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Shoot: Sisters Part 2

Lesson 4 from: Photographing Kids

Shannon Sewell

Shoot: Sisters Part 2

Lesson 4 from: Photographing Kids

Shannon Sewell

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Lesson Info

4. Shoot: Sisters Part 2

Lesson Info

Shoot: Sisters Part 2

a lot of the folks are asking about the eyeglasses and how you react to the glare and how you sort of work through that. So, do you have anti glare coating on her? Do you have anti glare coating on her? Oh, you don't? Okay, because they're not really picking it up. Too bad. So if you so indicating me a favor and kind of look towards the window, put your chin up a little bit, See how on her chins up it catches Hope not. When I stand there, it doesn't, um It catches up in the top of the frame. If you keep the head tilted a little bit, you can also tilt the glasses themselves. Um, so it's kind of uncomfortable for the person out of years wrap all the way around. Honey, um, it's kind of a comfortable for the person wearing them, but you tilt him so they're off the ear like maybe 1/2 half an inch, and it keeps the light from catching. Um, yeah. I mean, it could be difficult depending on the lighting situation, but her seem to be doing pretty well. Unless I'm missing it. No. Great. Thank you...

. Okay. All right. So if it low is gonna help me, is she a good poser? Okay. You ready? Just want a mirror her Or do you want to tell you what to do? Do you know what mirroring means? Yes. So used be her mirror. So she goes like this. You go like this, Carrie. Ready, You hear? OK. Yeah. Go ahead and post and she'll copy. And then when you're done, say okay. And then you're gonna look right at me. Are you reading? Perfect. Good job. Good pose. Even good toes. Did you talk to do the toes, Teoh? She doesn't. She doesn't natural. Okay, next week, you know I'll do Enver now. Okay, how about if we take one hand and you put it in your pocket with your thumb out? There you go. And then you're just gonna lean her face. What if you did something silly and meter left? Are you ready? You wanna hide behind me and peek at her and go? OK? Ready? Set. What's she doing? A silly. Okay. How about if I get a shot of these cute little Chihuahua years with this cute little face? Okay. Can you look right here, sweetheart. Um, how about if I have you? What if you take your suspenders and go like this on them? Perfect. And then you're gonna look right here at me and think to wallow thoughts. What did you always think about? Do you know? Yeah. What is she always eat? Mushy? Doctor, Have you ever read the book, Skippy? Jon Jones, You have to get hit the library. It's about a little Siamese cat that thinks it's a Chihuahua. When you go to the library, have your mom look for Skippy. Jon Jones. Que, uh Okay. What if you went like this for me, you big legs and keep those suspenders. And what if you gave me a surprise Look like a drop me to surprise you? No. Good job. Can you give me a little giggle per big one? Okay, how about if we put you with all the pillows? What do you think about that case? So go ahead and sit down where you are right now. But have you put your legs out to side just like that? Her? And so we just surround you with pillows shallow. Help us going there. You in him you wanna hug this one? Perfect. Do you think about that? Okay, well, let this guy kind of fall. So he's not walking your head too much, But you can still come with that arm K. Treat him like a baby. How do you hold a baby? Do you think? Do you think a box would take a bottle? No. Do you have any animals at home? Why? Don't Let's see. How about if you go ahead, just hug it with one arm and just let him fall? Kind of to your sides. We hurt. There you go. And what we do me a favor. That cloud one. Can you pull it a little bit? So it's not blocking her hands. Perfect. Yep. You ready? Go hang like this for me. And you're gonna just kind of lean like you're very ago. Maybe all relaxed. Perfect. We hurt. Good job. Can you think of any posters you want to dio? Or would you want little to come sit with you again? What do you think would be the best you want? Lola? How about if we do? You guys want to sit back to back or you know we could play. We could set it up like a little forest like a little mountain forest. And then you could be the wind and blower and shit, like, beautifully that. Okay, let's go ahead and stand up. We'll build a forest. You guys wanna help me? Okay, way Have one more mountain over here. Where should we put this mountain can? Here you go. She wanted him to claim the mountain. Oh, he's sleeping on the log, their ego. And who wants to be the wind to volunteers? Okay, so we'll have you come stand right in front of this mountain. And, Olivia, you're gonna stand right here, and you're gonna use this and you're like and see if you can blow her over. She's over here. We'll use All right, You ready? Wait for me. Don't be cute yet. So what I'm gonna have you do, Lola, is you're actually gonna feeling like like you're falling over. Sorry. I'll tell you when you go, OK? Ready, Set. Go. Good job. Can you do one more in the time? I want you to laugh really hard. Okay? Lola, can you laugh on command already want to? Great job. Okay, We put this guy down again. How about if we did? You didn't get to jump, did you? Do you want to do anyone's like that? Do you wanna have a jumping contest and see who could go higher? All right, so this is what we're gonna dio. Thank you for these pillows. You guys are gonna come, like, right here. Hold hands. So mountain girl would like to know. I see how you get younger kids excited. But how would you get teenagers excited? How? They're kind of tough sometimes. About, you know, 13 14 may be boys. Yeah, um, so usually them it's not quite a quite as playful as a shoot. I'll do, um, more The way I worked with Lola in the first little bit when it was more just about the posing. And I try to dio a lot of, like, asking them, Like, do you want, like, do you like this locations? You wanna be against us? Well, would you rather sit with so getting them kind of just more involved, But it is definitely a, I guess, a slower paced. We don't do the running and jumping. Usually. I mean, some of those some kids that age love to do all that kind of