This Berry Springs family portrait was a little different than the studio’s normal production.

First, it is wonderful to work with the client’s grown family! The best time to take family portraits are:

1. Your first family portrait – this is sometime after your first child is born and before the second comes along.
2. A family portrait while your children are all still young. Your family doesn’t necessarily have to be “finished” to do this. A family portrait at various stages are each special and beautiful.
3. A “we’re finished” family portrait when your family is complete and children are in middle school.
4. A “final” family portrait, best take around the time your oldest child goes to college, or before the first wedding.

In this case, these are created portraits for #4, with one child graduated and the other one still in college.

Second, Berry Springs is such a beautiful place for almost any type of portrait, but especially family portraits.

Lastly, a favorite aspect of this session was the sweat dripping down my face and back was working with OCC, or “off camera flash”. This is done in the studio all the time, but it is beautiful and luxurious to create on-location lighting.

The end result is an extremely high-end and sophisticated style of portrait.

Do you see how clear, and how evenly-lit are the faces in the family portraits by the tree? Believe it or not, the light was extremely dappled. There was a lot of shadowing on their faces that was not flattering.

A 7′ Westcott umbrella, one of the studio’s largest modifiers, is used here to light the family from camera left. Then an assistant uses a scrim to protect the sides of the family from too-harsh sunlight. (A scrim is a lightweight frame covered with a thin, semi-sheer fabric)

Adobe Photoshop is used to cut out the green tones reflected onto their skin, to warm up the overall portrait, and bring some contrast into the shadows.

The landscape (or horizontal-oriented) family portrait at the bottom in front of the tree is actually a Brenizer. This is where multiple images are taken of one location to create a single, large portrait. There are several reasons for photographing in this way. The main reason for the one below is simply that the lens used was too long to capture the entire location. It had to be individually photographed and stitched together.

While there is a fee for portrait sessions at Berry Springs, that is covered by our studio when you book with us here.

This is just one example of the way our studio delivers a truly concierge, luxury service to your family for your photoshoot.