Senior Photography, Don't pass it by!

I had been driving past this door on an old abandoned house for years. Every time I would pass it, I would say to my wife," I love that door, one day I'm gonna shoot a portrait of someone standing in that doorway". Well this went on for years, I'm not kidding. I just never got around to it or had the right client. Awhile back Hannah wanted me to do her Senior pics and I told her that I had the perfect backdrop. She was game so we headed to that old structure, jumped out of the truck and shot a quick natural light portrait. The whole process took 5 minutes maybe. I love that old door. Maybe I'll use it again in a few years. Here are a few more from Hannah's Senior Portrait session. Senior Portraits are probably my favorite type of photography.

How'd I do That?

 I took this photograph of Cassy Cameron about 90 minutes before Sunset.  It was submitted to, and published by Swimsuit Illustrated Magazine. So what made this image stand out to the editor?  See the sun peeking over the sea oats? Normally, Cassy would be a dark silhouette in this image. I could have exposed the image for a blue sky. My exposure  probably would have been around 1/200 sec. f/16 at ISO 200. I probably would have set my AlienBees B800 at about 1/4 power and it would have looked pretty good. I didn't want it to look pretty good. I wanted it to look DRAMATIC. I wanted the editor to look at it and say "Dang, that looks different." So how did I do it? I set my aperture to f/22 and my shutter speed to 1/250 sec. That made the beautiful afternoon sky go pretty dark. Now I had to pump a lot of power out of my AlienBees B800 flash to expose her properly, but that was OK, I knew it would do it shooting through a Beauty Dish. It wouldn't do it through an umbrella. I digress, but I know this because I set my flash up in my living room one rainy day and metered what it would do from a distance of six feet, shooting through each of my light modifiers. Now I don't have to waste time on location figuring out what my equipment will do. Anyhow, that's how I did it, and the important thing is it made the cut and it got published. If you don't understand all these terms and fractions, that's OK, I didn't at first either. I am completely self taught and I did it by reading, watching tutorials on You Tube and experimenting. Here are a couple more images from that shoot for your viewing pleasure. They made the cut too and were published. The one with her laying on the sand with the bird in the water was taken using the exact same technique. Enjoy!

Senior Portrait Photography, My Top 10 and why I like them so much.

This may be my favorite Senior Portrait that I have ever taken. This image is not what it appears. It looks like Charis is pulling off a perfect glamour pose as the afternoon sun is shining over her left shoulder. Not so. It was actually rainy and cloudy. During a break in the weather, we dashed outside. I set up a Nikon SB800 camera left with no gel. I placed another Nikon Speedlight with a full CTO gel, camera right, slightly behind Charis. This is the result, a perfect sunset.

I love this Senior Portrait because Haleigh included her dog Clyde in her portrait. Her wardrobe matches the theme perfectly. 

One winter, a neighboring farmer planted rye grass in his field. This made for the perfect backdrop for this Senior Portrait. Amanda's blue dress looks great with the green background. The highlights in her hair are from the sun. 

This Senior Portrait of Jacob was taken in my living room. He brought his football uniform along for his session. I shot him on a black background. One flash in front of him and one on each side slightly behind him. My daughters assisted me by standing in chairs and spraying water to make it look like it was drizzling at a stadium. 

Caleb's parents behind him and out of focus show the strong unity of this family. I was glad he included them in his Senior Portrait.

Kate looks like a model in this Senior Portrait. Her connection with the camera is outstanding.

Color is the theme in Jacob's Senior Portrait. He pulls off the perfect pose in this all natural light image.

Here is Jacob again. This was another shot from Jacob's Senior Portrait session. I love the way the clouds and sun make Jacob a silhouette in this image. 

Meghan looks so happy in her Senior Portrait. I used the same field of rye grass at sundown and lit her with Nikon SB800 slightly camera right.

I call this Senior Portrait, the Corona commercial. Kate looks gorgeous standing on the boat dock. The boat house and single palm tree make the perfect background for this Florida themed shot. 

There you have it. My favorite Senior Portrait images from my portfolio. Feel free to comment and let me know if you would like to book a session.