stuff, but, um, yeah, I think complements. Go a long way to when you let them know how good the pictures we're looking. That helps warm up. Especially kids that age, I think. Cool. And how about that? We have someone asked earlier about the 10 year old kids as well. Like a 10 year old boy. A little self conscious. You know, the little or kids are a little easier. Do you have something that you address those kids with? Um, About what? She's 10. Yeah. So basically, how we're in here, I'm interacting with them is how I interact with most kids. I mean, I can't emphasize enough like that initial. Like getting to know them so that when you talk to them, you have, like, things to talk about. Um, I think it's really just about getting them comfortable. I want them to feel less like they're on show and more like they're just here with me. And I happen to have a camera. Um, so yeah, yeah. Um, we went over. I guess I would just go back to this morning's in the different things I hit on. Not all of them, like obviously playing peekaboo, probably wouldn't go over too well with her 10 or 12 year old. But some of the other ones where just giving them more, letting them see the camera like the pictures doing things like that. Cool. And then Rene would like to know also finding it. Uh, do you find shooting girls much easier than boys who don't like to sort of sit pretty? Any advice for keeping boys interested? Yeah, we have some boys coming on tomorrow. Okay, so you'll see. And I hate to be like gender specific like that, like you have to treat them differently. But generally, boys, you're a little I'm a little more. Um, I guess it's not, as I don't want to say, gentle, but a little more joking around and things like that. I feel like boys lend themselves better to, like, joking and kinder like ribbon each other. Things like that. Um, I also like to let boys definitely. I said before, like feel like they're in control of like because, like he said, usually it's girls that are the picture models. Okay, I think they sometimes feel like it's not their seen. So letting them feel like it's their seen, I think helps Cool. Now we have a lot of folks asking about post processing. So I do want to let the folks know out there that we are gonna be doing a segment on tomorrow. We're doing some post processing. Do you tend to shoot, like to shoot a little dark or a little light? Do you shoot sometimes thinking about your post processing? Um, yes, I just I guess I would shoot bright enough not to blow my highlights, but I hate I wouldn't shoot dark EMI. It's darker in here today, so my images might be coming across a little bit darker than normal. Okay, but we also have the white wall that were accounting for, but yeah, I just I usually try to shoot to just below blowing the highlights. So I guess that would be on the brighter side. Perfect. And Memphis Jen would love to know. I noticed that you shoot a lot in portrait orientation. Is there a sales reason for that? Or just a visual presence? How much do you mix that up from horizontal to vertical? Depends on what the needs are. Do you usually talk about that when I before I do the shoot, if we're gonna need horizontal or vertical when it single or doubles, I think it lends itself more to vertical just because when you're shooting horizontally, you have so much must have going for the open space. You probably find this afternoon it's gonna be a lot more horizontal because it's six of them. Yes, I think it's just how I want the how I'm framing the image, I think, is how the decides if I shoot vertical or horizontal, Um, based on where they are in the image Perfect. Right now, I'm gonna throw a few technical questions just to get them out of the way. We have this a lot here. Creative life. So what? Focus. Motor U N and about where you focusing with the kids. So I talk with my folks. I talk with my focal point. Um, and I always focused on the ice. Okay, lets a nice Great. Unless there's a reason to focus on something else. Okay. And if you get the kids in motion, tell us about in General, where your shutter speeds are, um, well, like today I'm down at 1 60 But just because of lighting conditions, I like to be at least like to 50. I would say, I don't mind if we're doing, um, motion stuff. I don't mind having, like, a little bit of blur, maybe in the leg legs if they're running or something. But I just want to make sure, like faces and we don't want, like, weird, blurry fingers or anything like that. So I would say about 22 50 ish I usually feel comfortable at. Um we just don't have unless I really but my eyes. So today, Right? And that's always a little bit tricky. Correct? Yeah. Yeah. Good. Oh, So we had a question earlier about feeding the Children. So is that something? Can you tell me a little bit about like, how do you instruct the parents with the kids coming to the studio? Where? How do you like him? Not with Cheetos stains. Okay. They like, do they feed them, like right before or especially with younger kids? I normally don't give instructions like that, but we normally have couple snacks on hand, like granola bars, fruit snacks, water. But I don't instruct him on feeding him beforehand. Normally, if they need it during, we just take a break in. Give him sex grand. I know You always know when that's coming, right? All right. Doing over there. Just hanging out. Okay. Um, let's do what? See, let's talk about your questionnaire a little bit. Talked about climbing trees. You guys both wanted to go to like the ocean. You want to go to Hawaii, right? Can't really pretend like it's the ocean here, can we? No. What could we do that would be close with? See what if I know standing and so on. Hold hands. Go ahead. Back up just a little bit. And we're just gonna imagine even close your eyes and picture you're in Hawaii in the water. And guess what? You just come up to you a sea turtle. Would that be cool? Um, okay. And then on the count of three, go and close your eyes All the sudden open your eyes. A big wave. Come. Do you think heaven All the sea turtles were evident. Oh, they went away. Are you gonna be sad now? Oh, Or maybe you don't like sea turtles. What would you rather see dolphins, would you? If you saw a dolphin, would you grab it and write it? You would, would you? Olivia, You would you grab it, sit and let you let