Dose of Happiness

    Things going a little crazy right now?  Election got you in a funk?  Well how about a dose of happiness?  This is John Paul's version of a pick you up smile!

    Catching babies and children is a hard task, but a little flash and quick thinking help.  In this case John Paul was happy since he was on a swing, and making it go very very fast.  The flash caught the action in freeze frame where it counted most: the eyes.  The flash also put a sparkle in the eyes which gives you a sense of life in a frozen frame.  His natural smile completes the moment without the typical childhood squint and cheese.

    This is what great family portraits are all about...making art where the going is rough!  

The Big Guy

    This boy will be looking down on me in a few years.  He probably grew two inches in the last  four months.  His feet are ripping through his shoes as well!  He is working hard to be a good boy everyday and just finished up his first job this week!  Great news for an eleven year old!

The Card Game

    As promised I continue the portrait work...here you see a portrait with a story.  In this case, " How do you make sure you can beat Dad?" It is quite simple actually.  Play Go Fish with a twist.  Deal Dad a six, leave two sixes in the stack, and sit on the fourth one.  My boys are genius!  

-ehw

P.S. What I think actually happened was Son #2 dealt the card fast and flung it at his brother,  Brother missed the card and did not notice it hit the seat.  He moved once and it went under his thigh....and Dad did not see it until we cleaned up and he stood up!  Photo taken with the Fujifilm XT-1, 23mm lens and processed in Capture One...

A tale of two portraits

It is that time of year when I need to catch up on things before the crush of school year life hits us with the power of a thunder clap.

So before my lovely big daughter grows out of her 2013 dance costumes I just had to take advantage of it to take her portrait!  This time I think she enjoyed it...at least for the first 90 minutes and four costume changes!  The last change is the one you see here.

I'll share some more over time, but this one has the emotion in the smile, the sweet innocence of a 12 year old, and the eye contact a daddy longs to get in the lens.  It was a wonderful time spent with my daughter.  This is an image I will not soon forget.

Now below you will see a photo of the little guy Kevin, he so wanted his photo taken with his dogs, the only dogs he'll ever get in my household.  I'm allergic to them, but he is not so far....and he reminds me of that every other day at least.  When these guys don't have breakfast with the two of us, one is smelling up my bed.  The miricle here is that he looked at the camera!  Grin is a little goofy, but everything at six is a little goofy for good reason!

So what do I take away from today?  Constant lights are perfect for kids indoors.  Set them and work them.  I just recommend you get as much power as you can.  I need more power from them to make the photos at a faster shutter speed, so I'll save up for a while and see what I can do.  I learned a lot, like I will not shoot portraits without my tripod.  Too much fun.  I also like how my mirrorless camera lets me back off the viewfinder and use the screen.  Much easier to keep eye contact with my subjects...and make them laugh!

Ironically the first two shots I am sharing are the only two I shot without my tripod!  The top is the Fujifilm X-E1 with 60mm Macro while I stood on a stool. The second it the Pentax K-5 shot head on a few feet back.  Both processed simply in Apple's Aperture using some Sara France Presets, and custom contrast curves.  I really concentrated while shooting to avoid eye reflections today in the glasses, and I think I did pretty well.  In both of these I actually thought through some classic posing rules as I worked the slightly more casual portraits.

I hope you enjoy them!  These are two of the five lights in my life!  Go capture some images of your blessings today!

-ehw