When an “accidental” photo becomes a favorite:
I have a mini-client base out in California thanks to my sister. It started with some of her friends and has now moved beyond. So, once or twice a year I go out there, schedule the week full of shoots and spend my free time smothering my niece & nephew with kisses. This session was actually done at my sister’s house. Her house is a dream house for photography … tons of windows for that delicious natural light and all sorts of fun places like this bright, coral-ish wall that makes for a fun, splash of color. I was actually taking photos of just this little girl …
… when her mom came around the corner to see just what we were up to. Little girl took the opportunity to jump off her chair and jump in her mom’s arms. As you can probably tell her mom was not planning to be in any of the photos (hence their competing colored outfits), but since I was in the right place at the right time I was able to snap 5 or 6 photos that ended up being my absolute favorites from the shoot.
For all of these photos I had a huge window to my back providing all sorts of natural light, but I also used my flash at a low setting to cast even more light into those subtle shadows. Due to the help from my flash the colors are nice and bright and their eyes naturally pop. I actually have the photo above framed in my office. I can’t help not to smile when I look at it. I think it’s a great example of how photography can capture a moment that is priceless.
Settings:
All photos were taken with my Canon 5d, 24-70mm 2.8 lens on aperture priority, evaluative (or patterned) metering.
Photo 1 & 3 (of mom & daughter): f/2.8 :: 1/200 :: ISO 500
Happy Friday ~
jc
