Lessons

Lesson Info

Day 19: Photographing at the Client's Home: Shooting for the Wall

We are going to be photographing at a client's home we've got a video to go through together this is the actual session and I'm gonna push go! This is the wall that elissa sent to me that we're going to be designing for, but just walking through the house I'm also going to photograph the wall down in the basement where they spend a lot of time and it's the movie room, tv room, game room so we're goingto suggest a grouping there above the couch there where they gathered together as a family, we're going to place the design tool on the wall and this is just a ruler. If you don't have this, your client doesn't have this, you could just have them take a piece of paper to the wall or anything else that's measurable, but what this is going to do this is going to give me ten inches to take into preview software to measure, and then I'll be able tio put perspective on the wall and get the exact size for this wall. So when I show elissa when we're when I show her her design for this wall she's ...

gonna be able to see the exact size as it would be finished for her, so there we've got the design tool and I'm gonna go ahead and take a snapshot of that for myself I always tell my clients that I want to have them stand straight in front of the wall and so we're not at any kind of angle and I also want to see other elements in the room this wall is kind of a stand alone but I went ahead and shot it pretty wide so that we could see going into the kitchen and into the stairway because you really want to see what you're going to view as your viewing the portrait on the wall so we want to see the surrounding elements all right? We're gonna have the ad first I'm gonna have you kind of stay right here I always wanna build around dad cause that's what we dio all right and I'm gonna have to turn your feet that way and let's just talk one foot under yes, good it's perfect. You're good at this. Is he doing good? Yeah, okay. And then mom, I'm gonna have you come sit right here in front of him and josh I might have even turn back just a little bit more. Just riff. Yeah, on elissa right there and what I'm going for is a little bit of that red behind you and let's kick your feet up yeah, okay, bella right on this side come right behind him and right there that is perfect, okay, and then sabrina let's bring you right here I don't have you said all the way on your floor and on the ground and turn your feet out that way that is great okay mr sai and you come sit right here right in front of dad's arm that's perfect and he if he's crawling around whatever works is great all right and then let's have ballad of libya come right here you're gonna sit right next to mom's feet and just lay over lay right onto her legs so let's take your feet the other way kick your feet that you and is laying low and as far as you go just like that perfect can you put your bottom right here and scoot right and like right in there good and just lean right upon your sister's dead ok guys this looks cute all right I love it oh and silas you're so sweet l s so you take your hand on his shoulder the other one snuggling him in they had good okay everybody look at mom and mom like it silas uh hi, silas can you can you look at livia whoops we lost yeah that's good ok, look, mommy look at mommy are they so cute? Okay, I'm gonna get a little lower again so I missed the sidewalk okay love it all right now mama dad get a break can you guys get run back over there? Okay let's see let's ah serena let's put you in the middle this time on we'll turn your knees out just like that okay I need you here e and e t uh uh can you pull his shirt down on the backs of rita off your face so we can see your pretty face there again can you put it on your put your hands together right like that there you go. Perfect okay let's keep you guys all right awesome you guys are too easy okay bellied and even a little closer if you can can you squeeze in there yeah there you go perfect silas off uh years on a a okay silas can you put your hands on sabrina's hands? I think you deserve marshmallows. Okay it in a little bit taller right there get my one more time, okay silas how old am I hold my hand okay, okay. Hands on serena's dan look over here, huh? Weii well, we've got serious space there. Uh that looks so pretty okay and beautiful more well, I need you the other way for the window and I wind in your face faina all right, we're gonna go for some sky and soda some green okay, close your eyes for a second relax and open them okay, try not to squint it's so hard okay ggo um good just raise your chin up just a little bit there we go can you put your feet together good cave expire beautiful okay can you laugh at me you are a good actress ah so it's pulled down the sarah you got it you got it and then will you cross your ankles over each other good job okay but a little taller I'm sorry eating little dollar I do that now we have three kids alex perfect you guys that's a cute just snuggle up and talk and love on each other hi silas you want to stand up let's see if you get nose to nose of mommy can you put your eyes on her hey that's thank you but I love it oh you got your nose okay can you look at mom ah perfect feet uh e I go one more and I think I mean if we can