Early Fall is another great time to have horse and rider portraits made in Ohio
This spring I mentioned when to have horse and rider portraits made in Ohio. That was when there was still lots of mud and I suggested two things. First that you wait for your horse to shed out his winter coat of fur, then to wait for the foliage to get green and the grass to look nice.
Well early and late fall can also be a great time for horse and rider portraits and senior portraits with horse as well. Evenings are cooler now and the flies are less of a problem. It is more comfortable for both horse and rider.
If you want color in your portraits, please call and schedule with me early as this is a fairly popular thing to do in the last week of September and the first couple weeks of October. Since it starts getting dark sooner in the evening we have to schedule a bit earlier in the evening than when I was taking portraits this summer. Sometimes if things get timed perfectly, there are colorful leaves in the trees and on the ground, but this can be difficult. One year I took some lovely fall portraits and there was a carpet of colorful leaves on the ground and still in the trees as well, but twenty minutes after the session it became blustery and the wind blew all the leaves from the ground and the trees became almost bare of any color.
In early fall, when there is color in the trees is easier to time than trying to plan for a carpet of leaves on the ground. Also, there are fall foliage color calculators on the internet which will tell you when to expect the most color in the trees.
If you want fall color in your horse and rider portraits or in your senior portraits call me now.
Peter DeMott Photography • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com
This weekend (8/27-28, 2011) I am am at the Abi-Kahn Competitive Trail ride near Caesar’s Creek Park in Ohio
Flamingos are the theme of the Abi-Kahn Competitive trail ride at Caesar’s Creek Park in Southwestern Ohio. I am shooting on trail for the event, buy when everyone is finished riding I am taking mini portrait sessions for those who want portraits with their horse/s.
One of the girls that I photographed with her horse said, “Do you do senior portraits?”. My answer was, “Yes, I do on-location senior portraits in the Southwestern Ohio area, where do you live?” As it turns out she lives right near me in the Centerville area and she would love to have senior portraits with her horse. I gave her my business card and hope to hear from her soon.
More pictures from this event can be seen and purchased here: Abi-Kahn Competitive Trail Ride
Peter DeMott Photography in Southwest Ohio near Dayton • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222
Morgan’s senior portraits and mom’s friesian horse portraits combined into one session
I had a lovely portrait session with Morgan last week. Her mom had been discussing having portraits taken of her Friesian horse and was hoping to convince Morgan to do senior portraits too. As it turned out we had time to do both. It was great fun and I think Morgan was pleasantly surprised that she had so much fun.
Morgan goes to Beavercreek High School and enjoys horseback riding, softball and volleyball. Her plans take her to Wright State University next fall.
Capturing natural expressions is very rewarding to me because it means that my subject has become comfortable with me taking their pictures. Morgan had several changes of clothing so after taking several portraits we would send her off to change into one of her other outfits. We were able to do some pictures before bring the horse out, some with the horse and some after we finished with the horse as well.
After we finished with the horse, we found this area back behind the barn. There was a red shed with ivy growing up it. It gave a rustic feel and the light was very soft and pleasing.
With the weather starting to cool off, evening sessions are very comfortable. The frustrating part is that it starts getting dark sooner now. I have session times available at 6pm most evenings including Saturdays and Sundays. Please call me to schedule your session in a location of your choosing. If you don’t know where you want to have your portrait session I can help you make a selection that is right for you.
Peter DeMott • 937-478-6222 • Peter DeMott Photography in the greater Dayton area • peter@photosbypdemott.com
If you are Ugly, sorry no senior portrait photos for you says one photographer – read more
I thought this was an interesting situation which I have not yet encountered as a photographer, but I would be interested in your comments and thoughts about it. Click on this link and click on the back button to come back.
Photographer Says- If You’re Ugly, No Senior Portrait For You
Hard Cover Image Wrap Book From Your Portrait Session
This coffee table book was created some time back, but the book company share program was not working correctly at the time. It appears that they have corrected the programing at this point. However, if there are pages missing that means they still have a glitch.
This is an example of a coffee table book from a senior portrait session taken last year.
