How to Christmas family portrait, the little things that most people don’t do that can improve your family portraits

Christmas gatherings are great times for group portraits

This year we had several families on my wife’s side gather at my wife’s sister’s house for a nice Christmas party. Of course I brought my camera and a few other things as well. Usually I don’t make it into too many pictures at these events, but this was a lot of people who had come a long way to be together so I figured I would be taking a group picture.

Prepare to take the portrait

Here are some things that I did in preparation for the image. First, I set up my camera on a tripod and pointed it toward the fire-place and chair that I thought would make the most pleasing arrangement. I took some images and determined that I could get away without using my flash (however, in retrospect I think that the flash would have helped and if I had been working on a professional basis, I would have devoted much more time to determining lighting).

MOVE THINGS and get rid of clutter

MOVE FURNITURE… There was a coffee table in front of a sofa facing the fireplace. Rather than have them show in the pictures, go ahead and move things around some to PRE-COMPOSE the shot without distracting elements like coffee tables in the image.

While checking composition of the background look around for other things that can be removed from the picture. In this case, there wasn’t anything else that needed to be moved out of the view of the camera. I took a couple of shots to test out the auto timer on the camera. There was the short one and the long one. The short one would not give me time to get into the picture in time, so I set it to the longer timer and that looked like it would work fine.

Start with the key people then gather others around

Now I started moving people into the frame. First grandpa who would be on the large chair, then is daughters and their families grouped somewhat together.

I made sure there was a pathway for me to get where I was going to stand then I explained to everyone that I would be taking 10 pictures. When shooting a group it is very common for someone to blink each time the camera fires. In this case, I had a very slow shutter speed of about 1/20th at f4 with an ISO of 1000. Again, I would certainly not use ISO 1000 on my current camera for professional portraits (there is a certain amount of digital noise at a higher ISO and this is an older camera / Canon 1D mark IIn). But, for a quick family portrait on a non-professional level, this was going to work fine. I explained to look toward the camera and that as the red light flashes quicker, the camera will fire. After about 4 shots, I checked the images and found that my son was making faces each time. After several people explained to him scornfully that this is something that everyone wanted to be nice, he relented and I took about 6 more shots of the group.

Don’t forget to have some fun

Now for some fun. “Okay, everyone do something cooky for this picture.” Here is what resulted. With family and even professionally, why not have some fun with the people you are photographing. Make is something to remember.

With a little further investigation on your part you can see that I was not quite able to move the coffee table out-of-the-way enough to completely remove it from the portrait. However, with a little Photoshop stamping I was able to use the open area of carpet to cover up the coffee table in the top final image.

What might I do to improve these images. I would have attached my camera flash and pointed it up into the gabled ceiling to my right. By bouncing the flash off of a wide area the light would have been soft and pleasing (Never use on camera flash directly pointed toward your subjects if you can find something that you can bounce it from). I would have moved the sofa and coffee table some more so that I would not have to do Photoshop work on the image.

Did you take any family portraits at Christmas time? Did you have some fun with it? I hope so.

Melissa had great fun at her senior portrait session in Dayton

I had done her older sisters senior portraits and Pegge called to say it was time for the younger daughter to have her senior pics made as well. My wife Patty and Melissa’s mom helped with the session carrying clothing and holding reflectors as we walked through the park looking for the ideal spots for Melissa’s portraits.

It was great fun and Melissa took instructions very well. She said after the session that it was great fun. As I was shooting, from time to time, I would give Pegge and my wife a sneak peek or two on the back of the camera. “Oh my gosh!” was usually the words that I heard as we progressed.

Melissa is a senior at Archbiship Alter High School. Her mom says she is a free spirit girl. She wants to go to a college of nursing and eventually become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She has applied at the Air Force ROTC and hope to get a scholarship for school. Her dream right now is to retire early and be a nurse in a 3rd world country. She is excited about getting married to the right person, but she wants to have some time in her career and save money so that when she does have children, she will be able to stay at home and raise them before going back to work.

Melissa would love to go to college in Colorado.

Melissa has been a very active high school student and before. She competed in gymnastics for 7 years. She runs track and has run cross-country as well. Have you seen Melissa climb before…she loves climbing walls, and she climbs lots of trees for fun. She also devours books and just loves to read, but she does not like smelly old books. She likes to buy new books to read.

She has been on 3 Mission Trips and loves being a part of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church Youth Group. She is a leader too, being selected to be a leader on the Kairos religious retreat for her peers.

Melissa has worked at Miamisburg Parks and Recreation since she was 14 and has been a life guard for the past three years at the Sycamore Trails Aquatic Center. She also teaches swimming lessons and life guards at West Carrollton YMCA as well.

At one point, Pegge said she wanted a picture of her with her daughter similar to the one I had taken with her older daughter.