it swim off with you That she can't go that deep. Good thing. What if we put a life jacket on you? You still win it. What if it was a land open and he came upon the beach to build sand castles with you with that work badly? OK, okay. Let's sit down like we're sitting in the sun. Can you sit back to back here? We'll come away just a little bit from the perfect. So we're going to relax. So, Olivia, you're gonna lay back on on Lola, and you're just gonna lay there like you're enjoying all the warm sun on you. Do you feel it? You feel nice and warm and toasty? Some have you do going but your olive carefully. Her sweetheart. Are you enjoying yourself? Olivia? Picture in it. So I'm gonna have you do, Honey, you're gonna turn your face to see, like, right now, she has pretty, pretty good. Blair, go ahead and bring your chin down. This perfect good job right there. Hope a little more again. There you go, Kerry. Ready? Set. Perfect. Good job, guys. Okay, go ahead and stand up. Did we ever do are jumping contest or we had to quit, huh? Do we quit before we did it? Okay, we're gonna do that again. Go ahead. Stand right here. So you remember the rules, remember? How works Where we going? Forward. One for feet. And I had Great. Okay. On the count of three one, Glenn, stand a little tiny. Bit closer for me. Ready? Oh, What's he did that pop up? We're gonna go higher this time. Olivia, are you ready? Look at this one. Watch. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait for it. Look what? You totally did it. Okay, ready? We're gonna go one more time. One, That was a good one. Good job, girls. Okay, I want to get some pictures of just your two little face together, So why don't we hear you might be more comfortable sitting down. Can you sit with your back against the wall for me, sweetheart? What you're gonna come do, honey, is you're gonna come really close to Lola and your school. Lay your head right on her shoulder. Good job me. Fix her hair really quick. So it's not okay. So can you use your arm Your hand over here, Olivia, and hold onto her arm for me so that you're all cuddled in this arm. Closest to you, sweetheart. There you go again. Set up super tall, Tall as you could be. Are you getting job with it? So what? You're okay? Go ahead and tell your head. Just this way. Just a little bit. Not to the stabbing with a Chihuahua. Your point, Bender. This way. A little bit, honey. There you go. It is ready. Perfect. Beautiful girl. Can you give me slight little smiles? Think happy thoughts. Like what? If you just found the whole letter of baby Chihuahuas, would that be good? Do you know that? I was a store the other day and a lady had her Chihuahua. She said it was 13 years old, But you know how big it was. It was this big. She could hold it just like this in her hand. Oh, you believe it? But she said it was 13 right up here Didn't give me that smile again. I think that the little eschew all whatever. Good job. Perfect. Okay, go ahead and stand up for me, guys. Okay, Quinn, stand right here. Formula. You're gonna come right here in front. Let's fix it a little bit. Come right here in front, sweetheart, and grab onto or so she doesn't run away. You can't let her leave. Promised. I heard she's a runner. Don't let her go. If you feel like she's trying, can you look up at Lola for me? Big laughs. Good job, guys. Okay. And then this time we're not gonna hold her so tight. We'll let her let her loose a little bit. We're gonna trust her this time that she won't run. Okay, hold on. Really? Like, right here in the years going in your head on one of her arms. Her face. Good job, girls. So cute. Her face. Um, can you put your one foot out formula this one over here? And you're still in your head? This Wait a little bit. Perfect. Hey, get set. Go. Do you guys want to play a game? You want to play red light green light. OK, Do you want to play a red light green light? Okay, so where should we try to go from or to We could do. You know, we could do it in a different way. We could do ring around the rosy style you touch after freeze when I see a red light entree. Can you try and do me a favor and look at me when you freeze? Okay. Are you ready? OK. Green light. Red light green. My, uh are you ready? One more time. Green light, Red light. Where's Olivia? Where to go? I way play. What other games are there? What games? You guys play at school Now it's like that. I don't remember any of those games. We use this play right here. Over. That probably wouldn't be very good because I don't want you to crash into me. You don't know what about. We could join play. Simon says we've been talking a lot about that today. Yeah, do one. If you want to be in charge, you want me to do it? Okay. Simon says, Hold hints. Simon's says stand on one foot. Simon says way oil, oil. Simon says, um, make a Philly face. Stop. Did you see? Oh, did you lose already? Okay. Simon says stand up on your tiptoes. Simon says Pretend like you're looking out to sea. Simon says laugh as hard as you can. Simon says Be angry. Oh, Okay. Um cry. Good. Oh, are you crying, Olivia? Okay. Good job, girls. Um, let's do can you guys, um, sit crisscross applesauce facing each other is Shannon. Uh, I would like to know. Do you use auto focus? Lock? Um, I don't focus. Walk? No. Okay, I I autofocus. Yeah, I one of the folks that I think they're winning. When? When? When the kids are jumping. Oh, yes, I My focus is on my shutter. Press it halfway. Great. And then wait for the That's why I give them the three count, because I focus it in. Pull that? Yes. Yes, perfect for that Clarification. Okay, get really, really close. Knees or touching. Can you put foreheads together? Actually, no, I'm a Have you do, Lola, Your hair's really heavy on this. Can we put it? Is I can see part of your face. There you go. Perfect. Okay. Foreheads together. Can you make her laugh? Lola, you guys were quiet laughers. What if you leaned forward again and put your heads together? But this time you have to look at me. Can you lean your head together? And this time you have to look at me though I'll make you laugh. Good job. We hurt.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Shannon Sewell - Family Questionaire.pdf
Shannon Sewell - KidsQuestionaire.pdf
Shannon Dream.atn
Shannon Sewell - Dreamer Journal Summer 2014.pdf

