studio

I like gadgets. I like to do it myself. Specifically, I hate to pay someone else to do something when I'm pretty sure I can do almost as well myself. As such, we don't go to photo studios all that much. It's a hassle, and we like the pictures we take of Anya and Evan, so why pay someone else? Well, but Lara did go, last year, when her sister and sister's kids were here. We liked the nice clean looking portraits with a plain white background, but being who I am, I was like, I can do that. I can get my own white background.

Surprisingly, Lara supported this plan. Not surprisingly, it took me a long time to actually follow through. Specifically, it took me until Hilary & Co decided to come out here again, and wanted to take pictures again.

So I hit ebay, and ended up with a white background and some studio strobes (like a flash on steroids). Fun stuff, I feel like a big time pro. There were some hitches along the way, which meant that they went to the real studio anyhow, but we managed to shoot a few pics before they left.

Click on the picture to look at the album.

photo studio first try

A few notes. Obviously, I'm still learning. The background didn't really work out all that well. It wasn't big enough, and it wasn't white enough. More like dingy gray. And wrinkly, too. But I was pretty happy with the lighting: nice and smooth, no shadows.

Another thing I learned, if you want interesting portraits of kids, don't have them sit, have them jump. Also hire an assistant that will make them laugh (thanks Hilary.)

Anybody wants senior pictures or passport photos, I'm your guy.