Senior portraits in Wyoming a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio
Senior Portrait session in Wyoming Ohio
Paul DeMott is a senior student in the Wyoming suburb of Cincinnati Ohio. He is also my nephew. Paul D DeMott is my brother and called and asked if I could come down and take some senior portraits this past weekend. Paul (Jr) invited his good friend Scot to participate in the session.
At Wyoming high school in Cincinnati the boys graduate in white tuxedos and the girls in white dresses.
Big storms were rolling through when it was time for me to leave to go down to Cinncinnati for the session, but the storms seemed to be blowing through quickly lately so I told my brother I was going to come on down anyway. In the summer I can shoot till almost 9pm if the clouds move on through.
Looking for a break in the storms
Paul (Jr.) and his good friend Scot would only have their tuxedos from now to shortly after the graduation so if we were going to get some senior pics in tuxedo, we had to work around the bad weather. Paul’s mom was very worried about the boys going out in the rain in their tuxedos, but we headed on out for the portraits hoping it would clear by the time we reached the park.
As we arrived it started raining again and we had to stop under a park tent for a while until it stopped. The sun started poking out of the clouds and as you can see from some of these guy poses, some turned out quite strong. Paul (Jr.) explained to me that he was not to hot about the senior portrait photographers around town who over process the images so that the look of the skin is too smooth and unnatural. I explained to him that I felt the same way about too smooth skin. I use skin smoothing programs very sparingly and of course I remove blemishes in post processing of the portraits, but I leave enough so that the skin still looks real and natural.
We ran out of light and since they only had the tuxedos for that evening and the next day, I may come back to do some casual portraits as well at a later date.
Paul runs his own lawn care business and intends to go in the entrepreneur track of the University of Cincinnati.
If you would like senior portraits taken please visit my CONTACT/SHARE menu option above and tell me what you would like. If you don’t have ideas for where you would like your portraits taken, that is okay too. We can go with urban, metro park, home. After talking with you for a short amount of time, we should be able to come up with something.
Peter DeMott Photography • Dayton Ohio • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222
Most popular Senior Portrait photographer in my area on Thumbtack
It’s not a big deal, but I thought I would post it anyway.
Hi Peter,
Congratulations! Your service listing “Senior Portrait Photographer” is ranked #1 among photographers in Dayton.
You can see for yourself here:
http://www.thumbtack.com/oh/dayton/photographer/
So click on the badge and tell them why you like my senior portraits and equine photography. Thanks, Peter.
Photographers, Dayton, OH
Photographers – Dayton, OH
Photographers, Dayton, OHChanging things up with outdoor senior portraits in 90 degree heat
Senior portrait session with Emma in Dayton, Ohio
On Monday I was able to photograph this young lady. We changed things up shooting some poses in and around the main building and some outdoors. She did a great job of picking out some lovely outfits and freshening up between clothing changes.
If you would like to schedule or discuss a session that you have in mind just click here: Share/Contact
Behind the scenes:
These portraits were taken in the afternoon at one of the Dayton Metro parks. In most cases a reflector was used to bring in light. With portraits it is important to find even light. Bright sun is not even light. It is very bright and the shadows are then very dark. By finding shade it evens out the lighting. Each time a new setting was found, I took a picture of a photovision color target. Shooting in RAW mode, I can then adjust the color for natural skin tones. In some cases we made our own shade by holding the reflector above the subject to create even light.
I was shooting with a Canon 1D Mark IIn with the Canon 70-200mm USM IS f 2.8 lens. Images are processed in portraiture which is a photoshop plug-in.
Between the storms there is beautiful light for portraits
Ha, Ha, you big bad storms, you did not keep us from having a great portrait session in Dayton, Ohio
This week it has rained every day, but between the storms the light is beautiful. Everything is green and flowers are blooming everywhere.
These are several examples from a portrait session Tuesday evening. I don’t really have a category for these young ladies as they are already through high school, so they are not senior portraits. On the other hand two of the girls are sisters which would fit into the category of family portraits, but the third young lady is a good friend to both sisters and is not a family member. So, I will post this one under family portraits and senior portraits.
Meet Lindsey, Michelle, and Laura.