get silas toe hold the d I think it be super cared it may blend in a little bit too much we'll see can you hold it so I can see it and catalina into your dad just a little bit good all right and eat and let's take your bella take your hands down and can I see your fingers good job you guys that's perfect okay and mom and dad snuggle in good ah let's so cute you guys hey, silas okay guys here we go so well, good job hey, silas one more time one more time over time all right you ready oh are you getting that dee we're not gonna be able put it back on the fireplace okay, here we go good job you guys sabrina step in a little closer good silas oh, good job you guys that looks so great. Okay. Are you guys cool with home hands or is that no ah okay awesome. Okay, good silas who is he and the abbe what do you see? He is like staring off into space are you girl are you ready there we got as good okay bel cheese macaroni and cheese cheese pizza okay everybody look at daddy daddy look at mommy okay, so laughing is good oh yeah big john's over there. Okay, do you is it wet there do you mind sitting now warmer time since we're here let's just do one more thing okay? Just leaning in yeah, wait just a little bit okay and then well let's put how about you right there on dad's leg that's getting a workout today way perfect. Okay, silas this way just a little okay? Serena right here understand? And yes e not be good with it. Okay right there and silas, can you get right there? You stand up top right in front eden hold mommy's hand in her hand yeah, okay about okay, okay let's see bala split some hands on hips a little sassy and ah sabrina will you take your right hand out on her so far shoulder yet good okay and olivia kind of lean into your need just a little bit not too much yeah that is perfect awesome and then uh let's see I like that um dad let's take your hand up on mom shoulder good okay silas yeah let's let you get back down here we go good job you guys hey silas okay eating and staying up just a little bit and try to open your eyes good job it's hard not to be squinty out here isn't it? Hey sy was highways can I borrow your tie okay okay put it down one more time here we go good we got crazy smiles that we like him alright hey sai you're gonna hide you guy come alright awesome you guys that was great okay perfect you guys were perfect you know it's it's quick because I do know what I'm shooting for and so that's part of the you know what I love about planning the session with them in advance because I know exactly what I'm shooting for and um you know, this was we suggested the second area for them as an afterthought and that's actually what I ended up selling the most from uh so that can stop um that's what I ended up selling the most from the next slide you're going to see is they the next light you're going to see are just the raw files from the session. This is just a contact sheet, and this is actually everything that I showed them, they don't see them finished and retouched, they're going to see them not like this they're going to see them at in a slide show first they're going to see them, you know, as we go through, we're gonna narrow down from this, but these images themselves or exactly what they saw when they came and place their order, and so I'm going to show them in black and white and not in color, but they're going to trust me that I'm goingto retouch them and I'm going to finish them and they're going to be beautiful when they're all done and that's, one of the things that I'm going to tell them when they come in is you're going to see everything, not retouch this is all straight out of the camera, but I do that so that you can tell me how far you want me to go, but, you know, they're going to tell me exactly what they want, and even if they tell me I want the kids to look natural, I'm of course still going to retouch them she's not gonna know she just thinks their kids are beautiful. But I pretty much no matter what they say uh, you know, no matter what they tell me I'm still going to do what I d'oh yes, I'll take some extra precautions if they say, you know, make sure that my beauty mark doesn't get removed or, you know, make sure that I look skinny, you know, or whatever they're telling I'll take some extra precautions for that we're still going to do what I do and they're going to be finished how I'm inefficient, but you know, they're going to see basically just like this and these air kind of some of the finished things that we did for them and finish family grouping for that one main wall we did the out takes of dad and mom of just the kids and I'm sorry these have my branding across them, the good thing is that you can see how it would put them on facebook and on our password a gallery I just couldn't find the other one's toe pull on my hard drive that I brought with me so um so that this these are the finished ones that they ended up choosing and this, uh this particular uh, grouping and of images they did choose to leave in color and then of course, the individuals of the kids they narrowed down to their favorites and, uh that family grouping you're actually seeing in color but we ended up with it in black and white and then the one that was the quote unquote out take that we planned for so that's what that looks like and you know, pretty fun