A lot of mom's usually want the prim and proper portrait as their priority, so that's where we start. You don't want the kids playing, and risk messing up their clothes, before you've gotten the "portrait". So, we took no chances with these two rambunctious girls in their brand new pastel dresses and started by seating them on our wicker bench.
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| f6.7 @ 1/60 sec., ISO 400 |
Hands together in their laps, dresses all neat and smooth--just what mom wanted. We got ONE of these! Then the conspiracy began with big sister as the agitator…
Sensing a loss of control, my wife makes suggestions like…how about all these great leaves on the grass!
That got a nice response…So, they gather some leaves…
They throw the leaves in the air…ONCE! And off they go to explore…
Just to make my job harder they split up. So…I do individuals of each playing…
The older girl is open to my "hanging like a monkey in the tree" suggestion! We finally get them back together when my wife asks them…"did you see the bird in the house? Let's go see!" That gets them exactly where I wanted them…
I take two images, one second apart, before I realize my aperture is too wide (f4.0) for the depth of field I need for a twosome. I bump the aperture down a notch to f4.9 and by then big sister is gone. I refocus on little sister and get this last image…before she takes off! According to the metadata the total elapsed time: 15 seconds.
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| f4.8 @ 1/125 sec., ISO 400 |
The storytelling images are always the most challenging--and the most rewarding to me--but you must do the basic portraits first. Then go play!
'Til next week!
Author: Jerry W Venz, PPA Certified Master Craftsman
Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com
