Family Photo Shoot South Arm Park, Richmond
We started the shoot under a canopy of trees where there was a break in the foliage and the little bit of sun there was was creating a spot light effect down trough the trees. I used two exterior flashes, with one white shoot through umbrella and one silver umbrella turned backward to reflect the light in a wide burst. I set the silver umbrella off to the right just behind the family to create a soft separation light along their hair so they would not blend into the dark trees in the background, and the white shoot through was used as the main light in front and slightly to the left.I was able to get some really great shots of Mom, Dad and Daughter walking down the shaded path acting casually as well as some beautiful close up shots of each parent alone with there daughter for a nice intimate look at the relationship each parent has with there daughter. I asked the girl to sit in a tree which had a branch that reached out to the side (the kind you would tie a swing to!) This was the perfect set up for some lovely shots of the two parents holding each other at the base of the tree and the daughter to look down at them from above. This setup also created a nice triangle of the three people which is a very pleasant composition to look at, and keeps the viewers eye in the frame.
Next we moved into the tennis courts where we took some dynamic shoots of each member of the family in their favorite pose. For these shots I used a small soft box to fill in shadows on the dark side of the face and was able to expose for the background so as to keep the bold blues and greens of the freshly painted tennis court. I set the family up in a number of different positions and used a shallow depth of field so that only the front person was in focus this made a very commercial looking photo that could have been used in any sports magazine.
The last location was in a playground where I wanted to capture the strong sense of growing up, and getting older. I had the girl sit on the swing set and positioned the parents in the background off to the left. I used a shallow depth of field again so that only the girl was in focus. The resulting photo was a wonderful felling of independence and parental bonding, the parents in the background were holding one another and looking at their daughter with a look of pride. In the end all three of the family members were very happy with their photos and the concepts in which I was able to capture.