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Shoot: Fantasy Children's Portrait

Let me introduce you to one of the most amazing young women I have ever met in my life. This is miss emma. Emma, would you tell me how old you are? She's five and a half years old. I mean, can we just not die right now? Well, you're probably seeing their wonder to yourself. Okay, what are we doing? And what is the purpose of this shoot? Well, you see, remember, we talked yesterday about how important it is that you set yourself apart from everybody else. Well, when I met emma for the first time, I met her about two months ago, I learned that she is an actress, she likes to act and that she also has done some modeling. And so I started thinking about well, what if I created some sort of fantasy esque look for her because it's something that she would enjoy participating? And even though I must say these this poor baby is dying cause these lashes are killing her, but she's a trooper already, I just love this kid and but the thing I wanted you to see is this all ties back into your market...

ing program. This is not just a shoot for fun, this is not just we're not playing games here, people, I'm trying to teach you how to take a concept and make it special make something special for yourself you see, when you photograph something unique like this with emma this goes so far this has so many it'll go much farther than just clicking that shutter for instance, emma can use this photograph in her portfolio first for me it's a blast I get something really unique for my portfolio for my website, when people go to my website and they see emma on my website they're going to see that I'm doing something different. How about this and I'll tell you last night I was so excited about this segment I started thinking about how ways that I could incorporate this mohr into a part of my business. What I thought about doing is I want to create a day of photography centered around some of my favorite children that I photographed during the year some of my families that are just I love photographing their kids I want to give them a reason to come in and have a play date and what I want to do is bring in hairstylist and makeup artist and make it a fantasy day where we get to dress up in some really fun costumes though were beautiful fun things like this and then we can take some really different interesting photographs that will be that well that their families will have for a lifetime and my goal is not to make the toddlers and tiaras kind of look, I hate that I'm sorry is my personal opinion, but it just creeps me out to see little girls looking like mature women with boobies and booties and everything. I just hate that l let it be kids, that's, why it was real important to me to make to make her a very, very fantasy asks so that she looked more like this wonderful little allison wonderland character said that when people see her pictures of beans, when she sees her pictures, she says, hey, you know what? I got to be allison wonderland for a day. Now, what would I have to do to incorporate this for a couple of children? For my my client's, I'd have to just hire a makeup artist in a hair person, but what is that experience worth with a group of clients? When they go, they go to their friends say, you have to see these latest pictures of my beautiful daughter, emma. I mean, crazy fun pictures. We had so much fun, baby created a whole fantasy around this experience, it's worth its weight in gold. So now what we're going to do, we're going to take some pictures of my darling girl, and I want to keep the scene very subtle because she is so out there. So I need to be very careful of the props that I use that I don't overwhelm the scene. It needs to be in harmony. So I thought that we'd use our bent up tree right here because look at her. Look, this hair is crazy. By the way, when are here is not crimped like this. It's literally down to hear what she has beautiful long blonde hair. So I thought I'd keep that part of the scene. I think that works with her. Look, would you agree? Okay, so I'm going to use a longer lens. I'll use the seventy two, two hundred millimeter lens to start to take some photographs of her and we're just gonna play. I'll work into a few images into a few images that are interesting. Do we have any questions when we get started? Okay. All right. So come your precious. Alright. Let's. Happy down. Okay. All right. I'm gonna move this tree over just a little bit and where I want you to go see? Alright, beauty, let me have you just come right over here for me for a second. Let's see how this looks? So I knew that would work for her oh, hello tying. I'm sorry I don't really like this at all oh my goodness shut the front door I'm here to tell you this is going to be just worried you're amazing I love it and you know what on top of everything else I know I'm talking too much but emma even lost her front teeth for me I know oh emma hey emma what is your favorite cartoon character what I like spongebob too he's one of my favorites too so what are some of the things that by the way is my exposure looking okay okay so what's one of your favorite things that sponge bob does so how does he laugh oh I love that he did you don't know how he last does he laugh like oh ah now that's somebody else it laughed like that huh awesome so do you know I know that you like to sing right I bet I can sing better than you that I can it's a bit see spider climbed up the water spout wants someone to love you're just meant losing you it's actually really hard for me to photograph her it's very hard for me because I'm so emotionally into this it's hard for me to connect with the art oh I'll shut up and start shooting because it's just way too good for beautiful stunning so am I tell me a little bit I know what you see don't you have like a puppy or something what's your dog's been his name is augie huh shut up not know well really what did you name him noel for can you sit down right there really I'm gonna have you can you need somebody come and help me spot her ginny come right over here can I have you park your little booty right here won't know right here baby be careful right there love it just like that I love it don't move oh gosh that's gorgeous for you love it just like that let's keep this hand right here by the way let me talk to you a little bit about the way about her clothing the the top that she has on is actually a pair of stockings we took these stockings and we cut cut a hole