Weekly Header Challenge -- Flash Fill

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Feel free to click on the other participants' blogs

to see what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Flash Fill

Craver VII chose the theme for this week's header challenge.  I suppose there's a reason it's called a challenge.  I rarely use my flash, let alone use it for fill.  So a photo where I used flash would have to be an older one.  Older doesn't mean bad, however.  Some of my older ones are pretty good.  :)

I had to dig back to an event I shot a few years back in order to get an image I took with flash.  And, since I'm having issues with the catalogs in Lightroom 4, I chose the first "flash" image I could find from the first event I could find.  And then I played Minesweeper while the gallery loaded...

Here's the full image:

I really do love this image.  These girls are sisters, and I had just taken a picture of them with their mother at a mother/daughter conference in North Aurora, Illinois.  I was charged with event photography, but the conference hosts wanted to provide a digital image for each conference attendee (meaning, a mother with her daughter/s, and sometimes including another generation).  That meant more formal portraits, too.  Good thing I've done this a time or two--and at other mother/daughter events!

The two sisters were waiting while their mom was chatting with another lady, so we decided to have some fun together.  The above image is the result.  I love the black and white version.  Oh, yeah--the flash.  Okay, so seriously, I was placed in a back hallway of a school (where the event was held) with fluorescent lighting.  Bad fluorescent lighting (is there any that is good??).  I knew I'd have to use a flash.  I don't like using flash.

Fortunately, I had taken a few photography courses and one thing I learned about was bouncing the light.  So that's what I did here; no direct flash, just aiming it so it bounced off the ceiling and onto my subjects.  That's how I took every portrait at the conference.  It enabled me to set a low enough ISO to avoid grain, plus a high enough shutter speed to avoid motion blur.  And of course I used my tripod.

Okay, enough technical talk.  Here are a few other images from that conference.  Enjoy.  :)

The sisters with their mom.  Don't you love the red?

This last one is cute.  The littlest daughter did not want to let her mom go, and the mom told her, "You have to do what the photographer wants you to!"  So I went straight up to that little girl and told her, "You stay right here and hug your mom."  That made us both happy, and hopefully mom liked it, too!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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The Graduates, Part Two | Chicagoland Senior Portraits

Time for the sequel to our first group graduate portrait session!  Our first group session was held at a local playground and forest preserve, and was accented by rain, steadily getting worse as our session continued.  This second session started out overcast, and started to rain just at the end.  At least the overcast skies provided similar lighting in each session!  I would've hated to have had one rainy session with one blue-skies-and-sunny session.  ;)

Luke showed up early to get in some portraits he missed due to last session's rain, so I took him to my two pre-chosen spots in this particular park.  The first spot was at the footbridge--I loved the vertical and diagonal lines, and we could easily eliminate the houses that could otherwise have shown up in our prints.

 Luke, high school senior.

For the second location, we ended up under a willow tree at the edge of a large pond.  Although it was shadier, I loved how the willow branches framed the background.

Luke left and the rest of the graduates arrived, so we took care of the group portrait first.  I didn't want to run out of time, so we did a minimum of group shots and moved on to the individual poses.

HEART students, group shot.

Now that I had some group session experience under my belt, I was able to get shots off quickly, and cycle through all the graduates in a timely fashion--plus get some bonus images for each one!  That's always nice.  We started the poses at the bridge, with their caps and gowns.

Gideon, eighth-grader.

 Sophia, high school senior.

We then moved the graduates near the willow tree, where I had placed a stool for posing.  We had to contend with flat light, and a light breeze that wanted to push the girls' hair into their faces.  We dealt with it, and got some very nice shots.

 Kayla, high school senior.

 Danielle, high school senior.

 Teah, high school senior.

 Noah, high school senior.

Candid shot of Sophia.

The students were allowed to bring "props" with them to include in a special pose, if they desired.  In my mind, I was thinking of maybe a book, or a musical instrument, or flowers.  Although the students from the first session didn't bring props with them, this group delivered in spades.  I loved these images I got with them.

Lucy, high school senior and chef extraordinaire!

Gideon in camo gear, complete with Airsoft weapon.

Danielle with book and flowers.

Teah the Awesome (she was so sparkly in personality!) with iPod and earbuds.

Kayla with a pink rose.

Kayla's mom had done all the coordinating with the entire group of students and their families, scheduling portrait sessions and locations, and getting all the students together.  I was happy to get one extra post for Kayla by the bridge with her flute.

Again, with group sessions like these, the number of portraits for each student will be pretty low--maybe four or five--but a group session will fit pretty much anyone's budget.  Plus, it allows the students to have beautiful images done by their own personal, professional photographer at a location of their choice!  I think it's a win-win situation all around, and I love serving the homeschool community in this way.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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The Graduates, Part One | Chicagoland Senior Portraits

I'm woefully behind in my posts, both here and on my family blog.   And this particular post is waaaay long overdue.  I'm so sorry I've kept these images tucked away; however, they're here now and I hope you enjoy them!

Jeremiah, high school senior.

A local homeschool support group contacted me about doing portraits for the students in their group.  Specifically, they wondered if we could work together to create both 8th grade portraits and senior portraits, all at a budget that homeschooling families could afford.  Being a homeschool mom myself, I totally get this.  And being a photographer, I get that my fees and prices may not be within that affordability factor.

Chloe, eighth-grader.

However, by creating a group portrait session, we not only made a private portrait session affordable, we made some really great images!  I don't know about the students, but I sure had fun capturing them with my camera, and working with them, both individually and as a group.

First session group portrait.

Because not every student could meet at one particular time, we created two different sessions--both of which ended up being rained on!  Even though we shot at two different locations, at least the portraits were similar weather-wise!

I had to get pretty tight in on the students to eliminate various background clutter at our locations, but all in all, I think everything worked out great.  I really, really loved these students.  Really.  :)

Group portrait--the goofy one.

The first images were taken at a local park, surrounded by houses, telephone wires, traffic signs, and traffic.  But I think the shots (all above) turned out great.  After the group portraits were completed, we drove a mile down the street to a local forest preserve for a more park-like setting.  And that's when it started raining.  And then really raining.  But what's a little rain among teenagers?

Vadim, eighth-grader.

Brianna, high school senior.

Once it really started raining, we broke out the umbrellas.  What providence that I brought two huge black/blue umbrellas, and another mom had a huge black/gray one!  They worked perfectly in the images, and we were so glad we had them with us.

We tried several times to do a jumping shot, and the below was the best one.

I especially loved working with Ruthanna, below.  She has such a sparkling personality, and she has such a classic beauty.  Her images exude a certain 1950s style that I just love.

Ruthanna, high school senior.

Love my fast 50mm lens that captured all those raindrops!

Emily, high school senior.

A couple more images of Ruthanna.  I love, love, love these!

What's a little rain when you're graduating from high school?

With a group session, I don't deliver a large variety of portraits--two or three poses per graduate is all.  But considering budget restraints, a group session is a great way to get several friends/students/graduates/whatever together, share the cost, and get some awesome images!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Team Celebration | Naperville, IL Event Photographer

I unofficially became the team photographer for Alpha Omega Math Club.  :)

Because of that, I got to take pictures of the awards ceremony held after the ICTM State Competition. The students had a great year, and really enjoyed the friendships, math, competitions, and celebrations.  Enjoy these images of awards and celebration! 

Regina, the leader of Alpha Omega.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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