Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Okay, well I've selected this locations because it's where the family live, and i
want to incorporate the environment into the portrait, that's really important.
uh.. not only am i going to do a portrait of
Lauren here, i want to almost make it a piece of art.
so.. er like a landscape.
so if we look out over here we've got the black morale,
the sun is going to be right behind Lauren, which is fantastic. We're
going to have a nice
back-lit image.
So if you come on over here Lauren, good girl.
Erm
clothing wise, I've just kept her really really simple, nothing too
fussy.
Erm no frills and certainly no heavy logo
arsenal team shirts and things like that
and just something really simple and clear
which is exactly how i want my finished product to be, with simple lines.
Okay Lauren so just bring your, cross your feet over for me and just bring your hands down to here.
Just look down to the left.
Okay, Lauren is twelve and so she's at the age were she's kind of slightly
on the turn of what
she will and wont do.
and we kind of, she's going beyond that little girl stage
so she might want something a little more edgy.
But having said that mum might want something still quite child like.
So we're going to do both
but you do have to
erm,
erm,
access children on the day.
You never know what they're going to do.
If they don't want to get something, you just don't force them to do it.
Because you will get them completely unnatural and an unhappy
child.
that can show in your images.
So actually Lauren we're going to take you away from that little girl, we're going to hook
your thumbs into your jeans, but keep your legs crossed, good girl.
Do you want your glasses on? are you happy with glasses on?
We'll do both shall we? okay.
Yeah okay, cool.
You look good with glasses.
okay
So we've got lot's of graphic elements going on here in this image.
Such, er an easy place to take a portrait, because you've got natural framing of the
tree,
in the summer, we're taking this sort
of in early spring, but in the summer
that tree will have fantastic leaves, naturally framing
the subject. I'd also like an introduction of the graphics left
leading into Lauren as well.
So, there's a lovely soft sunlight coming through, from behind Lauren,
the sun is a little bit high in the sky, it's about midday.
Midday isn't the ideal time to take
portraits, because it's when the sun
is kind of at it's highest.
Erm, and in the summer you're going to get really really harsh light.
Ideally, if you want
nice soft light, early morning
or early evening with some summer light, autumn light again is lovely.
Autumn light, sort of late afternoon can be quite tricky.
uh...
you know, you need to experiment maybe a little bit with that.
What i'm going to do here is, because the suns coming out now, and it's quite strong
i want to keep the deep end all in place
he cared for something behind to protect groups at that
kato
but that you can't buy you have a factor
became king life with her inclined
and mike to coding unaffected
told me that
i can ok picking up stanton a lightly
picked up the clothing
then in a funny thing to do you think that if
bismol graphic adamant that the cockpit shadow
cleaning fee the final ended today
in black-and-white to be very strong striking graphic line
just purely from the fountain
i'm sheathing
at four hundred i a crime
an intimate guy don't you come annual meeting but if you know concrete he'll
annual meeting
leading to the table
with our markets a priority
i make sure you keep your shutter speed high enough that if your subjects going
to be moving
you're subject will be sharp.
As it i here we can go quite low,
it could go down to iso one hundred
and get a much smoother looking image.
Okay.
So i'm also going to do something now with Evey, i'm going to bring Lauren out
and i'd like to do individuals of each child, if you're doing a family shoot
we'll do each individual child with each parent as well as a group
picture.
Okay so Evey if you come on in, Eve is
slightly younger and
more immature.
haha
okay, she's also
got a stronger character, and it's quite
if you're photographing your own children, you'll know their characters and you'll
know what you can make them do to bring that out of them.
And so Eve is a lot more
uh... bosy's
the wrong word,
ugh, stronger character.
so i'm just going to get her to fold her arms
and just bring her foot out.
That's it, we've got exactly the same composition, so when you put these images on the wall
together they'll look fantastic. But what you'll have is elements of
personality from those different children.
okay and i just want you to look a little bit over there for me.
Good girl. Just look a little this way. Good girl.
little bit more. That's it,
okay.
So again i'm going to come back, right out and you can see that lovely natural framing, get the
environment where
Evey lives, which is
really important in the future
um... and also again, get this
bench in.
Yes please.
be very careful when you're shooting there's lot's of sky
and you're
shooting on aperture priority, your camera may
decide to um,
over expose and you're going to get a very very bright sky.
And Evey will be in the dark, which is why i manual meter,
so that i can meter it off her face.
Okay, Evey i want you to just go back against that tree for me.
Good girl.
Hook your hands into your jeans
looking down like that.
just got the little bit of hair coming down, which is lovely. We're just going to adjust that slightly.
Gonna
keep the face,
the hair back of the face this side
and just have it hanging down here.
Okay, and that will look lovely with the light coming through it.
Even nicer when she smiles.
we've got
two or three pictures in this area,
we've got one arty picture, where we've got all of the hills in the background, we've got the
bench, we've got the natural framing.
We've also got an up righting image, a portrait
And then we've got a head and shoulders.
The reason i'm going to do everything here is because
the lights good, so there's not a need for us to move anywhere else.
You don't have to have a great area, if the light
is nice and soft,
and it's right then you can do a lot in one area
Just through different composition set ups. Evey
just turn your head towards me quickly, a bit more.
more.
I don't know which way it goes, that's it.
and it doesn't matter, i like it when the hair goes across the face.
