I spent Christmas with my brother and nieces in Bend, Oregon, and it was an incredible white Christmas.
My niece, Ashley, is 17 years old and asked me to take her Senior Portrait. As you can see she is very beautiful and photogenic.
I did not bring all my equipment so had to come up with some creative lighting and backdrops. I originally had envisioned doing this shoot in the downtown area of Bend because it has cool historical buildings but it was in the low 20’s way too cold for an outdoor shot. I had to do it at her home. They have a huge bay window in their living room that as the sun went down it made for some incredible lighting opportunity for me. The walls are painted a deep rich red and there is an armoire that has been in our family for generations that when the light hit them it made the background came alive. I sat Ashley in a chair in front of the wall and armoire. The sun was lighting her face but I still needed more light on her hair. I had brought my SB 800 Speed light without a light stand so I had my other niece hold the light pointing to the ceiling and not at Ashley. I wanted the light to bounce off the ceiling on to her hair to give more definition. I set my shutter speed at a 10th of a second and opened up the aperture. This gave me more light for the background and on Ashley.
I decided to do some of Ashley’s photographs outside, too because she has this jet black hair and I knew the contrast between the snow and her hair would really make some awesome photographs. I got high up above her so the background would all be snow, no trees or cars, etc. We did not last long outside because of the cold. I’m so happy with the end results. Time goes by so quickly, I have seen Ashley as a baby, through childhood years and now she is this lovely, smart and sensitive young lady. I’m very proud of my niece.
