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Shoot: High-key Look for Modern Family

Lesson 11 from: Find Your Niche and Build Your Family Photography Business

Julia Kelleher

Shoot: High-key Look for Modern Family

Lesson 11 from: Find Your Niche and Build Your Family Photography Business

Julia Kelleher

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Lesson Info

11. Shoot: High-key Look for Modern Family

Lesson Info

Shoot: High-key Look for Modern Family

Perfect, you can kinda straddle up and over. Can you sit more over this way? You're doing great; here, I'll help you baby. Come over, sit over here; there we go. Yep, just like that, beautiful, just like that. Can you do that for me? Awesome sauce. Now, mommy? You get to share the stool with her. Ugh it's tight, huh? Ugh, you did a good job. Okay, now I want you to turn this way just a little bit. Can you do that for me? Perfect, just like that. Daddy, you're gonna come on in and put your knee between his leg that knee, other knee, just kinda, are you tall enough to put your knee up and over on the thing? Yeah. Perfect, just like that. Will that work? Can I put my foot right here? Yeah you can put your foot wherever you want baby girl. That's awesome, perfect, okay. And then, beautifulness right there, look at that beautiful girl, those big brown eyes, I love it. Okay, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze tighter, tighter. You can do it, there we go. Stop! Don't move! Freeze! Simon says! You ever...

