Meet Aidan. His session was booked months in advance but his parents were very nervous about confirming their session date because they had no idea what to expect when they brought him home from the hospital. We missed their session and rescheduled for when he was 20 days old. I figured this would mean a lot of awake and alert shots, however he surprised me by being one of the most sleepiest babies I’ve photographed in a long time. I spent a lot of time planning out each setup/pose for this session and it made such a difference to the flow of the day and I think it really helped to keep Aidan relaxed.
Two things I can’t stress enough are
#1) Take the time to plan out your session as much as possible, even keeping notes handy and/or creating a Pinterest board for your pose ideas to follow during your session. I’ve gone as far as taking photos of each backdrop option I have along with all the wraps and accesories that work with each and
#2) I realize this is a no-brainer for some, but for newbies out there I highly recommend investing in a large reflector. It makes such a difference to help reduce/eliminate noise from your photos by keeping your ISO low.

Gear:
Nikon D700 with Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens
Nikon D90 with Nikon 105mm macro 2.8

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Like most, I am addicted to Pinterest! I ran across a vintage lemonade stand on lilluna.com and knew I HAD to make it.. Ok, so my husband had to make it! But I did all the sanding, and painting (repeat till I got the look I wanted) $250 and about 250 lbs later we had our stand!

I had about 30 kids total over a two day session and they had a BLAST! I love to catch kids in their element, and that can sometimes be difficult just put in front of a camera. So, the props did wonders and all their little faces lit up. I battled a bit of harsh sunlight on day 2 but used my Westcott reflector/diffuser kit and it did wonders, as well as my awesome assistant Carrie!

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Audrey and her mom came to me for a session that would capture their sweet connection to one another. On the evening of our session, we had the most amazing golden sunshine washing over us, and I think it gave them such a beautiful glow. I am always pushing moms to get in the frame with their children, regardless of how they feel they look. Every mom deserves to have beautiful photographs of her children, but you know what? The kids deserve to have photographs that show just how very much they are loved.

Gear:
Canon 5d
85mm 1.2L

http://www.betrueimagedesign.com
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This session was photographed in Central Park in Mid-April. The husband is a musician and he had to be in NYC for a couple months to prepare for a 6-month World tour. The whole family came from California to explore NYC while he was working. It was a really emotional session for me as well as the family given he is going to be away for so long.

Tips:
Light is key! Without great light, it’s hard to produce great photos! I shot this session during the golden hour in the evening. I backlit the subject and filtered the light using all the buildings and the trees.
Dealing with all different ages can be challenging. I find it easier if you don’t try and spend a lot of time posing, but back away and let them all naturally interact. If you do this, a lot of time it enables you to capture real emotion and connection between the family instead of wasting time telling them where to look or how to position themselves.

Gear:
Canon 5D Mark II,
135mm 2.0
and the 85mm 1.2

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I love giving my clients a taste of both worlds during a session at their home with portrait photography & then adding in some lifestyle shots. I always love shooting babies in their rooms & of course using the bed for the family shots. It makes it so much more personal. I also love capturing those little details parents love!

Gear:
Nikon D700
24-70mm lens

http://www.deannamportraitboutique.com

http://www.facebook.com/deannamphotography

I read the book this week and truly believe it will not only save you time in composing clear, kind and elegant responses to almost any situation, it will also bring you clients as word gets around about your professional demeanor in the most complex of situations. I mean, it’s easy to send sweet agreeable emails when there’s no conflict, or stress in your business but as your photography business grows, it’s inevitable that you will be asked for discounts, barters, donations, and more. If you respond without thinking… say in educating someone who grossly under-values your services… you may get some immediate satisfaction, but in the long run, it may hurt your business if you don’t do it with grace and firmness.

I’m a bit late sharing this with my readers, so I want you to know, time is of the essence if you want the sweet deal Jamie is offering. Until Thursday 5/3 midnight MST, she is offering a $50 discount + free client questionnaires. If you’ve ever found yourself on a photography forum in the wee hours asking, “how do I handle this sticky situation…” this is the resource for you.

Click here to view more details

Please note, Jamie provided me with a free copy of the ebook to review and should you use the link above, I do receive a small commission.

It’s amazing how much you can learn and grow as a photographer with every photo-shoot!! I’m pretty sure my neighbors think I’m crazy for hanging a million paper lanterns at 7am on a Saturday – but nonetheless this little sweetheart was completely mesmerized by these lanterns. It was an amazing photo-shoot! A great piece of advice would be to never hesitate to stop and adjust things that don’t look good in the camera – no matter how many times. I stopped several times to tweak how the lanterns were hanging, and in the end those little details made all the difference.

Equipment:
Canon 5d Mark II
16-35 L f/2.8
70-200 L f/2.8

// Lacy Hampton Photography //

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I found this beautiful field with wild flowers growing in it down the road from our house and decided to take my almost 4 year old daughter out to it for a session! It was about 2 hours or less from sunset and it was a little chilly but Ella did a fantastic job for me and we had a great time. I like to shoot at the golden hour but sometimes shooting children that does not seem to be a good time for them because some are more irritable at this time especially with the time change in our area during the spring and summer months it is 8 PM or later before the sun sets. I took a couple of props but wanted to keep it very simple so we used a few and kept our main focus on the flowers in the field. For most of the shots I got down pretty low so that all you can see around her in the photos is the flowers and trees in the background. With children around my daughters age, I like to play games with them like simon says or sing (which Ella really gets a kick out of because my singing is horrible). I hope you enjoy this session as much as I did photographing and processing it.

Gear: Canon 7d with 50mm 1.8 lens
ACR for processing in RAW
Photoshop CS5 for post-processing

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