I happen to think composition is the most important thing in taking a great portraits! This picture would not be half as cute without the umbrella, the girl's punky outfits, or the old broken down house in the background. At least I don't think so.
This picture is from a photo shoot my daughter had been begging me to have all summer. She and her best friend wanted a BFF photo shoot. How cute is that?
Anyway, I finally got around to scheduling it in Monday and spent the evening and yesterday editing the pics. This is my absolute favorite picture out of all the pictures.
Why? You may ask. Because of the composition. I love the feel of this photo. They are dressed sort of punky and gothic. They compliment one another without being matchy-matchy. I put them in front of the old house behind the studio. It really needs to be torn down as it isn't safe to enter, but the outside of it is awesome for photographs. It's like 100 years old, falling in, has broken windows, wood stacked outside, and these cement blocks laying around from a trailer we had hauled out of there. It looks broken down, but picturesque, I think. I asked my husband if there was anyway we could keep just the facade of the side of it and he laughed. The answer was no. :(
Anyway, note how the girls are central in the photograph, the umbrella is slightly at an angle in the opposite direction of the house. The house windows slant to the right while the umbrella is slightly slanted to the left. For symmetry, I had the girls put their hands on opposite hips and had them looking directly at the camera. It made for a nice shot. This shot was even better in black and white, I thought.
This picture is from a photo shoot my daughter had been begging me to have all summer. She and her best friend wanted a BFF photo shoot. How cute is that?
Anyway, I finally got around to scheduling it in Monday and spent the evening and yesterday editing the pics. This is my absolute favorite picture out of all the pictures.
Why? You may ask. Because of the composition. I love the feel of this photo. They are dressed sort of punky and gothic. They compliment one another without being matchy-matchy. I put them in front of the old house behind the studio. It really needs to be torn down as it isn't safe to enter, but the outside of it is awesome for photographs. It's like 100 years old, falling in, has broken windows, wood stacked outside, and these cement blocks laying around from a trailer we had hauled out of there. It looks broken down, but picturesque, I think. I asked my husband if there was anyway we could keep just the facade of the side of it and he laughed. The answer was no. :(
Anyway, note how the girls are central in the photograph, the umbrella is slightly at an angle in the opposite direction of the house. The house windows slant to the right while the umbrella is slightly slanted to the left. For symmetry, I had the girls put their hands on opposite hips and had them looking directly at the camera. It made for a nice shot. This shot was even better in black and white, I thought.
In black and white, with the contrast blown all the way out, it just speaks to me on a different level. The composition is the same, but somehow I think the picture has a more artistic feel.
Now, I didn't originally take this picture in black and white. I did that in post, during the editing process. I often find that I like some pictures better in black and white. This one was one of those.
To me, it gives the photo a steampunk feel. Which is cool. It also makes them really pop.
Since I liked this so much, I thought it would be neat to see how the photo would look with selective colorization. Check out the results!
Now, I didn't originally take this picture in black and white. I did that in post, during the editing process. I often find that I like some pictures better in black and white. This one was one of those.
To me, it gives the photo a steampunk feel. Which is cool. It also makes them really pop.
Since I liked this so much, I thought it would be neat to see how the photo would look with selective colorization. Check out the results!
I cropped this one a bit closer than the two above, but you can see what I mean. Now the girls are the only color in a black and white world.
I upped the contrast even more for the black and white image after hand painting the color of the girls and their outfits. Pretty neat, huh?
Anyway, you can see why this is my favorite picture! Take a look at the slideshow below to see them all.
I upped the contrast even more for the black and white image after hand painting the color of the girls and their outfits. Pretty neat, huh?
Anyway, you can see why this is my favorite picture! Take a look at the slideshow below to see them all.