Dayton, OH: Fall Family Session
I don’t think there’s anything that makes me or really any other photographer happier than repeat clients! Having families come back to you year after year to get updated images is really the best professional review you can get. The best part about having clients come back is to see how different everybody looks from last year's session. While the changes could be little, or for our overall toddler friend up there, really big; it’s always exciting to see how time affects us all!
My client's request was to shake it up this year. New location, new looks, new vibe. While we still started our shoot off with some flashbacks of last year's golden hour grass backdrops, we quickly shifted to darker areas of our shoot location to get a different light source. Finally, the moon came out and we got the vibe accomplished! Above, you’ll slowly start to see the light get darker and darker as the sun sets and the dim sky comes into play.
Client Tips!
Don’t be afraid to shoot your photos during the blue hour. The light is very soft and obviously darker, but the vibe is moody. If you tend to lean towards the darker side of the mood board, then the blue hour is for you! The trees pop more, and if you’re near a body of water, the light will also reflect off the surface, giving you muted tones in your images. This is a very genuine way to make your photos dark without manipulating the colors and exposure through preset filters in post-editing. If you really want a blue hour session, make sure your photographer is well-versed in low-light shooting, and you’re game to move quickly between poses as you’ll need to work fast before all the light is gone.
Photographer vocabulary corner: Blue hour is the time of day after the sun has already gone below the horizon. You still technically have light, but the gold and yellow tones of the sun will be gone. While it’s referred to as an 'hour', in reality, you only have about 15-20 minutes to still use natural light to shoot without a flash or softbox. Then, really only about another 15 minutes with a flash before you’ve lost all natural light of the day. Blue hour is great for photos you want to be darker or if you are trying to catch the moon or fireflies in their natural habitat.