I use Profoto D1 Air Strobes, okay? They're 500 watt with the Air Remote Trigger, which is what I'm using today, okay? So we're using three Profoto D1 Air's. I use AlienBees for years. Just about two, three years ago, I upgraded to Profotos and I'm never going back, okay? They're expensive, very expensive. But they are so worth it. And I never have to buy lights again. Which is, well, in 15 years maybe. But my point is, is that they're high-quality gear and equipment that you'll never have to go through again. The modifiers I use, there's a whole background story. This is a Photoflex Octodome seven foot. I usually use the Profoto; I packed it up to bring it here today, and I was taking it apart too fast and I snapped one of my rods inside the box. And I was so mad, oh my gosh. You know, when you just do something dumb, and you just beat the snot out of yourself. Just, "Why did I do that?!" You know? Well, lemme just tell you how great Profoto is. I called their service department and J...

ohann, the guy there, I'm like rambling, "I need a rod for my stuff box, you Fed-Ex it." This was yesterday, okay. "You Fed-Ex it to me, please please?" "No problem, on it." Couldn't even charge my card because their system was down. "Oh, I'll just charge you tomorrow." He told me the price, and it should be here, we got a replacement just as a security bring, but he sent that rod to me overnight. It should be here at Creative Live right now, but just because of timing, we didn't have time to get my Octabank up. But that's what an amazing company they are. I really love, Profoto does not sponsor me at all. I would love them to, but my life, I will use them no matter what, they're a great company. So what you need to be careful is, I'm using umbrellas, Profoto umbrellas, in the back. This is not my ideal setup because this Octabox will probably have a slightly different color temperature than those in the back. You wanna use the same brand modifiers if you can; they all emit a slightly different color temperature. I tend to keep my modifiers all the same; same brand and studio, okay? Then of course, we're using the Savage Super White. I have a cyc wall, this is my old studio before we remodeled it. This is in progress, this has all happened in the last year. Us building the cyc wall out, you can see us kind of doing the sweep down there at the background. It's about 15 by 17 feet. So it's a nice, big, and I have a corner, so I can shoot large families now in the corner. And that's my setup at home with the rail system. It's like tenure dream coming true, really. I have shot on light stands and overhead like this for years so you don't need to do this, this is kind of like, oh my gosh, hallelujah, I'm so lucky. But, my point is, is that you can do this without having a cyc wall, but I also wanted to show you what we did to make my life a little bit easier. So why use strobes? Strobes freeze action, they freeze it. Strobe images will almost always be sharper than a natural light image. Always. Because it freezes the moment. So you get tack-sharp stuff. I'm using a deeper depth of field, because I'm shooting at a smaller aperture. So it's just a cleaner, sharper image, which I really love, especially, when I'm seamless. Who cares if the background's out of focus? Now when I go outside and shoot with my 200mm F2, I'm shooting at F2. 'Cause I want that pretty, beautiful, out-of-focus background. But, in studio, with a seamless, clean look like this, there's no need to shoot at F2, okay? So, let's go ahead and shoot our modern family. We're gonna do a couple things. I'm gonna talk about posing. We're gonna first shoot in a high key situation. It's not perfect high key, and because of just shooting in a new environment, my umbrellas aren't, they're giving a lot of spill. So just note that we're probably gonna get some spill on the back of their hair a little bit, but my main goal here is to show you how to pose families, how to use different objects to create up and down motion, what I call the music scale, okay? And then, I wanna also show you how you can get different overall looks with your one background, okay? So just note, we're probably gonna get some spill, and some flare on the back of their heads. Basically putting up some boards or anything like that would fix that problem. In my studio because I have so much more distance, I don't get that spill. So we're just working on a tighter space here, okay? So the other thing I wanted to tell you is, actually, they're in the room now, so I'm not gonna go into that. Mommy, Miss Melissa, texted me all kinds of yummy information. Yummy, yummy information, okay? That I'm gonna be using today. I'm gonna read over it really quick again before I kinda go into the session, I really wanted to read it to you, but I don't want the children to hear what Mom wrote me. Because I want it to be somewhat of a surprise, okay? So, as we go through the session, you're gonna hear me refer to things and go like, "Whoa, how'd she know that?" It's because I talked to Mom, and I did a pre-consultation, okay? So this is the kind of valuable information that'll help you get connected to your kids, and get genuine expressions out of them, okay?

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Julia Kelleher

Portrait Photographer, Julia Kelleher, M. Photog., Cr. CPP, specializes in newborn and family portraits out of her boutique, Bend OR, studio. She offers her clients a photographic style that is organic, textural and artistic, and specializes in creating heirloom albums

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topics covered in this class

Family & Lifestyle Business

Ratings and Reviews

Courtney Ranck-Copher

I own I think all of Julia's classes. This is probably my favorite. I will say that it's because its exactly the type of photography I have been wanting to focus on. So the information was extremely valuable to me. But I do love all of Julia's classes and you can learn so much from her as a mentor regardless of the type of portraits you shoot. Thanks Julia for a wonderful class I have watched it multiple times!

JennMercille

As always, Julia never disappoints! It has been so awesome to watch her work with such incredible intention, from concept to session to sales. Her energy and strategy are so motivational and very, very creative! This class rocks from start to finish, and is a perfect addition to my Creative Live business arsenal! Five stars all the way!!!!!

Amy Vaughn

My favorite part was seeing how Julia's business evolved over time and transformed into what it is today. Good tips for finding inspiration to develop a niche and practical marketing advice. I'm glad I took this alongside Tamara's business class - the two photographers had very different approaches to their business and shooting family photography in many ways, but it really illustrators how there's no one way to do everything. I learned so much from both of them.

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Equipment for Success

Equipment for Success

Lesson Info

9. Equipment for Success

Lessons

Class Introduction

Marketplace Analogy for Family Photography

Mistakes Photographers Make

Benefits of Creating a Niche Family “Look”

Create a Unique Experience & Product

How to Stay on Brand

Defining Your Style

Modern Family Niche Shoot Overview