for her head and then we cut the hands the feet off so we could make the arms for can you take your hand over here and put it into the yeah just like that and put your other hand on the other side of the tree right there I love it I love that and then this foot can you bring it up on the love and emma that's people okay janine, you let go for just a second can you let go without it falling down? Yeah, good oh, emma this is beautiful. I love that beautiful emma can you bring your head up like this and I want you to think about no well and look right over here and I bet if you turned your face that way love it oh that's gorgeous beautiful excellent now let me switch her up just a little bit and you okay I'm gonna have you sit right down here on the floor can you sit right down there to crisscross applesauce oh I love this here hang on a second scooter d'oh d'oh d'oh d'oh d'oh alright cool love it we'll see how you're looking here you know amma I need that there for your mom was telling me earlier today okay jeannie let go your mom was telling me about your boyfriend you know what's his name george let go that tree yeah she told me that that this he's that boys bothering you again I wish you'd let make him leave you alone all this is cute emma emma that is adorable love it can you bring your knees obama just like that oh no I'm not kidding you am I your adorable awesome punkin hey emma can on the count of three I want you to laugh so loud that we hear all the way over here you ready that was such a girl laugh that was such a girl laugh hey can you drop this foot down oh and bring the oh honey don't move gosh that's cute for you dad gum it that's cute my thought process in working with emma I'm some of the photographs that I'm going to take I'm gonna focus in on her face and come in a little tighter on the tree some of them will be more full life shots that will show the shape of that tree do you see how it works all has working for her I think that's like beautiful love it so now where else might I the images that I take from this session where might they also be viewed so let's say my client says baby you confront these air your images you can you can use these in your portfolio or you could use them in your marketing pieces where would a great place to be where would you wanna have these hang where would be it would it benefit you from a marketing standpoint like a kid's story? Yeah. How about a kid store? Could you just imagine that that's beautiful emma emma can you turn your face this way? Oh, honey that's really beautiful stunning and emma, can you take your hand that's up by your face and bring it right in front of your face right there? Oh, I love that s o that is really cute, okay, emma and then on account three I want you to bust out laughing ready one two three s so I'd love it okay very very cute oh you are just too cute hey am I can you bring your hand now love that can you turn your face towards the windows a little bit you know what we had here in the studio yesterday we had the cubist little puppy in the studio yesterday and you know what her name was? Her name was storm you know ah that's nice that's beautiful right there I love it very beautiful and then now let me have you take your hand off your face right there oh loving oh yes, that looks great oh yeah very pretty all right, I need you to stand up for me simon says stand up actually but you didn't say simon says I am a beautiful mom that's awesome okay, now emma simon says stand up be careful what you always like that actually you know what? Gosh, you just really gave me some ideas right there beautiful perfect house my exposure doing their kids uh I can't tell got it cool. Okay let's do something a little bit different with her. I'm gonna move her now and we'll photograph on this side. Do we have any questions while I'm moving her around a little bit? Okay, we had a couple of folks asking about our ah reflector and this is called a rim light a light panel we haven't attached so that actually, you know what? Can you leave that it's just like it is right there? You just gave me a whole idea right there and we're gonna leave, you know, leave it just against the wall like that. This is called a rim light light panel and it has a couple of different sides has got a silver side there's a white side and then there's also a gold and silver side we tend to use the silver side and the white side the most the gold side tends to be a little bit too warm for me just my personal taste, but we have them attack, so if we need to, we can flip it around. So in this case, we're going to use just again our window light. Um, we have a cloudy day here in the bay area, so I'm going to actually have a pretty soft filtered light coming for this window. I like this particular environment as well as where we've got the trees I'm going to a few more things by the trees, but this environment will also be great for her because it's got this very the soft color tones are opposite on the color wheel for her I have like three environments that I'll want to shoot in I'll go over by the tree because I think that's very much in keeping with kind of that that that kind of almost a scarecrow ish kind of look I'll do a few images over here that are just a little bit more soft and prissy of her and then I'm gonna take her over to our gray wool and photograph her in kind of my old dentist here and the reason I choose these three different kinds of environments is I want to create a different emotional response when the viewer sees the pictures when her mom see sees, I will also do some images that are fairly close up or that are very close up so that I can showcase the makeup artist work as well as the hairstylist work. Um, these images will not only be for for emma's mom and her family, of course, but also would be something that I would love love love to put in a hair salon. I think it would be an amazing piece toe to showcase the hairstylist onda also the makeup artist work and the thing that's beneficial to them is it shows their range as well. You see that you don't just photograph adults are that you don't just do here for adults but that you also have the ability to photograph I'm excuse me that you also have the ability to do hair for first for a small actress or for somebody who's who's working in the theater, so I think from a makeup artist standpoint and a hairstylist standpoint this is such a positive ben it's got such benefit to them and to us so it's great for everybody and again when they see those