Thread: Posing help

I have a shoot this weekend, and I went today to check out the location and lighting. The family wants shots in their own backyard...trouble is, their backyard is BORING!!! They have no front porch and no deck out back. Their yard is blank except for a bunch of trees that line their property...but they are sort of messy looking..not nice trees. Some of them DO still have colorful leaves on them, but most of it would be too tall to photograph the family in front of. They have a picnic table and a very small wooden playscape.
Seriously...other than a few shots of them sitting in the grass and standing in front of the trees...I am drawing a blank! Normally I like some sort of texture in the picture...a bridge, a rock..something. Anyone have any ideas?

Oh my that does sound boring! LOL maybe you or they could bring some potted plants or fall flowers into the scene? or a nice wooden outdoorsy chair (or any kind of chair or bench) from somewhere?

I always like chairs, so maybe you have you a neat chair in your house?

maybe try a fall theme and pick up a pumpkin or two?

are the kids girls? if so, maybe plan a family tea party or something. if the kids are too old for that or not girls, maybe a picnic kind of thing with quilt and basket, etc.

hth!

gigi

I agree with the others here... BRING PROPS! Depending on ages and "fun-level" of the family, you can get kids on shoulders, family pyramid. You can get a bale of hay and a couple pumpkins for under $10 which is a fun fall look if that is what they are going for. A couple bags of "fake" fall leaves to throw in the air? bubbles? reading a book together? kids whispering secrets? parents kissing and kids hiding eyes? If they want timeless, a neat bench might work.

I had no suggestions for you, that's why I didn't reply. I wanted to know how it went though ...

yeah! we need an update!

GiGi

Oh ladies, it was HORRIBLE!!
The lighting wasn't terrific, but what was worse was that they all came out with conductor hats on...cute, but not so great when the lighting is ALREADY horrible, but then the hats were shading their eyes even more. (I did keep reminding them to pull their hats up as much as possible to relieve the shadowing) Also, the 2.5 year old girl did NOT want to be there. I think I got about 5 pictures where she was actually looking in my direction and not crying. I did the best I could..used the adjustment brush in ACR to lighten their eyes...but after all that, I offered a retake. I just couldn't offer them 20 decent pictures, which is what my contract states the minimum is that they'd get.

I did end up bringing a haybale as a prop..didn't get used til the very end, so at that point, they were just trying to all be in the same picture looking...they aren't posed well at all.
I told them that next time we could either do their backyard again without the hats, or go somewhere a little more open WITH the hats. I was hoping they'd chose a different location, but she's pretty adamant about using their backyard. SIGH.
Here's a couple of the better ones..and believe me, I know these are AWFUL!

Lisa, I think you did an AMAZING job, espeically with all of the challenges you had to overcome.

I agree with Tara! These images make it look like you had an easy time. I know you promised them 20 images, but if I were mom, I'd be pretty pleased with what you have here. Seriously!

Sounds like a very frustrating situation for you, but by the looks of it, you handled yourself as best as you could in the heat of things.

Hopefully the next shoot will go better!

Best,
GiGi