Fall progressed early and quickly here in the Treasure Valley (Idaho) this year. So, the race was on to get as many family portrait sessions done as was possible before we lost the fall colored leaves in our public parks.
I usually prefer to use my customary public park locations because I know where to go—and very importantly when to go—for the best lighting and backgrounds for very consistent results. However, this year we lost the fall colors in many of my favorite locations at the beginning of October. So, I was forced to go to the backup plan of using our client’s homes as locations when and if they told me they still had good fall colors near them. History has taught me to never believe a client’s claim to have a “great backyard for pictures”! They just don’t have a clue as to what a professional portrait artist is looking for when it comes to the background and lighting.
Just a few of the things that I have encountered that will sabotage a backyard as a portrait location have been:
- A great big swimming pool; usually with a fence around it. Not to mention the pool shed or a cabana.
- Modern backyard fences; especially those ugly plastic things.
- Telephone or power poles; and the power lines traversing their backyard’s sky.
- The house itself; rarely do I want to use their home as a background.
- Their barbecue equipment and their stored RV or boat and trailer.
These are just a few of the many reasons why using a client’s home for portraits is so difficult. None of the horrid things I’ve listed are in my locations at our great public parks here in the Treasure Valley.
So, I was pleasantly surprised this year by several of our client’s backyards…
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f7.1 @ 1/320 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 142 mm
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This great family came back to us—we had done their portraits 3 years ago—after moving twice looking for a nice valley view, they found this home on the hill overlooking the golf course in Eagle, Idaho. I really liked their choice almost as much as they did! We didn’t even have to use our posing rocks as they had recently taken delivery of the rocks you see them on. They had just plopped the rocks there while their new fire pit was being constructed. They moved the rocks the week after we finished this session…
The only technical issue we had on this particular pose was the lighting intensity difference between our family in the shade and the entire background in direct sunlight. So, I did a separate exposure—locked down on my tripod—stopping down two and three stops get a nice background exposure we could blend with their family portrait in Photoshop later.
Here’s another pose we did on their property…
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f6.3 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 168mm
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We always do at least two or three different poses when doing the family group portrait. In addition I like to do both horizontal and vertical compositions so they have a choice when considering a wall portrait.
Then we do the “breakdowns”….
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f5.0 @ 1/250 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 130mm
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We like to do individuals of each child and the kids together as well. Mom and Dad get their time too…
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f6.3 @ 1/200 sec., ISO 400; Lens @ 200mm
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You can tell we all had a great time doing this portrait session. The weather cooperated and we had terrific fall colors in Eagle, Idaho, this year.
In Part #2, I will showcase another family portrait session, also in Eagle, Idaho; this time working in a small backyard.
’Til next week…
Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman
Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com
Client site: http://www.TheStorytellersUsa.com
