I recently had the honor of photographing Elisa Fisher and her two beautiful daughters in my Benicia studio.  These are the two giggly little girls I mentioned in my earlier blog post.  By keeping the lighting simple, using just a blank wall next to the large windows,  the magic skills of my business partner Michael Van Auken I was able to make some very sweet images.  My thought process is simple as well.  Keep it simple and focus on the eyes, expression and nuances of each child.  As you can tell,  these two girls had very distinct personalities.  I found by allowing them the chance to shhhhh..  scream in the studio.. yes scream,  I could not only initiate some great smiles, but also capture some very fun expressions as well.   I believe it is important to move quickly, and not “work a location to death.”   After just a few minutes we moved into the halls of the studio and then I put the 70-200 lenses on and had the kids just tear off running down the hall with the dog.  This experience does two things.  First it gets the pent up energy out for a moment, and second, it makes the kids really enjoy the experience.  (not to mention that I get great stuff while they are doing it)  It has been my experience in front and behind the camera,  that if your subject enjoys the session they will give it up as it were, and give me precious smiles and more.  In working the file of the girls and the dog running down the hall, I used a bit of diffused glow, followed by high pass at about 50%

To make them pop away from the background.  Afterwards, I used one of my own textures to give the photo a bit of old world charm.  A word of caution,  use filters, and textures very selectively and don’t overdo it.  It is very easy to go from 0-60 on the “cheesy” meter by overdoing the Photoshop.

                                                                                  

Thanks Elisa and Lauren and Madison!