Portrait

Jason & Kiki Holiday Family Portrait 2013

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Me and Kiki Holiday Portrait November 2013 at photography student Stacy's house in Treasure Island, FloridaThere 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

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Holiday photo card portrait with three sisters wrapped in Christmas lights - Nikon D4 Nikkor 24-70mm @ f/5.6 ISO 100 2.5 sec tripod mounted - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly frame rightLong 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.  

Christmas Photo Card portrait three sisters in front of their Christmas Tree - Nikon D4 Nikkor 24-70m @ f/4 ISO 100 1/200th - Strobist: SB-900 to frame right in 43" brollyWhen editing this black & white image I wanted mainly the lights of the tree to be visible in the background framing the girls.

Smiling in front of Christmas tree bokeh for holiday portrait in Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D4 Nikkor 70-200mm with 2x teleconverter @ f/5.6 ISO 6400 1/60th - natural lightUsing 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.  

Holiday Photo Card Portrait before the fireplace in Florida - Nikon D4 Nikkor 24-70mm @ f/6.3 ISO 100 1/4th tripod mounted - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-900 to frame rightA 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!

In all the shots Kiki was lying near the girls! It was my first time to bring her on a portrait shoot. 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!

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Bilmar Resort Hotel Treasure Island Beach Sunset Portraits with Lisa

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Lisa on the beach at sunset at Bilmar Hotel Resort on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightVisiting from Chicago, Lisa wanted to have some professional portraits made of herself on vacation.  I met her at the Bilmar Hotel, a place I have shot at before.  The weather the three days prior to our shoot were nearly constant rain, and Lisa was concerned, but my lucky weather streak for beach portraits continued as you can see we had a near ideal sunset.

Twilight beach portrait at Bilmar Hotel on Treasure Island - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 behind subject & SB-600 in front rearLike many people, Lisa told me she was not that comfortable having her photograph taken, but as is often my experience, they turn out to be much better models than they ever thought they could.  I may see Lisa again for a photography lesson in the spring when she returns with a Nikon DSLR of her own.

John's Pass Madeira Beach Large 12-person Family Beach Portraits Florida

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Just the adults from a John's Pass Beach family portrait session - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThe weather was fine all day as I made my way to the beach at John's Pass to meet a 12-person family all from Canada for family beach portraits.  However, once on the beach there were storm clouds everywhere to the south, west and north, but none passed over until the shoot was finished.  Lucky again!  In this shoot I really tried to stress avoiding just having people line up side by side (the picket fence look) and asked for more hands on interaction, like in the above shot.  I placed the man in the pink shirt on the sand first, and then had everyone else stack on top of him.

Sisters having fun on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThese sisters needed no prompting to take up a more fun pose on the beach.  The challenge with them was getting them to do something not too crazy with each other!

Just the boys during this Madeira Beach family portrait session - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightOnly the guys in this shot and the best way to keep two active boys under somewhat control is to have them under wraps!

All twelve family members walking down Madeira Beach at John's Pass Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/500thThe whole 12-person family walking down the beach.  Overlap by someone walking too fast is a concern in these shots, so I instructed everyone to walk at the same pace and not get in front of each other.  By the second take they had gotten it down.

Cousins all stacked up on Madeira Beach family portraits Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightNothing like a small stack of cousins as the kids when on their own in front of the lens seemed to be more willing to smile and stay put.

The whole family portrait all 12 on Madeira Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThis was actually the first shot of the evening, everyone together in a large group shot by the sea grass.  Even in this type of shot I encouraged some overlap getting everyone to sit as close to each other as possible to show more emotional connection between the family.

Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida Family Beach Portraits with 8 kids!

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8 kids on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightVisiting from Ohio, I got a call about a beach portrait session from Jill who wanted portraits on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island Florida of all of her family, which included 8 kids and 12 people total!  As you can see, all the kids were thankfully about the same age and they all got along so it was much easier than I thought to get all 8 kids in multiple shots over our nearly 90-minutues of actual shooting time.

All 8 kids rolling in the sand on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThe family wanted the kids to be the focus of the shoot, so most shots only featured the children.  The kids themselves had plenty of ideas for shots and were willing to get down on the sand, which meant I also had to get on the sand to get to their eye level for the above shot.

Getting a ride from her brother on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightHe and I were both thinking the same thing when I suggested he give his sister a piggy-back ride for their portrait with the tall sea grass as a background.

Mom and her two children on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightWhen mom is willing to get on the sand and let her kids sandwich her, that is making a sacrifice for the photograph!  I was on the sand too and was glad to have a chance to try this more dynamic beach pose.

Dad and his three daughters on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightMy idea for this shot of a father with his three daughters I wanted to show all the girls surrounding their dad and being as close to him as possible.  Dad was set first as the anchor of the group and then each daughter wedged in next to him.  

Family Beach Portraits Sunset Beach Treasure Island St Petersburg Florida July 2013

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Getting on the sand for their family beach portrait on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/2 power to frame rightIt was a quick return to Sunset Beach on Treasure Island Florida for me since my last visit on Thursday for another candid family beach portrait session.  I never know what the sunset will be like for any particular shoot, and it is surprising to me about how different they always turn out to be from each other.  This evening was a mix of pure sun followed by dramatic clouds.  The youngest member of this family was not impressed with anything though and as you can see by his damp eyes, was crying almost the entire time being up a bit past his usual bedtime.  I know I get cranky too without enough sleep, but that usually is about waking up too early in the morning.

Sunset Beach reveals another great Treasure Island Florida background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightOne last shot before the sun disappeared below the horizon bringing the end to another day on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island.  Just after we finished a few raindrops started to fall.  Another lucky weather evening out on the beach!

Pouring sand on his brother on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida candid portraits - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightNow getting sand poured on your head by your older brother is enough to make anyone cranky, that's for sure!