn to grab a shot.
Shooting at dusk!
Probably one of my favotite shots of Day 1.
I thought I’d do something “out of the box”. I kinda like it! Thoughts anyone?
These next 3 shots were done using my video light… a small 30 watt battery powered light.
Day 2: Time to get out a 2nd flash and throw a gel on it!
And I love these last 2 shots. Rock it out!
I had a lot more images to show from day 2 as well, but this post was getting pretty long… so I kept it short. Thanks Ali for flying out, and to Lisa and Lindsey for organizing it! Can’t wait to see everyone’s images!
