Doing portraits of children outside is one of my favorite types of photography. It has a less structured look then doing studio photography, but in either case, an individual child is always easier than a group of siblings. In this session we had four energetic brothers to photograph as a group outside…a set of triplets and the big brother. So, when I scouted the location—their grandparents’ backyard—I looked for spots on the lawn with nice backlight (toward sunset) for the traditional groups. Done; I knew I had the basics covered, but then I kept looking for a fun way to wrap up the session—fun, that is, for them and me! Then I noticed a big weeping willow tree behind the backyard shed. Upon investigation I found a large rope tied high-up in the three and hanging to the ground—perfect! We saved this image for last..
This image was done in my mind when I saw the rope! Using my 15mm fisheye lens I stood over the kids as they all hung for dear life on the rope with the tree wrapped around all of us. Actually they are standing on the ground…but that didn’t deter us from having fun.
The only major edit Kathi did was to remove my feet from the bottom of the image! Yes, I have big feet, but in the vertical orientation with this lenses angle of view being 180 degrees anyone’s feet would be in the frame! Just before I tripped the shutter I said, “OK guys, grab onto the rope, you’re a hundred feet in the air and a tree gorilla is untying your rope! Everybody scream, Ahhhh!!!” Got it!
Earlier we did all of our usual portraits of the boys with and without their grandparents. This was one of my favorites of the boys...
Not too traditional in set-up and I like that each boy is being real, no cheesy smiles.
’Til next week…don’t forget if you have questions or comments don’t hesitate to ask.
Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Craftsman, Certified
Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com