As we strolled through the park we would find locations for great backgrounds then we set up poses for each girl individually, then as a group. After a bit they changed into their jeans and tank tops for some casual portraits. I think they had a great time together. Having their portraits done together was a great experience.
The rest of the session can be viewed here: Lindsey, Michelle, and Laura
Schedule your own on-location portrait session
Feel free to tell me about a session your have in mind, family groups, best friends, senior portraits, children or whatever. Also, don’t let all this rain prevent you from calling. Lately the storms have been passing by quickly and the sun pops through for really great light. Remember, for portraits, some overcast and clouds can create very pleasing light. If you call and are worried about getting rained out, we just automatically set up two appointment times.
If you would like to set up a portrait session just go here and tell me what you have in mind Contact/Share your ideas for your on-location portrait session
Behind the scenes / How did you do it?
• All these images were taken with a Canon 1D Mark IIn at about ISO 200.
• This entire session was photographed using my 70-200 USM IS F 2.8 Canon lens. In many cases I am back 15 to 25 feet from my subjects. Longer focal lengths are very friendly to people.
• My wife Patty helps with posing and also holds the 52 silver reflector to bring beautiful light into the front of the image. Many of the images have back or side lighting and without the reflector the faces of the girls would be in shadow and they would not have turned out like this. The back and side light sets them off nicely from the background and gives nice shape and depth to the images.
• During the session I shoot a photovision color target so that I can bring correct color to the images when processing from RAW files. I did forget to take shots of the target in a couple situations so I am having a bit of frustration getting the color right on some of the images that I have not posted yet. After conversion to a JPG I dodge the whites of the eye slightly (lighten them a little, this overdone by so many photographers) and the teeth a little bit too. I check for blemishes and use the healing brush as needed, then I run portraiture (photoshop plugin) which evens and smoothes the skin without softening the eyes and other important facial features. I run this on default setting, but I bring it back to 65 opacity on that layer of the photoshop file (again, so many photographers over use this tool making their senior students and other subject look like china dolls instead of people – rolling back the effect keeps the texture of the skin visible and keeps the subjects fully human).
• Last, depending on the image, in photoshop I may burn a little bit around the edges and at the bottom of the image. Visually speaking your eyes are drawn to the lighter portions of the image and I want you as a viewer to be drawn to the faces of my subject not to bright background elements.
• You are welcome to call or email with questions if you want to learn more. I love photography and networking with other photographers and see photography as a lifelong learning process.
Peter DeMott Photography • Greater Dayton area • Specializing in people and also horse photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222
Lindsay Steiger senior at Bellbrook High School – great outdoor portrait session
Lindsay was concerned about getting some casual outdoor senior portraits that captured her. What we discovered when we were doing the session was that Lindsay had an fun, outgoing, and energetic personality that I was able to capture in beautiful senior portraits.
Lindsay’s mom Norma was there to watch and carry Lindsay’s clothing changes. When Lindsay was off changing clothes we found that Lindsay will be going to Wright State University and plans to study biology. Her mom is a nurse and we wondered out load if their close relationship might mean that Lindsay would be headed in the same direction for her career choice.
What ever Lindsay ends up doing with her life, it was a delight to be able to record this important times stamp in her life. She will be graduating shortly and we were able to schedule the session fairly quickly so that she would be able to place her orders and use express shipping to get them back quickly.
Best wishes to Lindsay as you goes forward with her life. She will definitely be going places.
If you would like to see other photographs from this session go the bottom of this post and click on the link to her gallery. Just for fun, if 15 of lindsay’s friends will post a comment on this page (Not facebook where this will link, but here on this post on my web site), I will give her a bonus credit to use for additional purchases. So go ahead, say something nice, tell he that she is going places or that you appreciate her in your life. Once you have made your comment, it will be approved and show up at the bottom so that she can see them.
Here are more portraits from her session. I hope you enjoyed these examples.
http://pdemott.smugmug.com/Portraits/Lindsay-Steiger
Spring is here and flowers and trees are blossoming. It’s a great time to schedule your senior portraits for 2012 seniors and for others who are in a hurry to get senior pictures that really capture your natural smile and personality.
Peter DeMott • Dayton and surrounding communities • Senior portraits, families, and children • Equine portraits • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222