Get the Job Done: Lukas' senior portrait session

I just finished editing Lukas' chosen images from his senior portrait session, and I'm quite pleased with the results. Lukas was the first of my 2010 seniors to request a mountain, outdoor park area for his location shoot while other clients opted for more urban shoots around downtown Denver. It was great to be have a client introduce me to a spot I'd never visited before, and the scenery at the Lair o' the Bear park was gorgeous and filled with endless shooting possibilities.

Here is Lukas' choice for his yearbook picture. I love the bokeh, and the way the light warms up his skin and his eyes. Since Lukas side he liked some edgy postprocessing, I tried a few actions from my Totally Rad collection to create this mooding shot.



We were lucky enough to be shooting at a gorgeous time of the day, late in the afternoon with golden light warmed by a nearing sunset. We simply just walked around the hiking trails until we happened upon a spot that called out to either of us, or where my careful study of the light would net the best image. Lukas and his mom Sandy probably thought I was crazy because every few feet I would stop them and say, "Here! Right Here!" This image looks as though it were lit in studio, but it wasn't....just an area that I thought was precisely lit with a little pop of flash to light up his face. Lukas was such a trooper to jump into foilage whenever I saw something I liked, even though we both have a deathly fear of spiders!



I think having a different location made it easy for Lukas' images to stand out and showcase his personality. He told me that he loved the park because it helped him relax and feel at ease when he was troubled. I love how this shot framed by the tree leaves creates this sense of quiet and reflection for the senior.



I was so focused on getting this great shot of Lukas' smile while were sitting down in the tall field grass that I didn't even realize there were hundreds of ants crawling all over me! Hey, it's one of my favorite shots because his smile is so natural and unforced, so it was totally worth it for me. His mom was right behind me doing silly things to make her son laugh. And when I stood up, all of sudden they both started smacking at me. I thought to myself, "wow, they haven't even seen the pics yet and already they are beating me up?!" Then I found out they were trying to get the ants off me. Makes my skin crawl just thinking out it. I am such a city girl!



Here are a few more favorites:

Get the Goods: Outdoor Portrait Class

This is the class I've been waiting for! Photographer Russ Burden will be teaching a customized Digital Photo Academy course called "Outdoor Portrait Shoot." Given that Russ specializes in people and nature photos, I think this will be a great blending of the two and a great opportunity for picking his brain for some coveted location shoot spots. Plus, I could always use good pointers in learning how to blend ambient and artificial lighting, especially when dealing with the harsh sunlight we have here in the Mile High City. I'm saving up for this one now!

NOTE: All photos in this post were taken by Russ Burden.

Here are the deets:

Sunday August 16th 8am - 5pm $150

Be it a single subject or a small group, sign up for this exciting class to learn how to improve your portrait photography. Russ will meet his students at a park in Littleton and show what he does when he’s in the field working with his portrait subjects. The class will be limited to 9 students keeping the instructor to student ratio low so make sure you get on board early.



Signing up for this class will benefit you in many ways. If you have kids / grandchildren / spouses and want to bring them along to be photographed, we welcome them. Additionally, feel free to bring your dog! Please make sure someone is with you who can bring them home as you will be involved in the class. If you want to take advantage of this perk, please make sure the person you bring dresses accordingly to maximize the best possible images for all the participants. Signing up for the class requires we share each other’s files if one of us creates a nice photo of anyone in the group. This will be done when we convene at my studio for the Photoshop portion of the class. Bring a flash drive to swap files. The photography portion of the class will run from 9:00 - 1:00. Your invited subjects will be photographed during these hours. (one restriction - no high school senior portraits)




Russ will show you how to work with subjects to bring out their best. He’ll share the techniques he uses to control the harsh Colorado sun using flash, reflectors, and diffusers. He’ll give you tips on posing single subjects in addition to how he sets up a group to make the image look clean. He’ll work the subjects in both strong sun and in the shade and while doing so, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.




All of the above unto itself makes for a fantastic workshop but it gets even better. Following the time at the park from 9:00 - 1:00, we’ll discuss what we shot while at lunch and then convene at Russ’s studio to do Photoshop work on the files. We’ll do a critique of our photos, learn how to optimize each file in Adobe Camera RAW, and learn how to further tweak each picture in Photoshop. We’ll concentrate on how to touch up a portrait. It’s a jam packed, fun filled photo day that starts at 9:00AM and doesn’t end until 6:00PM so if you’re wanting to learn a lot about portrait photography, don’t miss this class.



Details: Meet at Sterne Park in Littleton at 9:00AM. Bring lenses in the range of 50mm - 200mm / flash and lots of extra batteries for it / reflectors if you have them / extra camera batteries / plenty of flash cards / flash drive to trade files. Bring interesting or unusual hats and props to give the shoot some spice.




To save on additional costs of hiring models, we’ll use each other and/or the guests you invite as detailed above for both the individual and group shots. Using real life people in real life situations makes for a great learning experience.



If you would like to learn more or to register for this fun-filled workshop, please call Shelby on our toll-free line at 1.877.372.2231 or log on to Digital Photo Academy and click on Denver from the list of cities on the home page to register. We hope to see you there!

Get the Goods: Outdoor Portraits Instructional Videos

Cincinnati professional photographer Jim Talkington's blog, prophotolife.com recently released a three-part series on outdoor portraiture that I have found extremely useful for posing and mixing ambient light with on location strobes.


episode 25, outdoor portraits #1 from Jim Talkington on Vimeo.


episode 26, outdoor portraits #2 from Jim Talkington on Vimeo.


Episode 27, Outdoor Portraits #3 from Jim Talkington on Vimeo.



The videos also convinced me that I need to buy a Calumet Calumet 42x78" Aluminum Frame with Translucent Fabric and Leg Set and a Calumet 42 x 78" (107 x 198cm) Gold/White Panel Fabric.





Having those items on hand will make it much easier for me to bounce and diffuse light without bugging my client's friends to act as assistants for me. I think I will also take Jim's advice and start using my 70-200mm instead of my 16-35 which distorts a subject's features.