I just love this family! They are some of our best friends and it is such a privilage to be able to take their pictures. It was a cold, gloomy day but they were troopers and we were able to capture some great pictures of a beautiful family!
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What to wear to your photo session
What to wear is one of the biggest decisions to make when having family, senior or any other type of photo sessions done. Everyone wants to look there best and of course they do, the pictures you take will be (hopefully) printed and kept as memories for a very long time. But have no fear, it is not as hard of a decision as you may think. To start off, here are some helpful tips to picking out what to wear for your photo session.
Your Style-
First and foremost, these photographs are all about you and your family. That means they should convey your personality and style preferences. If you’re earthy and casual, stick with that. If you prefer glitz and glam, play it up. It’s important to be yourself during your session, so wear something that reflects you. If you wear something you’d typically never put on, you’ll probably feel uncomfortable. Don’t dress your kids in clothes that are too small or shoes that don’t fit. Most importantly, wear stuff you love, stuff that is comfortable and makes you feel amazing. Comfort and confidence go a long ways and can make or break your session.
With that said, you can still amplify your personal style by playing with colors and textures. Find a nice mix of neutral colors and then add a few pops where you can. It could be an accessory, shoes/boots, a jacket, bold lipstick, or a bright undershirt. Textures are great as well to add a little something extra but be sure not to overdo it. Think ruffles, lace, polka dot rain boots, knit sweaters, faux fur, bring some things to break it up. Don’t be shy! These are your pictures, have fun with them. If you want to wear a prom dress, or have your family dress as superheroes, you go for it!!
Plan Ahead-
Start thinking about what you plan to wear right away. For family sessions look for coordinating colors instead of all matching. Add in patterns, but limit it to a couple people instead of everyone. If you plan to dig out an outfit from the closet, make sure it fits and is clean weeks before. A few nights before your session, lay out all the clothes and accessories you want to bring. Make sure everything is clean, pressed and ironed. Do your hair, wear some makeup but keep it natural for you. It is important to feel good about yourself while remaining who you are.
Details Matter-
Feel free to bring multiple accessories to play with throughout your session. Hats, jewelry, shoes, hair barrettes or bands, ties, watches and anything else you can think of. These details can make your session really stand out.
Now just decide on a color (there are just so many good colors) and start picking outfits that represent you and what you love, and let me do the rest 🙂
Fall 2017 Mini Session
Fall is almost here!! I love fall sessions and I am so excited to be offering a Fall Mini Session again this year. Last year went so great, I look forward to meeting new people and seeing some familiar faces. Mini sessions are some of my favorite sessions to do.
Print Products and Sizing
I did a post a while back on how important having prints are. I love seeing images in print, I print my images all the time, probably not as much as I should but I do print, and I love seeing pictures as wall art!
That being said, choosing the right size for wall art is as important as the image itself. An amazing picture can be lost if the image is too small for the display it is placed in. Below is a comparison of image sizes. Some people love their pictures to cover the walls, while others prefer smaller frames on a side table or on a shelf. There is no wrong way to display, as long as you are happy with it!
As you can see, larger images work so well as wall displays. In person the 30 x 40 would look massive, but once hung on a big wall could look perfect. When having pictures taken, it is important to consider where you want to display your images, what you want to print and what size and orientation you are looking for. Once you decided, it’s even more important to tell your photographer. In my questionnaire I send to all my clients, I want to know how they plan to display their images so I can make sure I have a few different options for them. I have a place on my wall I like to keep updated images but I need a specific orientation for them, therefore when I take pictures I make sure to get one I know will fit in the space I have designated for it. I also know the size I need and that changes how I take the image.
In my print packages I give a set number of digital images with print release. I do this because I know how much everyone wants those digital images to share on social media or create fun photo books and I know not everyone can afford the prints I offer. I use a professional, photographer only print lab who prints on the highest quality, long lasting photo paper. Like most things, quality some times means a larger price tag, print products are no different. So as much as I would love to be able to print your images I understand if that does not work for you. I do offer all sizes, so a small wallet to share with friends or a giant 30×50 to cover your wall. I can do gallery wraps, wood prints, metal prints, photo books, and lots more. If you are interested in prints just email and I can give you a quote!