images they're going to see something that's going to be very unique so let me state we'll keep you here for just a second emma can you go stand behind that tree right there? Let's help you get behind they want to make sure you don't get hurt back there and I think I wanna have you like what I would have I will well, ama goshen okay she's never done that before, okay? She doesn't really you know she she just kind of knows howto assume a position that's awesome! Let me just see how this looks. Actually, this looks so great you'll notice by the way, my light socket fixture on the wall is it's showing well, obviously take that out on photo shop and the only thing I'll need to have it's my my handsome video dude to just move a little bit so I could get the edge of that tree love it emma that's just beautiful honey right there my f stop is going to be too ate and my shutter speed it is around two hundred hey, I want to make it a little bit softer beautiful come forward to me a little bit awesome honey stunning right and now I want you can you bring your hands just like behind your head a little bit right there and I like you're holding a kitty I'll bring him right there like all love it and really should like tilt your head a whole bunch one where I'll love it beautiful and now can you I think I need to have janine help her I want to bring her in amongst actually you know what I'd love to do is I want her to sit on this branch right here in front no on this side right in the middle right there yep now emma don't be breaking my tree your weight to your good emma hey emma that's so darn cute right there oh gosh. That's adorable beautiful stunning hey, emma, can you bring this hand up on the tree right here and I want you to kind of lean into it like this but bring your turn your legs that way a little bit like that lovett and bring your other arm. Can you scooch your booty back? Go ahead. Just can you get company helper gene just because I want to just kind of sit right up in there right here in front right? If she sits right on that branch right there she'll be good. You know what in fact, if you put your other foot on the other side missy put your foot on the other side of that branch yeah oh, I love that I knew that would work emma I am here to say girlie that is phenomenal for you turn your face up and look at that ugly girl over there beautiful love it beautiful emma lovett can you to bring this hand back right here and like you're gonna love and like I want you to lean into this part here it's okay oh yeah that's awesome. Can you move her hair out of that eye right there? Beautiful emma don't laugh ema whatever you do I told you I'm gone you you're not supposed to have what is with you would you stop it? Okay let's, bring her out of there. She's uncomfortable? One of the things I've learned is that if your subject is uncomfortable then you have to you have to be willing t give it up if you know that you're going to make him uncomfortable you're not going to get anything in the face if you do it otherwise okay, come here, precious come right over here. Yeah let's see what this looks like it can you just plop down in that chair? Oh yeah and what I want you to do emma that's awesome just like that love it uh that's beautiful but I need you to like just really throw your legs like over like this love and then just kind of lied I love that emma that is cute. That is so adorable, kiddo. Beautiful stunning right there I love that excellent. And now hey, janine can you do me a favor? Can I get you to turn the chair this way a whole bunch actually, you know what? This is really cute. Bring your feet up on the chair like there like your yeah just like that. Actually, I want to get a real tight face shot like this because I and the reason I'll shoot a tight face shot here is because I love that beautiful the pink fabric everything kind of ties and nicely and I almost want a bit of mystery in her eyes right there. Ho that's beautiful. Well, I don't think I'm gonna need to have us let's take a reflector, bring it around the front of her face just a little bit. Turn your faces what right? They're beautiful. I love it. I was going I want to see your eye over here a little bit better. Carter, can you bring your hands like right up to your face right there? Nice bring your chin up a little bit, scooter pie oh, love it excellent, beautiful what? Take your hands and bring him right on the side of your face yes, emma, that is just beautiful cash hang on I'm gonna lower my camera angle because I want to really get in her eyes right there can you bring that reflector in a little bit more beautiful awesome very, very nice and then um janine let's turn that chair this way yeah keep going keep going what I'm looking for oh actually I love that the reason we turned her around towards the window now is I want to see that natural light it will skim across her face and it's going to give me this virginia do me a favor can I just have you fluffer here off on that left side right there I want to be able tio this is gonna be a really tight shot of her face in that chair beautiful honey that's gorgeous and I really want to just see into her little heart right there gorgeous oh, emma that's that is beautiful and I told you not smile I said don't do it toe to toe with it can you bring your hands up to your face like that bring your fingers right up there like your face and now giggle for me you do that so well emma nice awesome, beautiful honey okay, you know what I mean? The only thing missing here is I need you to scream as loud as you can really loud. I want to hear it in idaho ready one no, I'm not gonna make you do it yet come on let's go we're gonna go to a different spot now we're going to do something fun okay? Are you okay? You haven't fun give me five and so are you doing hurt hurt? Okay actually, what it might do is we might incorporate that is a property in in the other somewhere you okay? You called honey so emma while we're waiting for them to change our set you an attorney and look at the camera right here and let's tell everybody about what you like to do for fun. What do you do for fun really like what kind of games do you play outside? Oh, you play hopscotch really? So are you good at hopscotch do you beat all your friends? Oh, that sounds but I have to get you to show me how to do that. Okay. Oh, I like this already. Yeah let's put the tree up and I'd like you to turn it said that the branches face the other way. Uh, I'm not sure I think I'm okay without the