when you put it all together and you kind of see all that and it really makes sense even teo the clients when they've planned with you and even going to the home and making the suggestion you know, it all makes sense we're saying okay, now we're gonna shoot for downstairs the colors down there are black and tan and so she was like, well, that's easy we've got ton of that and, you know, went upstairs and I mean, within five minutes those kids were all changed back outside so, you know, just making the suggestions really make sense to them and I can start planning with you and get excited about it and it's it's all like it's for a purpose, you know? We're not just shooting and let's see what happens we know what's gonna happen. We're shooting with a plan and a purpose, so I love that I love doing it that way, and I know people have wondered about this walk ling and so you're going to get this as your template download today and this is that walk clean ruler that you can order from any place that does well clings. I get mine from a c I and that's, actually what all of these are here are the wall claims from a c I and what's great about thes is they're going to stick on any wall, and they're not gonna hurt anything. You can take him off. You can reposition him. I wouldn't do that. Probably too many times with a portrait, but with these, I have probably had this particular one on my laptop for for months and it's been off and on and on walls and on everything you could imagine. So, um, they do they last forever, and they, you know, they'll even stick on paper and come right off. So that's, how we actually send it to the client if I'm sending it them one, I'll send him one piece of paper that has instructions on it with the wall clean ruler on the other side, and they can just peel it right off and stick it on the wall. So makes it really fine and easy and that's gonna be today's. Zaman fantastic, lori, another amazing download for those who purchased the course. I love that one I love how versatile it is, pushing it to sample sort of what these clings get like if you order those so very cool alright let's turn to our studio audience and see if anybody has questions and ask your questions online in the chat rooms too all right, we will go to the internet we have l k p who wants to know if the client sees the finished retouch print to approve it before it's sent to print and then how about anya asking can the client changed their mind after the photo session about wall portrait so you've arranged like this is the area we want a wall portrait for after the session like never mind they certainly can they're not bound by anything to do it but it rarely rarely happens you know, we we really have planned for this and she's very invested in the process she's chosen clothing based on where we're going to hang the portrait and it you know, it just this doesn't happen where there they come in finally and they're so excited about what we're going to do in a certain room and then they say never mind, you know, I guess if they did the images would have to really suck you know? And you know and I guess that could happen if I just really did a bad job that could come in and say, you know, never mind we don't want those on our wall, but most of the time they're super excited about it cool another question from online if you could just talk a little bit again for jessica love and little la graffiti about how long your photo sessions do you take and what happens if the kids are not willing to cooperate? You shoot for more than an hour if that's your normal time uh I don't I don't take him over the hour and if kids are naughty in the beginning you know I mean really when you plan for a session, you're really going to shoot for each concept for about fifteen minutes and that's something that I found years ago that if I can five minutes into shooting look at mom and say we've got everything we need now I'm just gonna play it kind of takes all the pressure off of everybody and you know if I do still need to shoot and I need to you know, make some things happen I can but if you're actually going to see a session with a really naughty little boy hand when that happens, I just kind of let them be themselves you know, let the you put him up on dad's shoulders or let him run around a little bit and photographed them doing their thing, which if that happens that usually leads to an album or something fun, you know? And and I do you know I'm never showing anything super traditional or super posed and so if we've got even, you know, there've been times before when I've known everything's windy, everything's crazy outside I don't even know if I have one image of this little girl without hair in her face. You know, the winds blowing it's like this on most of them and so I'll actually say to the mom during this session, you know, I love that her hair is just everywhere that is so little girl, you know that such her and it's so I love it it's so cute hey, and then when she sees the porch it she's not going to say to me over hairs in her face, you know and same thing with a grouchy little kid I had one little boy at one time who he was two and a half years old and was a thumb sucker and a blankie boy and he came and he would not put down that blanket and when not stuff second, his thumb and his mom