Family Shoot in Natural Light in the Beautiful Forest of Dean.

Natural Light Shoot.  { With Horses, Dogs and Children }

Hereford Family Portraits, Hereford Horse Photographer, Hereford Lifestyle Photographer.

Every Creative Photo Shoot starts with a consultation, and when I chatted to Katie she was keen to capture her children within the surroundings of her farm.  She wanted a natural and playful feel to her images, and wanted to capture some pictures of her children with their animals.  I've worked with lots of animals before,and although it slightly strikes fear into your soul, it can work well.  There is no secret formula, just a case of being relaxed and ready to respond to whatever the situation throws at you.  It helps to know a little bit about the animal you are photographing.  For example I know that good horse pictures are the ones with their ears pricked up.  Um  thats about it for horses, but its an important note.  

So Saturday morning came, and beautiful sunlight shone in the late atumn sky.  I packed up and headed off with a new assistant, my 8 year old daughter.  Now she doesnt normally come along, but she knew the children we were photographing today and was very keen to assist properly.  I gave her my 60d and some instructions that she should try and capture me shooting the shoot.  I set the camera for her when we arrived, and left her to it.  

So here is the day as captured by Ellie (8 ) and Myself ( more than 8).  She did a great job.  

By Ellie.

Firstly we chatted over coffee about Katies main priorities for the shoot. Its important to me to make sure that my clients end up with what they have envisaged.  Sometimes clients have inspirational images to show me, and often we will chat through ideas to make sure that we are on the same page.  The children were ready so we decided to start with some group shots of all the children.  ( one child needed to leave in around half an hour).  I had a look at our location options, and decided on this tree for our first shots. I took a creative decision to shoot a few contra jour ( against the light)  with that you get a lovely lens flared look.

I love this image in Black and White.

Now Most grown ups I shoot are very reluctant to be in the pictures.  Look I totally understand, none of us like what we see.  However its so important to be in one or two shots with your kids, they want to look back and have you in them aswell!.  So we shot a few group shots, this time with the light to the side, unfortunately it was extremely bright, but we coped and balanced good background with angle of light best we could.Katie had took on board the advice about how to dress the children, and had chosen some wonderfully coordinated blue tones. 

With a least one complete family shot, we moved on to the horses.  These took a bit of time to get a final brush from the groomslady, and as we waited we worked on a few more shots of all the children together.

I shot these again contra jour... it features a lot in this shoot, as the light was so beautiful and low.  I chose a fairly neutral background for this shot.  there were so many great background choices at the farm it was pretty hard to choose. 

Me Caught "chimping" checking the lighting effect on the final image.

Horse ready it was up into the fields for some horse action shots.  One of the children had to leave early, so we decided to capture just her and her horse first.

and then we headed to the barn for some straw fun and individual portraits.

and up to the field for some Tractor shots and to capture the wide landscape.

There is only one way to get a shot from low down!

The other horses were now ready, so we went back over to the field to capture the girls with their ponies.

Last was a special request from Dad to be photographed with his dog.  

 This is just a snapshot of all the images we captured that day.  The shoot lasted around two hours, which is why we always suggest you allow plenty of time for your shoot.
I really don't mind how long we spend, its great to have the opportunity to capture a wide variety of shots and groupings.

I understand that not everyone has a farm to hand, but natural light shoots can be done anywhere you like.  If you don't want to shoot at home, we can always use a park or beauty spot nearby.  

Katie was very pleased with her images, and we took a long time over coffee to select the Prints and frames she wanted. She is a keen photographer herself, and we spent some time on the day chatting about how each image was being composed and created.

I so enjoyed this shoot.  The children were wonderful!  lively but not badly behaved and perfectly happy to pose and sit in all kinds of poses and activities!.  I think they enjoyed the barn best and running and jumping in the fields. I can report no animal injuries!  

 I also created a canvas for the studio of the children.  

We have so many options for your finished images, its great to chat over coffee at a viewing to make sure you get the best from your images.

If you would like a home shoot, do be in touch.
info@carolinepotterphoto.com