reflector because I know we need to have it from a video standpoint I don't want to um I don't want to um I don't want to hide hide the scene here, let me show you what I want yeah and then just put tuck it against the wall right there got it? Okay scooter pie let's see what we want to do here actually I like I'm kind of liking the feel of this I'll tell you what the reason I'm choosing this location first of all, the light is beautiful over here we have just a natural filtered light coming in from the windows the other thing that makes this work and I've decided to implement the tree with this old chair is do you see how it kind of all feels like it belongs together? They're not they're kind of harmonious props is it will and so I thought this might be kind of interesting scenarios to put her in this kind of a scene somehow I don't know exactly where I'm going with her but I like the feel of this I think it will work well with kind of the look that she's going for um okay miss emma listen, we're gonna put you maybe we'll put you in the chair. Can you do me a favor? Can I put you two? Have you stand right here, baby? Yes. Okay. God let me see how that works. I just want you to fall out of there. So janine, I'm gonna have you come and stand just out of camera range right here just so that we so safety first around here, okay, back up just a little bit baby doll job okay now you, my darling, get to be a princess, and I want to see some just fun and some fluffing of those skirts, because I already have. I know the kind of because I know what the what the quality of the light is on her, to see how easy the flow is here. And from the standpoint of making money, let me tell you how important this is. This means time the more that you have to monkey around with props and things in your studio's faras like setting up lights, and here and there, the more time it takes and the fewer sessions you might be able to accomplish in a day. So if you have the ability to work in an environment where you can take advantage of the natural light, I think it affords you the opportunity to be able to move quicker and to get a variety of different kinds of images from a subject. So with emma, I'm thinking that people tend to flock together that are similar, so emma probably has friends and her mother, probably his friends, where they may be have their other friends of theirs that are into acting or into stage work and such. So do you see how you can take this kind of concept and that you can pull it, you can pull it into another pool of associates so you want to think about that don't think in terms of just what's right in front of you it's not one plus one equals two you have to look at the bigger picture and how it will impact your business and that this isn't just about a photo shoot of a little girl wearing a costume how else can you use that in a wider arena it's photographing a potential an artist who has a potential to draw other people that are like that twit to your studio and I gotta tell you if I'm given the choice to photograph people that are like emma that are fun and had this wonderful energy and that kind of an actor mentality first of all they value photography they value it and I think that's really important is to find people that value your products and what you have to offer so I'm always thinking in my mind of the kinds of individuals that I want to draw to my business who do I want I want people that are interesting and so this is the kind of scenario it's worth the effort to me to bring somebody in to do something a little bit fun so I'm gonna back up now so jeannie and you just stay kind of close like right there and that way we don't run the risk of of doing anything crazy okay let's see what we got here though, emma oh, I like this I think this is going to be okay and I want you to do this with your feet. Can you do this just like that? Beautiful oh, actually I'm gonna like this and then I just need my video buddy, can I have you just moved just a little tiger poo. Thank you. Beautiful. Emma that is lovely, darling. Awesome was going take one shot this way now and what I want you to do is you just got to go. I want to dump oh, yeah. Awesome. And what? That's q's pie awesome. And now janine, can I have you help her is to sit on the arm right there. I want her gravity to go this way, so be careful. Don't fall nice just like that and then I like that. But your baby dog, you're going to lean this direction. Okay? Don't lean on the back of the chair. You okay? I love it. Can you tilt your head this way, gorgeous? Hey, janine, turn her towards me a little bit this way not no, no, no, not the cheer her beautiful and now now scooter pie just go tilt your head this way can you stretch out your foot a little bit that way love it that'll give you a bit more balance, gorgeous love that's beautiful. I'm gonna come in tighter now so I can get just a little bit of a different a different perspective. Let's. See what? Looks like a horizontal got it? Okay. And now ok, I should stand up for me, punkin gene helped her and now I'm gonna bring her but her booty back towards the edge of the chair. The back of the chair just park your little, but they're just like that. Don't move! That's. Cute, that's. Cute. Oh, that's! Beautiful! And I love that that bettany and the front is just lovely. Stunning. Let me come in tighter for another for a quick shot here. And I love that ben that neil a bit more. Can you put it like upon that on the back of the chair right there, honey. That's lovely and kind of lean back into the chair. Be careful, baby. Love it with your booty with your little bottom nice that's a girl. Awesome. Stunning! Oh, that's! Beautiful baby, you were just can you turn and look at janine. Bring your whole face and you can you go and put a lean your butt up against that for me, baby? All right, miss emma, can I get you to do crisscross applesauce in the chair for me? But I want your knees right up there I like that very nice awesome that's beautiful pumpkin can you just bring your elbow your bring your knees up and just kind of lean into your your feet can you bring your knees up a whole bunch and wrap your hands right around him that's awesome beautiful very very nice little girl beautiful I'm going no I'm going to just ditch the tree out of this scenario right here and I'm just gonna I like that very much you know, I think I'm gonna photograph from the ladder get a higher angle on her face watch out for that chair that tree um one of the things I like