Portrait

Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida Candid Family Beach Portraits July 2013

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Mother and daughter candid black & white Sunset Beach portrait on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.5 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightLately I have been photographing rather large families on Florida's beaches.  This time it was a family of four and I was reminded of the benefits of photographing such a small number of people, and also with children not out of control.  We were also at my favorite beach, Sunset Beach on Treasure Island.  This was an opportunity for me to try new shots and take my time.  The shot above was a candid between setup shots of mother and daughter.  Converting to black & white had a dramatic effect on the overall look of the photo and it may end up being one of my personal favorites of 2013.

Family visits Sunset Beach on Treasure Island Florida and jumps to the sky - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThe family requested a jumping shot, one that is not on my normal shot list, so another chance at a new type of shot.  It took quite a few tries to get everyone to jump in a semi-coordinated effort and not have faces blocked, etc.

Carrying the kids family beach portraits on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5 ISO 200 1/100th - Stobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightAs you can see it was not a clear sunset that evening, but more a dramatic backdrop of clouds backlit by the setting sun.  The family liked this background, and for me it provided another differentiating factor for this series of images.

Family in form on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2 ISO 200 1/160th natural lightThis photo was my idea, earlier on in the shoot.  The dad mentioned how he did not mind if he was not in some shots, so I placed him furthest back and using a 50mm lens at f/2 let shallow depth of field create interest in the framing.  I do not often get to use my 50mm lens during beach portrait sessions due to lack of time.  

Family walking down Sunset Beach Treasure Island candid portraits - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 320 1/500th natural lightThis last shot is one I often make of a family walking down the shore using my long lens (Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D).  It was a windy day and it kicked up waves making the Gulf of Mexico look more like a proper ocean background.

Madeira Beach St Petersburg Florida Family Photography at Sunset

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Family Beach Portraits on Madeira Beach Florida at sunset - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-600 @ 1/2 power to frame right & SB-800 @ 1/2 power in frontI met Lisa and her family visiting from Georgia at their condo on Madiera Beach in St. Petersburg Florida for a candid family beach portrait session.  There were never any worries about the weather all day, which is rare for July, but I did not know what the beach would be like on that particular stretch of Madeira either.  Thankfully, there were not that many people and there was some sea grass to use as a background that blocked out the adjacent condos.  

Three generations in this Madeira Beach family portrait in Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThough there was no rain this evening, there were plenty of clouds along the horizon to make for a dynamic background over the Gulf of Mexico.  I personally like a lot of clouds in the sky as opposed to a cloudless sunset only background.  I chose to convert this particular portrait to black & white to add even more impact.

Sea Oats background on Madeira Beach family portraits in Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/10 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightA willingness to get on the sand allows for a wider variety of shots, and the above style photo has been my go to first photo for beach portait sessions letting the sun go down a bit (it's too strong to shoot against an hour before sunset) and making use of the existing flora.

Madeira Beach St Petersburg Candid Portrait 3 Generations Family Photography at Sunset

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Father holds his baby girl in the air at Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power beside camera & SB-600 @ 1/4 power to frame rightI returned to Madeira Beach Florida last week for a family beach portrait session at sunset with a three generation family.  There has been very unpredictable rain this July here in Florida, but two early day rain showers allowed for a nice clear sky with plenty of clouds for an ideal backdrop.  I made use of that great sunset in the above photo of a father holding his baby girl high up in the air.  I have made this kind of shot a few times before (see here), but I tried a new strobist lighting position that produced the best results yet.

Black & White family beach portrait on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightI like clouds in the sky for a beach portrait session, and all the ones in the above shot in my view add drama to the overall family portrait.  I framed this shot very carefully, so that the viewer would have no idea of the line of hotels just outside the left edge nor all the people walking down the beach just outside the right edge.

Baby Girl at sunset on Madeira Beach Florida candid beach portraits - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 somewhere near the baby as she was roving aroundToward the end of the session we let the baby loose for some truly candid shots, as she never even looked my way once.  That was actually fine with me because I like the results of her looking perhaps at her own reflection in the water or maybe just the sparkle of the setting sun?

Gathered around sunset family beach portrait Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50m @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThis is a new-ish pose I like for a group of five adults (plus baby ok too) with one person anchoring the entire pose and everyone wrapped around.  Just lining people up like a picket fence makes for a mundane beach portrait to me, so I am always trying to not take the easy way out and encourage the clients to get in the sand and of course interact with each other to produce more personal beach portraits.

Sisters sunset portrait on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThe same for this shot above of two sisters.  They were just going to stand next to each other, until I used the trusty Posing App to suggest a more sisterly bonding look for the photo.  When this photo is looked at by the sisters twenty years from now, if they were just standing side-by-side, that would evoke no physical feeling, where this photo in contrast will hopefully make them remember what it felt like to hold their sister in their arms.

