Karla and her family came over in costume to my home studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a Halloween family portrait session. This was my first time to photograph 4 people in my home studio. Using a 10' x 12' white Muslin background everyone fit easily and it was all lit up by my huge new 55" softbox! I told everyone to act like your costume and the above is the result!
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Jason & Kiki Holiday Family Portrait 2013
There are not many chances to get a portrait made with me and Kiki. When I try self-portraits, Kiki looks like she is being tortured. Otherwise, I have to resort to composite photo gimmicks. So I was glad that photo student Stacy was able to make one of Kiki and I using the same lighting setup I had just used to photograph her daughters in her house for their Christmas Card photo. Kiki still looks a bit tortured, but at least she is looking at the camera this time!
Christmas Card Portraits Treasure Island Florida Three Sisters
Long time DSLR photography student Stacy invited me to her home to photograph her daughters for their family Christmas card. She said I could bring Kiki along as well (more about this below). This was an unusual shoot as Stacy worked with me to learn how to make portraits and I used much of her own photography gear (note the use of a Nikon D4 for all these shots!). I had shown her my wedding couple wrapped in Christmas lights shot before, which we did with the three sisters for the above image.
When editing this black & white image I wanted mainly the lights of the tree to be visible in the background framing the girls.
Using the new 2x teleconverter Stacy recently got, I took advantage of an effective 400mm focal length to create extreme bokeh in the background of the above shot of the same Christmas tree lights used in the B&W shot.
A more formal shot before the lit fireplace, which made things pretty hot for the girls, but throughout our shoot they were great and knew how to get into proper positions unprompted! It was like working with professional models!
Now when I try to photograph Kiki she is never happy about it and ends up looking like a sad puppy (see here). However, she was all too willing to get into every photo with the girls and smile! For the piano shot we let a sleeping dog lie and framed the portrait around her. She just wanted to participate and be involved!
It was a fun shoot and a chance for me to try a few new things shooting inside someone's home, as I most often shoot outside on location. I look forward to seeing the photos in print on Stacy's family Christmas card!