can, you know, yanking his hand out. He was getting mad and is crying and finally, you know, I just said to her, you know what? This is who he is right now this is his age, this is how you see him all the time and this is gonna go away you know so let's just let him do his thing and he was actually crying like crab face with his thumb in his mouth and holding his blankie and she bought a twenty by twenty four of it when she saw it because she said exactly that and she actually cried and it was one of those it was uh call I competed this print and called it little boy blue because he had a blue blanket and he's sad you know and so I had it on an easel when she came to her order appointment and she walked in and bald she was like you were so right that's my little boy is how I see him every single day and you know when it's just it's taking those moments and just saying you know this is who they are right now this is fine this is good no I photographed megan's little boy when he turned one and he was not but it is just fun you know and and we actually did some video of him two and he's like you know has times when he's shrieking and time times when he's cracking up and you know he was hysterical and you know it's just it's so fun to remember them at that age and now he's four three he's three and a half and you know you you have those moments forever and images that you wouldn't have a few you know, if I was that person who said no, we got away from it to be perfect because you know otherwise I can't I can't do this or, you know, got uptight about it or whatever and so just take advantage of real life and every day and the things that are happening in the really the true personality of the kids and the family and who they are and express those things to the parents because that is just placing value on that age and stage and I think that is you know, that that's part of our job to think well, it sort of goes back to what you've been saying about, you know, telling them what like helping them to know what they're actually want like maybe they don't even realize that they want this wall portrait they don't even know that that's the part of it maybe they don't even realize that that's what they're really looking for in those memories that's beautiful thank you. One final question just declare for case from from from a squeaky who says s o looking around the house and photographing it and planning that out is that the same day as the shoot or do you do that way in advance what's the timing on that toe walker the home with them if I'm going to the client's home to shoot, I'm doing that a lot of times on that day however that's gonna be a mom that I have already planned with I know she wants to decorate for her home I've never not ever going to go to there there blindly and a lot of times I have had them take snapshots for me and I just know we can do really great things there and so I'm going to go to the home to photograph and to walk around to make those extra suggestions and those are you know and you gotta kind of read people you know, those are going to be the people that I know they're going to do whatever I tell them to do there there are some people who really want that there they haven't here designers telling them this is where this couch needs to go and at what angle and they will never move it because they've been told that that's exactly what's gonna look right in that room, you know? And I love those people I love this client and it's not because I can't make their own decisions it's because they love being sold I love being sold when I go to someplace I want somebody to tell me exactly what's right for me I don't want ten options I want to be told this is going to be this is gonna look great on you or this is going toe you know, this is the best a mattress is one of the things that I can think of because when my daughter went to college she took my my bed set and so I had to go and buy a new mattress and I walked into the mattress place and there's like you know, five hundred options and I don't want to go in and sit on five hundred beds you know I want somebody to come and and they did they came and asked me you know, tell me about your sleeping habits they went through and ask me questions and because of the questions that they asked I totally trusted them to tell me and they gave me three options they narrowed it down and they said you're going to either like this sister this they gave me they were salespeople they gave me three price options just like we do guess what? I chose the middle right? And you know exactly like it's supposed to happen but that's how I don't like walking up to the toothpaste aisle and seeing twenty different kinds of toothpaste it drives me nuts we have way too many choices and our clients are you know they're there have all these choices every single day too so make it easy on them and just help them and tell them this is gonna look amazing in that room and they trust you you know you become the expert when you can make those suggestions to them and say, make them confidently. And, you know, with the design tools like preview, you're able tto, you know, show them finished. And it makes such a huge difference that they can actually see it finished. Honor while you made this beautiful suggestion, and yes, I have to have it.