As They Grow . . .
These boys are from a family that has been a repeat client. We had photographed the boys when they were younger, along with Mom and Dad. Now that they were teenagers, Mom wanted to expand her portrait collection with a playful relationship image. This would be more meaningful than a serious pose because the brothers’ relationship is a playful one. As they grow older, the relationship portraits become less intimate because of their personalities.
Clothing Selection
Although we always have a clothing consultation with our clients, our studio stocks approximately fifty turtleneck and crewneck sweaters (in different sizes) just to be sure that our subjects have the proper clothing for their session. This is particularly useful in the middle of the summer when clients don’t want to wear heavy, dark clothing to the studio. We replace the oldest sweaters at the end of each season, ensuring that the clothing is always clean, fresh, and comfortable. We stock these garments in black, dark grey, and burgundy. I like it when we put them together so that the little shift in the tonal change is noticeable.
Additional images from the same session.
A Posing Obstacle
If you look at the photograph above, you may notice that the young man on the left has tucked away his left arm. This was because he had broken it a few days before the portrait session and it was in a cast. Mom knew that it would be difficult to reschedule their appointment, so we figured out a way to work around his injury.
Camera Settings
The image above was photographed with a Canon Mark II with a 70–200mm lens set at 180mm. I always use the longer focal lengths for compression. This lets me work from the back of the room, rather than right on top of my subjects. My exposure was f/9.5 at 1/60 second. For my studio images, I keep the ISO setting at 100 to minimize noise.