about working with the seventy two, two hundred millimeter lens is that it really does allow me to do to create a variety of shots without having to switch lenses and you know that really can be important when you're trying to save time and you don't and you really want to move in a fluid way so that's one of the things I love most about this let's see, I think for this shot I want to be able to keep the top of the cheer in andi I want that the top of that share to be in because it's going to create a nice v towards her body it kind of it'll draw your eye right down into her awesome right there beautiful how very very nice let me come in a little tighter here can you roll that shoulder this way love it, sweetie oh, yeah love it gorgeous stunning but by far don't smile though I told you not to smile good job, love it hey am I can you throw your head back like on the whole gosh that's like tilt your head just the way you did it, sweetie, that is so pretty gorgeous. Okay, now oh, dude right there. That's beautiful. Oh, my goodness. Lean back on the chair right there. Can you keep your bring your head forward though a little bit and then turn your face that way good job, love that love it gorgeous and right here, as faras focus goes, um let me just talk to you about the way that I try to focus I used the center square only on the camera on dh then I focus and then I recompose its just the way that I've become comfortable with it. Ah lot of people on the back of their cameras will use the different dials and such for to change the focus and they can use a their thumb teo alter the focus and such I just prefer to have one point one area and that's just my finger on the trigger for focus I've one thing to concentrate on it's just what I'm comfortable with and doesn't mean it's the right way to go but it's just what I'm comfortable with hey janine can I get you to do just take her hair and fluff it on that side right here and then we're going do one last thing with her yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm gonna come in really super tight on her face love those eyes right there that's just gorgeous absolutely beautiful right in here the only thing that's missing emma is I need just a secret you look like a little girl who's got a lot of secrets nice awesome can you get us give me a little bit of a giggle nice, sweetie. That's just beautiful okay, I'm gonna move her to one last scenario right in here and I'm gonna use my chair and I'm just gonna have her stand on the chair right about here we always believe that safety first is really important so there's nothing that's more important than getting and having a comfortable safe environment for my subject so I want to always have an assistant on hand or mother on hand so that we can get what we need to get that it's never at the expense of our of our subject um right about here I think it's well have it be thiss chair one of the things I want to be really careful with these this is like a boudoir chair and you'll notice it's a bit top heavy, so you have to make sure with this chair that you have it against something, you know, when you if I have somebody leaning out, sit on it or anything, so that it doesn't tip back. And, you know, these are some things that we want to think about when it comes to the kinds of props that you have for your studio. In addition to that, I will tell you from a from a business, strictly business standpoint, one thing that you really want to pay attention to is that you are well insured, and I'm just thinking about that now it just maybe thinking it's something that you really want to make sure you have make sure that you have liability insurance and disability, these air part this is this is the part of what you pay for to be in business, and while it's not fun, and it doesn't give you anything unless you hurt yourself or or you, you have an accent, your studio or something, but let me tell you, it is really, really porton tohave it is way more important than that lens. So you please listen to me and don't wait till tomorrow, but get it, especially your liability insurance, because things happen and you're great people and where we're good hearted and sometimes we make a mistake and I've known I know of a photographer actually think he was in canada and he had a young lady out doing trash, the dress sessions and she got in the water as you would with the trash, the dress session and she accidentally they didn't realize that the dress would be that heavy, and she actually drowned, so these are the kind of unforeseen circumstances that could come up. And of course, I'm not trying to back up the hearse or anything, but, you know, these kinds of things that we need to consider, so I just figured while I was thinking about, I tell you that, ok, punkin so let me get you up here going to stand up here in the chair right here. Beautiful. Let me just can you have you hold those, janine and you're going to come and turn towards the one that window, turn your whole body towards that wind. Okay, let me just see what this is. Let me say this looks I'm gonna actually photograph along the window. I like the window paints right here. Look at me a second, baby oh, gosh, look at that on her face, look at how beautiful the quality of light is on her I love even you know the great thing about being able to use a window is that no matter everybody has one and by the way if you don't have any if you don't have a a window that has a pretty quality of light why not try a door you open the front door of your home or the back door I can't even tell you how many times I've used the back door of a home as the environment and if you're using a fairly shallow depth of field or coming closer to your subject you won't necessarily see you won't see all of the stuff let's see so okay so we're going to start here and I just want you to kind of lean right in here just like this bring it coming really close beautiful just like that and then I'm gonna have you turn your face like you're gonna look over your shoulder oh that's just incredible where's uncle mike do you have a second uncle mike I think I need the talents of my my dear boy get you wow aren't you a cool looking wow what is what what do we call this left I think we call it here oh uh I think that's the look we look for what if I threw it out the window what did you go out there didn't go out there is it out there? You don't see it we better look harder no, no, I think I I don't think he is I saw it out there I know mike look look