Fall portraits with color for seniors and families and children

Gone are the days of 95 degree heat with 90 humidity here in the Dayton area. Suddenly the crops and the trees are showing us that fall is here with small bursts of color. Because of the heavy rains over the last two weeks, the grass is all greened up again too. Good grief, I had to mow my grass twice already even though its cool outside.

Time for fall portraits with horses

If you have a horse and you want fall portraits, act now before they start getting their heavy winter fur. Actually, I’ve seen many great portraits with horses and their human companions when they have their winter coats. Cool evenings make for some more interesting clothing choices like sweaters and scarfs and hats. Perfect weather for something different for senior portraits as well with furry hooded coats, scarfs, and long-sleeved sweaters.

    

Time for family group portraits

Cool evenings make for some good family group portraits. However, the days are shorter so scheduled times are more limited.

Like the slogan of a major manufacture of athletic shoes

I was just talking to a woman today about having some portraits done. She has seen my work and knows she will love her portraits, but she dreads having her picture taken. My job is going to be to get her to relax and enjoy herself so that I can capture, not the stiff and fearful person, but the wonderful outgoing person that I know her to be. She even was considering canceling her session, but with some gentle prodding, and the “JUST DO IT” attitude she is going forward with the session.

So many families have very few portraits of themselves in relaxing outdoor environments and enjoying each other. Is it time for you to “JUST DO IT!” ? Time moves so fast in families and in no time you kids are going to be going off to college and starting their own families.

  

Peter DeMott Photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

 

 

Peter DeMott Photography top rated photographer in Dayton

It was a pleasant surprise to find Peter DeMott Photography on a web site called Thumbtack. The heading was Top Rated Photographers in Dayton and as of today it puts my listing as #5. This is just one place that brings together references for various types of businesses.

There are so many places that people can comment on your quality of work and service that it is easy for people to find out more about any business. But, as important as hearing good things is seeing good things. What I mean by that is when you are looking for a photographer it is very important that you connect with the style of work the photographer does.

http://www.thumbtack.com/oh/dayton/photographer/

Enjoying the style and work of a photographer is far more important than price or their rating on one web site or another. I don’t figure that my prices would be considered high for professional quality work, but you sometimes see people making choices purely based on price which I see as a grand mistake. Consider how long you will be enjoying or not enjoying a portrait on the wall of your home, or an coffee table book of portraits from your session.

How much difference does $100 or $200 difference in price make over 10-20 years. Let’s consider that. If you make a choice about a photographer based on a $200 difference in price divided by 20 years at 12 months per year that means you may have chosen a better photographer for about 80¢ per month or you may have chosen a photographer whose work you did not like and will be regretting your choice for 20 years for a difference of 80¢ per month.

Right here on the site you can also click on the menu item “Testimonials” for some ideas about how people feel about my work.

Testimonials can be found here

If you like my work and style, I encourage you to share my web site and also my facebook page with your friends. I frequently post images from sessions on my facebook business page Peter DeMott Photography and it is easy to LIKE the page and share what’s going on with your friends. Horse portraits and horse and rider portraits are also frequent on my site because of my specialty in that area.

If you do a search for Ohio Equine Photographer you will likely see my web site listed number one  or two on the page. A friend, Sally Shaffer, and I toggle back and forth between the top two listings (that is something that can change from day to day). She does lovely work as do many other equine photographers listed on page one of the search results. Of course locality can also be important with Sally being in Columbus and with me being here in South West Ohio (near Dayton). It is easier for me to get to farms and stables around Dayton and Cincinnati for example. Also, some of the photographers listed specialize in stock photography, show photography and other areas whereas I enjoy my horse and rider portrait work the most.

Thanks Dayton for rating me as one of Dayton’s top photographers. I appreciate any comments and connections that come my way.

Peter DeMott Photography • Senior portrait photography • Equine photography • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

Casual family portraits and high energy little boys

I did some casual portraits for a family I know. They have two lovely girls and two young boys who were full of energy at the time of the session. I’d rather have high energy than tired and grumpy, but we had to come up with a way to focus their energy so that we could capture them in the portrait.

I asked Chris if he horsed around with the boys sometimes and after he said yes, I organized the family (without the boys) on the sofa. Then I told the boy, go climb on dad which the gleefully did do.

You can see more portraits from the session here: http://pdemott.smugmug.com/Portraits/Chris/15809800_umdxb#1185311621_CJQKu

• Peter DeMott Photography • Dayton, Ohio • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

Your help selecting the best portraits of 2010 at Peter DeMott Photography

Going through some of the portraits of 2010 was fun. To make it fun for you too, I would like your help me in selecting from some of my sessions, the best portrait of year. These are in no particular order and you can only vote one time for up to 5 different portraits, but there is nothing that keeps you from telling your friends to vote too.

