What A Wild Ride!

When my good friend Jesse asked me to photograph his daughter Breanne before her prom I said sure. Then came, “Well it’s actually 28 kids”. Photograph 28 kids and one big limo in less than an hour. The actual head count with all the parents and siblings turned out to be about 50. I didn’t have to photograph all the parents, but I squeezed in more than I expected. I bought myself some time by photographing Breanne and her date Preston before everyone arrived. I also had my friend Calvin stop by and stand in so I could get some test shots in. Even though I’ve seen the house many times I still scouted it and took test shots. (I’m not sure if the shots came out any better, but it helps my heart condition.) I found that the driveway would be in shade for the group shot. The living room and hallway would be providing great backgrounds for full-length couple shots and still have room left over for the guests.

As for the technical details I used 2 umbrellas for cross lighting in the Living Room and Gary Fong’s Lightsphere in the Bedroom. Outside I used 2 direct flashes for the group shot and an on camera flash for the Limo Shots to give them that paparazzi look. I used a Canon 5D, 580EX and 430EX flashes. I setup 2 Westcott 43” Umbrellas on stands inside and triggered them with a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, and I used Showit Web for the slideshow. If you ever need lighting help just check out strobist.com. You’ll find tons of great advice.


All the kids were great and I made a nice keepsake book out of the photos with Kodak Gallery. I think in the end I did the majority of dancing. 28 kids…Wow!

Flowers for Mom

After buying these flowers I couldn't resist taking a quick snap before giving them to Mom. I already had a large softbox that was still set up from a portrait shoot. I grabbed an antique table I inherited from my Aunt Mary and a Westcott collapsible background. I didn't use a meter, I just eyeballed it. Then I shot for about ten minutes. For this main image I darkened the edges in PhotoShop. I printed an 8x10 for Mom. Total time about 20 minutes. Mom loved the flowers and the photo. Even my beer drinking buddies that rib me for taking pictures of flowers approve. At least for Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Days to all you Mom's out there!

Tech Details: Hensel Lights, 48x72 Photoflex softbox, Westcott Collapsible Background (Bracken Brown), Canon 5d, Tamron 28-75 @ 67mm (Main Image), F8 @ 125th, hand held.
All other images Canon 100 Macro lens.
Spin Flowers f4 @ one third of a second - no flash just modeling lights.