again emma I saw it out does he making fun of me again? Emma is he making fun of me again? I don't it's not fair I don't like it when he makes fun of me don't let him make fun of me ha ha this is beautiful. Okay you know I went to one of the thing with her hey emma, can you look out the window for me could turn your face towards me can you put your hands up on the window there beautiful and come in really close right? They're coming close with your face to the wind off that's really beautiful emma hey, emma looked back at me what's he doing don't let him do it hey my uncle mike I know you're busy so ginny I want to do one of the thing and jennifer you let me know if this is not if this isn't good for if you don't want me to do this here hold her for a second just have her come in here are you okay if I die? I want to put her in the window is that ok there's she won't fall out the window okay are you okay if we do that pumpkin, I want you to set her right here just right there beautiful in fact I love in fact you could put your feet baby right there how that's awesome bringing him right there we'll be real close okay can't have you turn your shoulders this well honey that's just fabulous just really nice oh my goodness yeah oh emma that is so gorgeous g was awesome beautiful honey nice ah beautiful punkin very, very nice. I think I'm gonna shoot towards the window this time and my reason for doing this and in this case if I'm going to shoot with towards what a union you could come in a whole lot closer to her my goal is to photograph in such a way that I'm here you just you get I like the vertical line that goes this way and this way it can and we're on the photograph from she'll be right in that kind of that vortex of that v and I think that could be really cool so let's try that you know this time do you mind if I put your foot up here? And how about if I can you bring me up like that and I like your hand back there like that? Is that okay for you? Are you okay actually, this looks even, but I really like this and just tilt your head that way love it, honey oh, sweetie that's gorgeous no no falling out the door the window and what I'm going to do in this case because the background is lighter than her faces I'm going actually overexpose in camera so that I can so that I can expose for her face and that way the background will blow out even mohr but it'll be exposed properly and we'll get a great shot actually love we were and where her hands are let's see what it looks like okay so through the camera saying let's see it's about four hundred do a dh four hundredth of a second so I'm going to just over exposed now by about about lisa stop let's see how that looks okay I can't see it from here so we'll just have to plan on can you just bring your elbow up on your just like love it emma that is gorgeous beautiful punkin emma that is so beautiful for you I want to come in really tight on you now love that stunning very nice got it and one more to go right in here can you bring your hand down just a little bit punking bring it down just a little bit here beautiful baby and I'm gonna also change my eyes so I think my eyes so I could come down to about four hundred lies so let's try that all right and one more emma beautiful by just beautiful and let's try one more here and right here and then I'm gonna be pretty much good for her got it okay, so let's bring her out of the window do we have any questions about what we've don't talk done so far this afternoon so let's just, uh pop around and actually we have ah studio audience question so come on up baby I know you shoot in manual mode a lot um I have a difficult time shooting in manual mode it's usually a lot of trial and error when I do it I can get exposure just right can you give us any tips? Yes, I would ask you a couple of questions about what is it that that you feel why do you have trouble in manual mode? Do the photographs tend to come out over exposed underexposed usually okay what you want there are a couple of factors that go that are involved basically checked that the meeting system in your camera I use the smallest number of meeting points and I used the evaluative meter mode which is the circle with the dot in the middle of it. And what that does is that'll take a light meter reading of the centre of the picture and generally from me I composed the shot from the center and then I recompose when I'm actually ready to take it so that I have to don't have to do too much cropping after the fact the next thing that you have to consider is what is the subject that you're photographing? Are you photographing a person who's darker skin tone or are you photographing a person who's very fair skin like emma or you photographing into a light background so that's another factor that you have to consider so for instance if I'm photographing emma in this window the first thing I have to think about is that in the can the meter the light meter in the camera understands one thing when it looks at a scene it as a gauge engages everything against eighteen percent grey now your skin by the way is not eighteen percent gray and um is this probably not eighteen percent great either the palm of my hand is maybe almost eighteen percent gray so the point is is that you have to take those factors into account when you're composing so what I'd love to do is give you a little bit of hands why did you bring your camera with you? Okay great so maybe after after class this afternoon let's get together and all and I'll give you some specific instruction basically what you want to do in your camera is when you put the little the square in the middle on your subject and you take a light meter reading on manual it'll tell us is okay you need to set your aperture and your shutter speed so that the little boy the little dial that that's in the middle that you want in the middle? Okay, however, there are times when that's not quite accurate, like, for instance, when we photographed emma here because the what the camera's going to say it's gonna be okay to get proper exposure to the centre, expose it at such and such but it's not taking into account that you have a really bright background and a dark subject and she is the subject, so in that case, I would need to overexpose so that I could properly expose for her face and then the background. I don't have a problem if it's over exposed it's nice, actually, quite often for it to be, but I'll give you a little bit more specific instruction when we're after class. I think I