If you can swing the price, I highly recommend printing from your photographer and here is why…
1. Quality: the products printed from professional print labs are of the highest quality, they are made to last decades without fading or warping.
2. You see what you get: 1 hour print labs such as Walmart or Target are great for snapshots but not as much for professional images. When I print you pictures for you, what you see on your screen is what your image will look like when printed. Check this out to see what I mean.
3. Crop: Different size images require a different crop on the image itself. Look at the difference between an 8×10 and a 5×7. When I crop sometimes I have to go in and extend the background to ensure the crop does not cut off heads, arms or whole people. This is unfortunately is not an option when printed somewhere else.
4. Convenience: Lets face it, after you receive your images unless you do something with them immediately, you tend to forget about them. Unless you really need to update a picture you end up just leaving them in the digital world. After you receive your gallery from me, you start thinking about what you want printed and instead of having to figure out where to print them, do all the adjustments (crop, paper type…) you just let me know what image and size and I take care of the rest! So easy and at the end you have high quality prints!!!
My goal as a photographer is to capture moments that will last forever. It is important for me that my clients are in love with their pictures, that they will cherish them and look at them for years to come. I do my best to ensure you receive the best print products possible!
New Referral Program
Invite your friends to book a session with me and receive $25 toward prints or a future session!
The greatest compliment you can give a photographer is by referring new clients. As a thank you I have created a referral program for those who help me out!
Participate in my new referral program by telling your friends about Heather Lake Photography. Have your friends and family mention your name when they book their session. For EACH referral that books, you will receive a $25 credit. You can use this gift on print products from your recent session or use it on a future session. Refer 5 friends and you will get a full session for FREE!!
There is NO limit to how many people you can refer and your credits do not expire! Referral credits are for new referrals only and credits can not be transferred.
Again thank you for all of your business and support!
52 Week Photo Challenge: Week 5
Week 5 of my personal 52 week photo challenge is Ten Shots. This weeks challenge was to take 10 shots of the same subject or in my case I chose an activity my kids were doing. The idea for this is to take shots from different angles, distances and focal lengths.
Shooting from different perspectives can really change the feel and story of a picture. I love to change things up and try to shoot from different angles and distances regularly. Laying on the ground or standing on a stool to take a picture can make a huge difference in an image. Of course everyone wants that one good picture of the whole family looking at the camera and smiling to display on their wall but I enjoy detail shots. Getting up close and personal to my subjects and capturing the details. This challenge was a lot of fun and left lots of room for creativity.
Here are a couple links that have examples of different perspectives to try and the importance of perspective, check them out!
https://digital-photography-school.com/perspective-photography-dont-just-stand-move-feet/
https://digital-photography-school.com/power-perspective-photography/
Here is a good example of changing the perspective. This first image is a typical image of kids painting. Oh and you’ve got to love that face big sister is giving!! Again pretty standard picture I as a mom would take of my kiddos painting. I was standing normally and a few feet away from them.
Now for this one I got down on my knees and really focused on the painting, not the kids. I love how you can see his messy paint covered hand and the paint on the table. To me it gives a completely different feel than the one above. I know from this one just how painting with a 2 year old is, not just that he is doing it.
I let my kids paint and enjoy as I stood on a chair, knelt down, took a few steps back and a few steps closer to them and just tried different things. I really love some of the images and can’t wait to print them and put them up in our toy room! Here are my 10 shots for week 5.
“You & Me” Mini Session
The “You & Me” Mini session turned out great! Unfortunately I had to cancel the session on the original date due to weather and very few were able to reschedule with me but no big deal, it was a good time. I had so much fun with the Grandpa & Me session. These kiddos sure love their grandpa. The interaction between all of them was great to witness. The Mommy & Me session was also amazing. They are such naturals and absolutely adorable. I was reminded with this session just how important it is for a mother to break out of her shell and get in front of the camera. I know I personally prefer to be behind the camera and therefore do not have a lot of pictures with my babies. I need to forget about how I look and get some pictures that will be forever cherished.