played Simon says? Riley, chin down just a touch. There we go! You ever play Simon says, huh? I can't see it. Don't look, don't look! Oh! Rex is making a face. Don't look, oh my goodness! Riley chin down, just a touch, baby girl. Awesome! Okay everybody close their eyes, no smiling. I know it's so hard when you say no smiling, huh? Deep breath in through the nose. Daddy, closer into Mr. Rex, can you kinda lean on him? Use him like a pillow, perfect. You're looking; close those eyes. There we go, count of three eyes at me, one, two, three. Rex! Riley! There we go, perfect, I love it. Beautiful, mommy smiled. (laughs) That's okay. But do you see how I'm kinda getting them to squish in and be fun? (laughing) I know, don't smile Miss Riley girl! Awesome, beautiful. I'm sliding off! You're sliding off? Oh my goodness! Beautiful, Mr. Rex, hey! I hear, hey Rex! Wait, it's Riley. You're the one who has a boyfriend aren't you? Okay perfect, I love it. We'll quit it there. So, I do a combination of these kinda posed fun things and then let them kind of relax and see what we get. So it's a combination of making the image and then, photojournalistically firing when I see a moment. It may not turn into anything, but I wanna make sure I capture it. Okay, so let's go ahead and let mommy hop off. She already is off. Yeah, I mean you too, kiddo. Hop off! Okay, you too kiddo! Hop off! Perfect, okay, so... (stools tapping against floor) Mom and dad in between. Yep, and then we're gonna have you turn back to back. Okay, and let's see, how do I like? More back to back? Nope, you're good. Rex can come over on this side. You might, what? She's the expert. That's okay. I love it when you help me out. It's super awesome, thank you, rock star. Okay, switch kids. Do you see what I'm doing? I'm thinking about height. I'm thinking about what I'm gonna do with them, because what I'm gonna do is, both those kids are gonna stand up on those stools. Okay, but we need those stools closer. Mommy and daddy close, squishy squishy. There we go, squishy squishy. Let's make that one straight, there we go. Perfect, okay. Need help? You got it; you're a climber. Well what's really fun, is to get the kids climbing the stools 'cause sometimes that can be really charming. Now, my subjects are way closer to my light, so I need to be cognizant of that, right? I might have to move my light slightly forward. Oh, thank you Casey. But here, what's really fun is, okay kids turn towards your parent. Are you a daddy's girl? Is she a daddy's girl? Are you a momma's boy? Oh yeah, momma's boy. Okay but mommy and daddy, you gotta stay close together. Squishy squishy, squishy squishy. Perfect, okay awesome, I love it. Yeah that's better, perfect. That's good, thanks Casey. Okay, have you guys ever done Eskimo kisses, huh? Have you ever done Eskimo kisses, Riley? Hey Belinda, I'm gonna have you help me with Riley's hair, and kinda get it out of her, everyone this is my right-hand, Belinda. It's okay. She's so, she's trained. (laughs) Poor Jamie's over there going, "Don't take off your shoes!" Then I'm like, I tell her on our psych wall that she has to take off her shoes 'cause I don't wanna get dirty. There we go, okay. Her hair was just getting in her face so could you just put it behind her left side behind her ear? There we go, that's beautiful. Beautiful, okay. And then, Harrison, yeah, perfect, I'm gonna have you just kinda put your arms around her and hug her tight. Oh, 'cause she's awesome! Noses! Noses! There we go, I love it. Okay now, isn't that funny? Now what I want you to do is go ahead and side to side, head to head, can you use mommy and daddy like a pillow? Perfect! Other way, peanut. (laughs) Mr. Rex, there we go, beautiful; don't move. Hey Rex! I hear you two like pugs, right? Did you know that I have a pug? Did you know that? I should have brought my pug measuring tape. You have a pug measuring tape? Yes. Really, how long does it go? The height of a pug, like only two feet? No, what's that one that (mumbles)? Miss Riley? (Rex mumbling) Really? No, centimeters. Centimeters. It's only in centimeters? Yeah, he's trying to explain it to me; I love it. You're doing great over there Harrison and Riley. It goes a hundred centimeters. A hundred centimeters? So, do you guys have a pug? No, but our aunt does and we have a maltese. You have a malty, a malty-poo? Or a malty-pug? A malty-pug? Awesome, Mr. Rex! See what you guys are noticing is, I'm kind of, I'm It's called a hairy pug. It's called a hairy pug? Does he shed a lot? Yeah? No. Mama, on daddy, lean on daddy. Perfect, nose this way, just a little bit. It's gonna feel like an owl but it looks great, beautiful. And Mr. Rex, is mommy awesome sauce? Miss Riley, chin down for me, girlfriend. Good job! Hey Rex, use mommy like a pillow. Oh good, she's so nice! Perfect, that's what I wanted, beautiful. Okay, so you can, oh we got some closed eyes there, there we go. Okay, so you can see what I'm doing is making kind of a musical scale. I love any time where I'm seeing this zig-zag, where notes on a musical scale either go up, they go down, they go upwards and down, do you see what I'm saying? To create that interest, alright? So, I will do a combination of putting mom and dad on the stool, putting children on the stool, letting them stand, letting them kneel. He's gonna touch that. Who's gonna touch that? Daddy, when he stands up on on the stool. You know that, you make an excellent point. She's like, if he stands on the stool, he's gonna end up going over the light. You are a photographer in the making; I love it. Okay that so that means I am gonna change backgrounds, 'cause I want to, or change looks, because I want to go into low key situation, but I could literally place different things all day long. Before we do that, I'm gonna get the kids on the poof. So, let's cut mom and dad out real quick. So, classic family session, I would do the family pose and I would do siblings by themselves. Okay so, you get to come down, cute girl. You got it? And you know, safety first. I always worry about the kids being up on the stools kind of out there alone by themselves, so just be cognizant of that. Okay so, you guys have a test. Think you can do it? He's like (laughs). I get to sit right (laughing). Okay, you both are. But, you know how? How? Can you stand up? Okay, you, peanut, I want you on this side. Just stand right there. No, you're gonna turn, turn around. Right here, knees up to here, perfect. You, over here. Okay, right over here, yeah, okay. That actually looks pretty good. Okay, so it moves around a lot, right? So you gotta be super careful, but what I want you to do when I tell you, is you're gonna get up on your knees and take your feet off the floor. Think you can do it? Both of you on your knees, on it at the same time. You can balance; you can use your hands. Whoa! I know it's not gonna work too easily, is it? You're gonna have to focus and concentrate. He keeps pushing you off, huh? Oh, can you both get on at the same time? (camera clicking) (laughing) Okay, this is classic family right here. Okay, go for it! You can balance! You can balance! Oh, it's not gonna work, is it? (laughing) Perfect. I love it. You can get, I just wanna show you. Obviously, I would take more time to get the shot, but using something that they have to kinda argue over will get you some wonderfully brilliant more lifestyle in studio images, okay? So one more time, do you think you can do it? There's Miss Riley; she got it. (laughing) And again, this is why you have to use strobe, okay? Oh yeah, not gonna work. Okay so who, should we get one kinda nice shot of you guys, you wanna sit on it? Miss Riley raised her hand first. Okay hang on, I gotta move it back into the light. There we go. Back, back, back. Okay, Riley sit on there. Mr. Rex, you get to, come here. You're gonna copy me, okay? Are you ready? You're gonna copy me, and you're gonna go like, 'cause she's awesome, right? He's gonna trap you so you can't move, sound good? Oh! But, you know what Rex? I gotta see your face, so you gotta put your face out this way, right? There we go, oh, get her, squeeze her tight. Mr. Rex, I love (laughs) he looks evil. Miss Riley. Miss Riley, where are you? There you are; she's like, I can't do it. Okay, awesome, that's good. Let's go ahead and leave it at that. I wanna switch looks real quick so we get that in. So let's go ahead and pull the poof out. You guys get to take a break for a second, sound good?

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Ratings and Reviews

Courtney Ranck-Copher
 

I own I think all of Julia's classes. This is probably my favorite. I will say that it's because its exactly the type of photography I have been wanting to focus on. So the information was extremely valuable to me. But I do love all of Julia's classes and you can learn so much from her as a mentor regardless of the type of portraits you shoot. Thanks Julia for a wonderful class I have watched it multiple times!

JennMercille
 

As always, Julia never disappoints! It has been so awesome to watch her work with such incredible intention, from concept to session to sales. Her energy and strategy are so motivational and very, very creative! This class rocks from start to finish, and is a perfect addition to my Creative Live business arsenal! Five stars all the way!!!!!

Amy Vaughn
 

My favorite part was seeing how Julia's business evolved over time and transformed into what it is today. Good tips for finding inspiration to develop a niche and practical marketing advice. I'm glad I took this alongside Tamara's business class - the two photographers had very different approaches to their business and shooting family photography in many ways, but it really illustrators how there's no one way to do everything. I learned so much from both of them.

Student Work

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