can help you with that. Thanks. Thank you. Okay, we have a bunch of questions. Obviously tony m is wondering, do you provide him, plan the costumes or collaborate with the parents? How do you plan for all the sizes you might need for a day of shooting like this? You know that's an excellent question, here's the thing first of all, I don't I wouldn't have a problem collaborating with a family. In fact, we have we have a form that parents go through when that when we're going to do their family portrait and it has lots of questions like what kind of movies do you like to watch? And you know what kind of theater do you do? You have any hobbies to your children have hobbies you have pets and so forth so that we get an idea of what we might do with the case of emma and what she's wearing today actually, this session now came originally out of visit that I made teo palm springs I was in palm springs about a month and a half ago and I had the opportunity at a street fair to run into amazing young artist I think it's rajkovic kiss his name you know what? I'll be able to tell you exactly what his name is tomorrow a fabulous young artist and his work was very reminiscent of this kind of feel and it reminded me of a margaret keane painting but with a tim burton esque kind of twist to it and I really believe that we are all inspired by we can be inspired by movies, by theater by lots of artists and such. And so I like to provide my own interpretation when I find something that most margot I love this I won't copy it, but I will use it as a source for inspiration and I think that's important for all of us in order for us to get our edge and b that photographer that has sought out that people hire us in spite of what we charge that's the way that we do it it is by continuing to push the envelope a little bit with our creative process excuse me and then then take the time out of our schedule to do a simple little shoots like this so sometimes it's a collaborative effort with a family now let's just address thing about the clothing with emma's clothes we really didn't have to do anything as far as getting it together as long as we have a little skirt that's got elastic in it that's really easy I mean any child can wear it and if it doesn't fit like if I know she's like five years old that I know that I'm going to go to the storm by something that's going to be five to seven years old that's got elastic, then a child from seven to nine could wear it and a child that's younger could wear it as well we'll clamp it in the back so it doesn't have to be an exact fit remember the real key is does it look good on camera that's all that matters it doesn't have to fit perfect it just has to look good on camera so you don't know that it may be pinned pinned like crazy in the back, so I hope that answered the question absolutely so a question had come in and we talked about this a little bit yesterday but from d photo does it ever become a problem using the same props for a number of clients? So in this scenario with kids at matt actually it doesn't as long as you keep recycling them and as I mentioned one of my favorite things to do is to go to a consignment store I love love love consignment shopping and I find that you know when I get tired of a prop like I can see myself getting tired of my little my chair over here because it is pretty pretty distinct I can probably get tired of it within a month or so and if I d'oh I'll just take it to the consignment shops sell it and then I'll purchase something else so I like to keep my studio fairly fresh as long as the environment itself is a neutral tones I can add anything I want I can really change it up very, very quickly and there's a fabulous consignment story in walnut creek called consignment plus that I purchased a number of little things and I mean when you buy a little chair like this and it's only fifty bucks I mean it's doesn't break the bank and again it only has to look good on camera it doesn't have to be perfect so quite often I'll have pieces where there the back just worn out or there stains all over it even if the clothing have stains on it that won't come out it's very easy first of all, that will come out in photo shop anyway, but even if you can't get them out, then you know in real life you can of course take it out otherwise um so k ratnam wondering, how do you present this for marketing purposes loves the concept and shoot what is the next step in presenting this to like a children's store? Um hang on a second don't take her yet just give me one second. What is the next step? The next step is I've after I've created the image is I'm going to sit down and make a list of the appropriate places that would be that would be my biggest bang for the buck. I wouldn't just take them to any clothing store for children store they need to be in a boutique, and the reason for that is that I don't want to take it into a store that carries just general, you know, merchandise, I want them to be in a place that's very specialized that the client looks for something that's a bit unique, then it's going to be and you see how that could be on point in other words, if my work looks unique and it's in a unique boutique then it's going to be in harmony with that so I prefer the smaller boutiques over the big the big the big stores all right, so a couple of technical questions have come in over and over so I just wantto take the moment to ask them white balance oh they're asking about white balance in the scenario and what are you doing? I'm just using auto white balance and one of the things I'm actually liking about the nikon is I find that it's a bit more neutral in the white balance then what I was previously using we generally just let let the white balance fall where it's may and then well if we need to make adjustments we can very e I I say we might dear friend colin here doesn't want us to do all of the white balancing and I just let him worry about it it's not a huge scenario again that's one of the reasons that my walls are neutral tones this well so it's not it's not a huge issue for us and you're shooting in roswell. Oh absolutely I can't imagine photographing in j peg and the reason I mean my exposures are fine I mean I'm generally pretty right on the mark when it comes to exposing, but the reason I like to photograph and raw is that sometimes I feel like a nut and sometimes I don't and I find that that that the way that I processed to file today next week I might want to process it a little bit differently