Thank you to those who participated in this mini session. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do another next year!
Photo Project Week 2: SOOC
This weeks challenge was to post a picture SOOC (straight out of camera) meaning just uploading it straight from the SD card with absolutely no edits. This is a great challenge actually. Far too often photographers rely on editing software to “fix” their images. Obviously I edit my pictures, all photographers do anymore just to get each image to its full potential. A good picture can become great with just a few simple edits. I am not one who completely transforms images in Photoshop though, I do use it for some more involved editing, but I prefer images to look and feel real. I like true emotion and color. I do have a few editing styles that I like and tend to use them when they work but overall I like real.
The challenge this week was a good one for me since I have been working very hard on getting my images as good as possible in camera so that my editing time is cut down a lot. Having pictures done correctly with the camera saves LOTS of time and gives better results in the end. There is so much that goes into taking pictures with a camera, way more than just pointing and shooting. Here is a good post about the power of SOOC and some tips to achieving it. Every day I am learning and experimenting on what works for me to create the perfect, or as close to it as possible, image straight out of camera!
Here are two images I took while playing around with my kiddos. I did all the adjustments in camera and just uploaded the images off my SD card.
I’m pretty proud of these images. Overall they look pretty good. Color is good, crop is good, and exposure is ok, a bit bright but pretty good. I find the biggest challenge for me to get perfect in camera is white balance. This is the overall color of the image. When shooting outdoors you can notice images looking a little blue, or when shooting indoors images tend to be yellow or orange. This is the white balance. The goal is to get white to look white. I have been breaking away from auto white balance and giving manual a try. So far so good!
Really these SOOC images are good. I made it easy for myself by placing them in front of a white door in natural lighting from the windows. When outside, white balance can be a challenge when moving to different locations, or turning towards different lighting sources. Overall I am happy with my challenge this week.
I did edit the images just to show the small adjustments I would make. Still nothing major and I could just leave the images as it since I feel they look good, but for the sake of continuing to improve I went ahead and did the edits.
Again not too different, just lowered the exposure and adjusted the temperature just slightly. I also cropped some just for fun.
Photo prints in a digital world
In this digital age it is so easy to take pictures with our phones or pay for pictures that you receive digitally and just share them on social media, never getting around to printing them. More and more it is becoming less common to have pictures printed at all.
I LOVE prints, I really really do. Seeing the pictures in print is so much better to me. Having pictures in print I can put them on the walls for all to see, I can put them in albums to look at for years and year, and I can give them as gifts for family to do the same. The possibilities are endless when it comes to having pictures printed. I love that when I look around my home I can see all the amazing pictures of my kids, traveling down memory lane everywhere I look. As a mom of three, time goes by so fast and I love seeing baby pictures and being reminded of all the small details I no longer remember on a daily basis.
As a photographer I know how important it is to clients to offer digital images. Everyone likes to share their pictures for friends and family to see. The option to print where ever you want is also a plus with digital images. The issue is actually getting them printed. To me prints are so very important. Here is a blog by a fellow photographer talking about the importance of prints. The post is more of a rant but it still gets the point across.
Not only is it important to have prints but to have good quality prints. I print through a professional, photographer only, print lab whose prints are meant to last a lifetime. They are super high quality and will not fade over time. Any print bigger than an 8×10 will be mounted on a styrene board to ensure the pictures do not get bent or warp over time. As I mentioned before, I love prints. I spend the money to make sure my prints will last and I make sure I offer the same opportunity to all my amazing clients.
I will never push having your pictures printed through me. It is not my place to do so, but I highly recommend looking at the difference between professional print labs and 1 hour labs. As important as it is to have a picture printed, is is even more important to have it last. Although memories are forever, sometimes we need a little visual reminder!
Charlotte Mini Session|Mahomet child photographer
Miss Charlotte was such a joy to be around for her mini session. She was so full of smiles and made our session so easy and fun! What a doll 🙂
Heather Lake Photography 