The face is just
looks much more natural looking.
Just turn your body this way, just a little bit more,
turn your body not your shoulders. That's it good girl.
We've got a nice bit of light just coming in. Just
going to demonstrate, if mike could, can you just keep the reflector on Evey there.
You can
get in a pickle with reflectors, now i only
recommend you use them when you're a sort of static environment, when you've got children running
around.
You're
getting lot's of natural shots its very difficult, and you end up losing an image because you've tried
to do too many things at once.
If you've
got an assistant, that's
useful.
Erm, you can also use too much reflector
which we could demonstrate here as well now.
Mike could you just, yeah.
And that almost gives the impression of flash which
for me flash completely kills the portrait.
uh... and i never ever use flash
on my portrait work.
I'd much rather use,
i'd rather incorporate movement even if the lights quite low and
have something a little bit more atmospheric.
Lauren we're going to take your glasses of now,
if that's okay?
Again i'm going to play safe and have a really lovely soft
happy image that perhaps grandma would like as well.
Because i am thinking about that. I'm also thinking not only from
an artistic perspective but also from a business perspective
that i want to be able to sell more images.
You have to please everybody, so including grandma.
So, we're going to do a lovely soft portrait of the two of them.
They may not like it,
again you have to access kids on the day.
They may not want to be together, it doesn't matter
you can get them running around and being happy.
But these two love eachother
so much.
Go on hands behind her back, give her a cuddle.
I'm just going to bring this hair forward, okay,
things like that
i really hate, dirty nails
a bit of old nail varnish will hide that.
I just want you to turn into each other a little bit.
It's literally going to be a head and shoulders shot.
Again because we're in this great light we're just going to stay here, that's it,
lovely.
Chin down a little bit, Evey you just need to bring your legs all the way round you're almost
got your hips joining together.
Bring your leg forward Lauren, just forward and
that will get your body into the right shape.
Even though i'm not going to photograph your legs, but what it does is it changes your body
so just put your feet back again,
like they were before. Okay, and you're not really together you've got this big gap here.
Bring your legs forward.
Okay, now that brings you nice and close.
Okay, we're going to have this nice and smiley, so whilst they smile we'll make the most of it.
It doesn't happen all the time.
There's a little too much reflector there mike.
I know, it's
all over the place today. That's lovely.
Grandma's going to love that.
hook your fingers in Lauren, because i can see your
chipped nail varnish.
I've also got the tree here, i'm also using negative
space just to add a little bit of texture and a little bit of the image as well.
Now one nice and close up.
Can see all their bogies.
Good.
I just got one shot then, sometimes when you ge into a
situation, you see an image
and er Lauren i'm just going to ask you to walk out the way a minute. I've just got a shot here of Evey
sorry
i know you got your hair cut yesterday
didn't you,
Okay, i'm just going to
just put one hand here for me
okay, now soft hands.
Evey's got lovely freckles,
and that kind of want to make the most out of them, because freckles don't really last
when you're older, so it's something that
it would be lovely to look back on, and think aw
you had freckles.
Okay, just cross your feet over again.
Finally the reason i always cross the feet over generally, is because it gives them
er, the children a better shape, bar them being completely square on.
We're not looking for a
feminine shape at all, because these are children.
But just a little bit more, dimension.
Okay, i'm just going to let the
wind do the work here, and that's lovely.
Absolutely gorgeous.
You're quite pretty really aren't you.
I think when you're directing children and trying to get expression, you've really got to use
your own personality.
To create the emotion
that you want.
That can sometimes take a little bit of time.
In fact, can you just out your hands behind your back please.
That's it, lean forward just a little bit.
That's it look straight into my camera, good girl.
That's beautiful.
Lovely, good girl.
The reason why I've got her in this simple dress top is because
i didn't want something too distracting
what she has got here, is a really nice little sort of flower.
In black and white that's going to give a lovely sort of image.
Which is completely timeless, and this is the only accessory that we've got here.
And erm
that looks really nice, can you just tip forward again to me.
That's it, good, gorgeous, forward a bit more.
Bit more light mike please.
Yeah good.
Okay just close your eyes, good.
and open, good.
we'll go back to doing the two of you again.
Sorry, i'm going to have you facing right out that way.
Feet apart, just hold hands.
That's it a little bit wider apart.
not your feet, the two of you, Lauren the left more. Feet wider apart please eve
Okay, cool, so really graphic shot here.
of erm, we've got a leading line of a bench, we've got the up right here,
and then we've got a triangular shape here, with the legs and the arms.
With the reflector
Okay, Lauren i'm going to
just sit you on the bench please.
I'd like you to come and sit on here, the most brilliant
shot of a bench, is to do the book end.
A chleshay book end shot which is fine and you know
it's a quirky
uh...
popular kind of image were we'd put
one child each side, but
but i don't want to be that um... i'm going to
probably sit Evey up on here
please, keep you as you are.
that's it that's lovely. Good girl, well done.
Evey bring your head round a little more
and compositionly,
i've got the girls to the left,
with the graphics of the chair, of the bench.
But then
my negative space is not negative actually it's beautiful,
So, i'm keeping that within the portrait still.
although the girls are still the main subject matter here.
Okay, lauren can you lean back a little bit into evey just relax back.
cross your feet over if you'd like.
that's it,
and just lean back into her, that's lovely,