Daughter's Senior Portrait
Just my girl's senior portrait taken in the graveyard
Just my girl's senior portrait taken in the graveyard
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Dec, 2020Views
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Awards
Treasure Award
Winter Award 2020
Peer Award
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the local cemetery. It's located in Northern California, where I have lived most of my life and my daughter has lived her whole life. My kids loved the idea of doing their senior portraits in the cemetery.Time
This photo was taken at about 4pm on December 2, 2020. We were out there for an hour and a half taking photos. Some were just for fun and turned out great. I was able to get many wonderful photos of both my kids that day.Lighting
The lighting in this photo was all late afternoon glow. The warmth of that time of day makes everything look warm and soft, perfect for this kind of portrait.Equipment
This shot was taken with a Canon 7D Mark II using an 18-350mm lens. That was all for equipment.Inspiration
It was time to take senior pictures for my daughter's school year book. She wanted to do them in the cemetery like we did for my son's senior pictures. I had a hard time trying to locate a good spot for them with warm lighting and a pleasing backdrop. We prefer portraits outdoors as opposed to a studio. As we drove by the cemetery in the late afternoon, we found our spot. The kids and I were very excited to give it a try. We had fun and all of the photos turned out wonderfully.Editing
Typically, I do not do too much in post. In this case, I adjusted the levels slightly and removed a few blemishes from her face. I used a mask layer with a slight surface blur for everything except the eyes and mouth, which I kept sharp. This gives the portrait a general softness while drawing the attention to the eyes and face.In my camera bag
My main equipment is simple. I always have my Canon 7D Mark II with an 18-350mm lens and a circular polarizer. This allows me to capture things near and far without taking the time to change lenses or cameras. I do all my photos in manual, so almost every photo requires some adjustment before shooting. The other equipment I pack just in case is a Canon 100mm macro lens, UV filter and cleaning supplies.Feedback
My main piece of advice for taking photo of teens and kids (also helps with adults), do some fun shots to loosen up you and your subject. I tend to get a little nervous when taking photos of people, even my kids. I usually take photos of landscapes or nature. They don't make eye contact like a person does. We played around and took some fun and silly photos in between taking the actual portrait. This brought out her natural smile for the portraits. There was no need to fake it.
