The bus was late picking the kids up for school today – like 25 minutes late. Which meant they walked into class on the 2nd day of school late. Hunter announced that was the bad part of his day! We asked him who he played with and he couldn’t remember any names, nor the people he sat next to at lunch. I asked if he could remember anyone’s name in his class. He started spouting off Sarah, Emily, Rebecca, Joelle…Steve and I laughed as we realized he could only remember girl’s names! Hunter waited on the bench at the start of recess until he saw Hallie come out and then they played again. Of course with Hallie’s friends and their younger siblings as well. Seriously, I love it! All is well on the school front.
We had some visitors after school yesterday – we’ve got family that lives close that knows me well enough to know that the first day of school means the photo backdrop is set up and open! I love seeing everyone on the first day – school is still exciting and new – seeing them three days later might be a completely different story. We had some fun letting their personalities shine.
That’s a wrap!
I love these pics every year! Question… my friend has asked me to come over and do a "photoshoot" birthday party for her 12 year old daughter and friends. They want to set up a similar backdrop, and do a bunch of cute poses they've found on Pinterest. I am so nervous, b/c I am a total amateur w/ a fancy camera. Would you share how this backdrop is set up? Or a good place to buy the backdrops? And as if that's not enough (haha), what kind of setting do you put your camera on to get these crisp, amazing shots? Just a sort of IDEA!?!? I've taken an online course to learn how to shoot in manual in the past, but I'm so rusty! If I get photos half this good for those girls, I will so pleased with myself. 😉
You can do it!! Its pretty simple, but you do have to invest in some backdrops. Your local camera shop might carry them, Savage seamless paper backdrops. I have some wide paper 107" and several 53". The 107 is good for small groups – the 53 is really 3 people max. I purchased a backdrop stand that the rolls slide on and off. It is an initial investment but any time spent on this blog can see that I used them often. I have some studio lights that I set up some times, but I also find a shaded area (typically in front of my garage) and set up to use natural light. There's nothing fancy about the settings on my camera, I keep a shutter speed around 160 and on a shady day it usually gives plenty of light. Check out the focal point setting on your camera. I manually move the focal point on every picture to make sure it is always on someone's face. This gives you a nice crisp shot. Take your kids out and practice with them and you'll be comfortable in no time. The nice thing about 12 year olds is they will be less concerned about the quality of the photo and more concerned about how they look. Should be a good time, good luck!
*an IDEA (I hate typos!).
I love the way you embrace motherhood
Thank you so so much for the extremely helpful info!! I am ready and set to take some pics this weekend, and I am excited!!! Have a wonderful weekend!! 🙂
Paige