Social Media Portraits with Kevin in Tierre Verde St. Petersburg Florida

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Social media portrait with a puppy in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame left

I will be working with new client Kevin on several photography projects.  The first of which was this social media portrait session.  Kevin wanted to have some good portraits of himself showing what he likes to do in his own home setting for social media and also for dating websites.  I have been trying to find a way for years to reach people who use dating websites who are trying to find their dream matches with horrible cell phone mirror photos of themselves.  If you are going to spend money on a dating website, and are serious about finding someone, then I think there is great value in having professional portraits of yourself made showing you having fun and doing things you like to do.  You will definitely stand out from 99% of the other profiles on any dating website just by having high quality and most importantly flattering images of yourself.

That is Kevin's puppy Dash with him above.  I had fun playing with Dash while I was getting my strobist gear setup as she was particularly fond of my light stand bag and tumbling over it!

Formal social media portrait with photos of his children in the background - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin wanted one shot of him looking more formal.  It was his idea to have photographs of his children in the background.  I liked the idea also.  There was a challenge to overcome in not having any reflections from my speedlights in the photo frames on the wall, but after a few adjustments I was able to produce the glare free shot above.

Social media portrait showing pool & billiards hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftThis photograph shows Kevin by his pool table which tells the story of one of his hobbies.  He is still the main subject of the photograph, but including the pool cue and edge of the table shows what Kevin likes to do for fun.

Social media portrait showing in kitchen cooking hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin's house had a great kitchen which I thought should definitely be featured in one of his social media portraits.  This shows him in an inviting activity where a person on a dating website might imagine they would like to visit sometime.  In the right background of the shot is Kevin's new Italian ice machine!  He can make his own sno-cones.  

Next I will be photographing Kevin's GT-R.  I am looking forward to it!

Indian Rocks Beach 12 Person Candid Family Portraits in the afternoon

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Baby in the air on Indian Rocks Beach candid family portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power frame left & SB-600 @ 1/2 power frame right rearIt was an unusual family beach portrait session for me in two regards.  First, it was a large family of 12 people out on Indian Rocks Beach.  The more people the bigger the challenge of course.  Secondly, the client requested a 4pm start time since there were very young children in the shoot who could not stay awake for a more traditional sunset shoot which that day would have been until 7:50pm.  This latter condition though led to a new style shot I had not tried before (above) that I really like having one parent hold the baby in the air with the other parent looking on behind.

Afternoon on Indian Rocks Beach large 12-person family beach portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIn order to fight the power of the afternoon sun and still have the water in the background, I had to set my speedlights to 1/2 power to fill in the light on everyone's faces and also carefully angle everyone to get as much blue in the sky as possible.  That along with basically four babies in the photo made for a bit of a challenge!  I was very pleased with the result though.  It came out better than I thought possible for a middle of the afternoon portrait in direct sunlight.

This family told me they make this same photo year after year - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThey told me that they all make this same pose year after year and having many photos over time showing it.  I am glad to contribute the 2013 version of it!

Candid kids playing on Indian Rocks Beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th natural lightGetting all the babies close together was a no-go even with parents sitting them right next to each other, so leaving them to their own devices I had to do some moving myself to make this candid shot.

12-person family walking down Indian Rocks Beach candid portrait photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/500th natural lightA big action shot with 12 people on Indian Rocks Beach which was at least not crowded at that time of the day on a weekday afternoon!

Treasure Island Sunset Beach Family Portraits with Elizabeth

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Elizabeth & her family on Sunset Beach Treasure Island, it was actually freezing! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightOn perhaps the coldest evening of the year, I met Elizabeth and her family on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island for a family beach portrait session.  Not only was it cold, but it was also very windy with clouds of sand at times sweeping down the shoreline.  However, her family was great and braved the cold.  As for me, I was fine . . . inside my windproof Mountain Hard Wear jacket!

Teen romance on Sunset Beach Treasure Island portrait photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right & SB-600 to frame leftYou can see the sand at their feet blowing in the wind.  I never experienced that before on Sunset Beach or any other Pinellas County beach.  I thought though it made for a cool photo effect shooting with a long focal length.

Watching the sunset on Treasure Island Florida family beach portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 frame left & SB-600 frame rightThough it was frigid and windy, at least Mother Nature also provided a great sunset as a backdrop to our family beach portrait session.

Treasure Island Large Family Beach Portrait on the Jetties Sunset Beach Florida

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14-person family beach portrait on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power in shoot-through umbrella to frame right & SB-600 same setup frame leftI was contacted by Kristen about a large family group portrait.  14-people large, with seven of them young children!  She wanted just one single portrait out on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island, Florida.  It went much smoother than I expected getting the shot on only about the seventh take.  Also to my surprise there was basically no wind at all out on the beach so I was able to use shoot through umbrellas with my speedlights softening and expanding the light on everyone in the big portrait.  Kristen wanted to shoot on the jetties and did not want the sun in the background.  After setting up my two lights I found that everyone had already pretty much settled into a good spot.  I gave a few suggestions for moving a bit this way or that, and then boom, 14-person family portrait made!

A silly faces version of the family portrait on Treasure Island Sunset Beach Florida - settings same as above photoThey asked if they could make silly faces after we got our more formal shot finished.  I see that stretching your mouth open sideways is a popular funny face to make!  I really liked how it turned out.