You see, I have decided that after there have been at least 500 votes and on March 1st of 2011, I will award the person in the winning image with a 16×24 canvas print of the portrait of their choice from their session in 2010. I had great fun this past year meeting new people and having portrait sessions of many kinds. Throughout the spring and summer is a great time for outdoor, on location portraits of all kinds. These images are horse and rider portraits, senior student portraits, new born baby portraits with parents, and more. Most were taken in the Dayton, Ohio area, but several of the horse and rider portraits were taken at Endurance rides throughout the region including Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and even West Virginia.

If you know someone in this fun little contest, please send them a link to this page so that they can vote for their image. Let’s have some fun. Each person may select up to 5 portraits to vote on. You cannot vote 5 times for the same portrait. Only one voting session is allowed per computer.

There is a title caption small under each portrait (generic with no names). These match the selection options at the bottom of this post. After you vote you can see the current totals.

Peter DeMott Photograph

937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com

Allie and Lizzy annual portraits for Christmas cards

Each year I get an email from Allie and Lizzy’s mom. When can we do a session over at the Trails End Equestrian Center? So we came up with a time and a date and I was able to take pictures of Lizzy with her horse. Allie could not make it, so we set a time for them to stop by my house and do Allie’s portraits.

Family portraits in your home or at your home for a more intimate feeling

Consider family portraits in spring and fall and winter, not just in fall

There are lots of great places to have family portraits. Local parks can work great. The family home or homestead can have great meaning as there is a familiarity and a warmth in the portrait that is sometimes a little more difficult to capture in another place. I see that there are more people looking for photographers to do family portraits in the fall, but I would encourage families to consider other times of the year too. Spring, once the trees have foliage and the grass is green can provide great backdrops for family portraits.

Family portraits outdoors in early fall

Early fall, when the tree still have their leaves and are colorful can be great too, but this year in the Dayton area we had a drought and fall brought brown leaves. There was some yellows, but there were not as many trees that showed color in our area. Since we were in an draught, the grass was also brown in many places. I fee that spring can be a bit more predictable and easier to work with for outdoor family portraits.

Photographer “On Call” for fun winter portraits, family portraits, senior portraits, and horse and rider portraits in snow

In the Dayton area winter weather is rather short lived. White snow comes down, but within a day many times the beauty is gone. I would actually be willing to be “on call” for wintery family portraits, senior portraits, and portraits with horses. Families could have fun with hats and scarfs. They could hug and keep each other warm. They could even play in the snow (build a snowman together for example), but it could be very unique and fun to photograph.

Family portraits at your home can bring a more personal intimate feeling to your family portraits

Here are some examples of family portraits. One is outdoors in the front of the family’s home. The other is indoors in front of the family fire place in the family room of their beautiful home with Christmas decorations showing subtly in the portrait. Tell me which you like better and why. Just click on the “leave comment” or “comments” link by the title of this post. If you are seeing this on facebook you can leave a comment there or click on the title to bring you to my web site to place a comment there.

Would you like some family portraits that capture the relationships within your family in the comfort of your home? Peter DeMott Photography 937-478-6222. I’d love to hear your thoughts too by your comments from where ever you are, even if you are too far away to be photographed by me.

Fall family portraits and more…

Fall family portraits and more

As the weather cools off a bit it is a great time for family portraits.

This is a family portrait on the front porch of the family home.

This was a fall senior portrait session at Kristen’s home with her horse.

This is a fall senior portrait of my son Evan with his best friend Kyle.

This is from Daniel Goffe’s fall senior portrait session.

If my family was not all over the place, Jordan in Africa, Sarah in Florida, Evan in Cincinnati, I am sure we would get together for a front porch family portrait with dogs and horses.

Baby Maria portraits with Mark & Molly

Molly and I had tried to set up a time for maternity portraits with her and her husband Mark at Cox Arboretum three months ago, but things did not work out. But, now, three months later we set up a time to take some pictures of both Mark and Molly and with baby Maria. Cox Arboretum is one of the Dayton Metro Park. I was a little concerned that fall would come with a cold front and we would not be able to do any naked baby portraits. But, we have been having a very hot September and although the sun was going down, it was still warm and comfortable for the baby.

I explained to Molly that this might take a while and that I would be as patient as was needed so that she could feed Maria when needed and have her settle down. To get the best portraits I wanted time for mother and daddy and baby to relax and just enjoy each other. We did portraits of just Maria and also Maria with daddy and Maria with mommy.

Molly was particularly happy with the pictures of all three of them together.

I added some GLOW to this portrait.

First year is a very fast changing time. I talked with Molly and we agreed to have portrait sessions at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year. Because this is such a critical time, I suggested that my regular location portrait session fee of $95 would be the fee for all four sessions combined. Molly was delighted with the portraits and you can see the rest by going to the gallery here: http://pdemott.smugmug.com/Portraits/Mark-Molly/13886590_ZAwvY#1018698211_52SXK

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