and so I find that if I shoot in raw then I can always change my mind there's never a point where I can't and it's kinda like being ansel adams and being able to change that when he created his own system I mean I feel like you could develop a file all the time so speaking of ansel adams style people are wondering that tree where did you get that tree ok I'm not kidding you that is like when I when I saw that I literally thought I heard the angels singing I just loved it there is a jew usually at your flower market where all of the florist in your community by their their floral pieces there's stores there that carry trees and stuff like that in san francisco there is at the flower market there's a place that carries hundreds of these trees and literally I walked in the store and they have some that are twice the size of this one and the only reason I didn't buy bigger because I couldn't fit it in my truck and I'm not kidding when I saw it I was like oh this is just so beautiful and it just I love to the totality the next thing I want to do oh kanai somebody hammy right over there there's those black trees yeah, I just want to show you something that's a little different um that would make a fantastic prop okay, here are the smaller I just need one this is a smaller version of the tree that you see there and and what we did is I bought several small branches like this not knowing how I would use them and I hung them from the ceiling from our barb from our wire that colin created are actually calling hung them in the ceiling for me wei painted them black because I thought that that would be a wonderful contrast against a light tone wall and it's a beautiful beautiful problem my next purchase will be a big tree like that want to paint black and then again that'll be probably a prophet some point that it's a very distinct piece so it won't have huge longevity here in my studio it won't be here forever it will be here for a couple of months and then I'll recycle it take it home and you know put it my house or something so right well did you want to do something more? I want one more thing with her go ahead oh I'm sorry punkin you're freezing your little booty off here can I give you study janine, can I bring over to our white wall? I'd like to bring over a fireplace mantle okay um as a little emma was sitting here I just kept thinking boy oh boy, oh boy, she would look awesome on our fireplace mantle now the great thing about this piece is that I mean, this is just just a silly fireplace mantel and we move it all over the studio we have the ability to hang it if we wanted to, but I changed my mind so much about the props and about the way we're going to use them that I don't like tio permanently mount anything I just think it's really it's just I prefer to have the variety so what we might do if I were photographing someone who was an older person actually show you cannot give me those trucks over there someone please you'll notice that the top of this mantle is fairly narrow it's only probably maybe six or seven inches, but if I'm photographing someone who's like a ah young woman or something, can I have you stack them behind that right there, right there up turn it up and then just stick it back there on the top like up on its end just like that? Okay, no, I think that's good. Ok, now let me show you what I've done, do you see how I actually created for someone who's got a bigger bottom I've actually given myself like six inches behind so if I'm photographing a young woman it's very easy for me to put her on the fireplace mantle without she doesn't have to be a super tiny skinny girl now in little emma's case I'm not too worried about it because she's a little bitty thing and so we're not going to worry about that and in the front if I were photographing ah woman I would put my couch in front of it so that you know that if she got lost her balance she would be you know she was shoot fall on the couch in emma's case we're going to have somebody like right hear that would catch her she fall so let's get somebody to pick her up for me let me just make sure that this feels sturdy I know she doesn't weigh anything and you're just going to sit there and hold her are you okay punkin you all right? Can you screwed her over this way a little bit and what are you afraid are you afraid okay if you get afraid that's okay? You just tell me ok? I will see this is gonna work and I love seeing the way her little feet are scooter a little bit closer that way excellent and emma, what I want you to do here stand right here with her because I don't want to I don't want you to leave her for a minute but one foot there just like that okay can you lean into this arm right here baby I promise we're almost done here let's flip her little hair right here excellent and what I'd like you to do darling is you're going to stand just right here until I tell you to and then I just want you to just be right here just that way she falls forward we're good to go oh see I really like in this emma this's so cute for you okay are on account of three missy I just need you to duck yourself down a little bit beautiful punkin like it beautiful and go ahead and sit down lisa beautiful love it awesome gorgeous hey I'm a tilt your head that way hossam and can you turn your face that way a little bit more this way playing love it awesome punk and lovett look at me with your eyes beautiful hey you know what but can you pick up lisa pick her up I want you to lay her on her tummy oh hello actually that looks adorable keep it right there can you are you okay right there baby oh, that is like over four foot right there awesome just cute as pie tilt your head that way a whole bunch like oh awesome can europe your face down a little bit turn your face down little bit baby love it don't look at me just look down excellent! And now go ahead and have her lay on her belly, right. They're beautiful and cross those ankles and put it right back. Emma that's, beautiful pumpkin. Oh, emma, that is gorgeous, beautiful, wow, that's. Lovely. Can you bring your feet up like, put it behind you! Oh, I love it, I love it! I love her, she's! Done with her face, that's stunning. Can you just bring one of your like, love it just like that? Awesome, awesome! Okay, miss lisa, move your little butt day, gorgeous, and I want you to lift your face up like this, like you saw a puppy out that window. Awesome, gorgeous, okay, great. I think we're good with her. I just saw that. I just figured I had to do something like that.