bonus material with enrollment

Shannon Sewell - Gear Guide.pdf
Shannon Sewell Virtual Swag Bag.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I loved this course. If you already know what you are doing as a photographer and are looking for fun and inspiration, this is a great class. Shannon didn't focus on the technical aspects, but rather HER way of working. She offered many, many fun and inspiring ideas to build a photo business that feeds your soul, rather than a business that just earns money from clients. She has taken an art form and made it her own. Her work is the result of her focus on her own personal style, which is fun, stylish, trendy and happy. I found this video to be inspiring and leading me towards making images that are my personal style. I can see how this course may have been challenging for people who are more about the technical aspects of photography, but hey, anyone can learn technique. The ART comes in when you can make it your own, when you can use photography as a way to express and reflect what you go going on on the inside. In Shannon's case, it's joy. Thanks CL for a fun, inspiring class and thanks, Shannon, for sharing your heart and your art. I had fun.

a Creativelive Student
 

I really enjoyed this class. I love Shannon's style both of photography and connecting with the children and families she photographs. She doesn't tell you what to do step-by-step, but rather offers you a bag of tricks which to draw from. Rather than telling you what to do, she shows you what works for her. I found the course very inspiring and the posing techniques helpful. She successfully demonstrates that you can create beautiful photographs with no more than a wall or a chair but she also shows you how to go all out with a detailed styled shoot. She shows that there is not one formula for success.

Marilou Jaen
 

I love it! Fantastic info. I love her easy way with the kids, and I found it really informative.

Student Work

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