Wow! What a great session today! Mikey and Kelsi were wonderful ‘guinea pigs’ as they rolled with all my ideas. And, I want to again thank the family for letting me lug in and set up a backdrop in their dining room; they were very accommodating!

We went through a few wardrobe changes, and hats, as we figured out what worked with the black and the white backdrops. These guys are big baseball/softball players so we even got to try incorporating some of those elements in the photos. They were a lot of fun and I hope they had as much fun as I did!

What I learned today:

Today was the first time I’d used a backdrop set up. For the white, I used a standard 53″ roll of white seamless paper. I’m kind of wishing I had gone with the 9′ roll instead. I was worried about having enough room, but in retrospect it would have fit. And, in using the wider width, I could have accommodated some more of their ideas.

For the black, I went with a black fleece material- 5 yards. It, too, comes in a 53″ width but, being fabric, it was much easier to orient horizontally if I wanted. Before going in I figured I’d lean towards the black background photos more but, as it turned out, I fell in love with the white! There’s just something so pure about it, and it lends itself better to more post-processing options. Plus, I learned that with the black it’s often more necessary to have extra lighting to offset the subject, especially on the hair. And, since I’m focusing on natural light, that’s not really an option!

I was concerned that in using a backdrop I would, by default, be getting away from my ‘lifestyle’ approach. But, I learned that you can get those great moments in front of a set-up, you just need to stay engaged with your subject. Today was a great experience, and I hope the rest of them go this wonderfully!