Teacher of the Year
Year three of the SBCSC Teacher of Year Headshots.
SBCSC Teacher of the Year candidate Charlette Hawkings
This was year three of the South Bend School Corporation Teacher of Year Headshots and we changed a few things. Usually we take headshots in front of the school official backdrop and then another set in front of the green screen for cut outs. But this year we changed that format and just used a white background to use as cutouts. I think I preferred how we made this switch this year, especially for the cuts outs. I know when we use a green screen behind the models, it would leave a green tint around them or on their faces and body. I wanted to avoid using it so that when they were cut out of the photo and placed in a graphic, it would look a lot more clean.
SBCSC Teacher of Year Candidate Lisa Dixon
The Headshots were pretty straight forward. When I do my headshots, I like tethering my computer to a TV or monitor of some kind so the models can see their pictures up front and not have to wait until they are sent the final copies. This is great because it makes it a lot easier for the models to pick the exact picture they like and I am not trying to guess which one they think is the best. It also cuts down on edit time so that I know exactly which pictures need to be edited and can spend a little more time on those.
The entire shoot took two days, and we had a makeup day for those who couldn’t make in my studio. Everything went off without any issues and the shot of the day, or of the shoot, went to Lisa Dixon. She was a great sport and was a little self conscious about herself, but she ended up in a perfect position, with the lighting just right, and got the absolute best shot. She did a great job of being open to direction and it ended up the best shot of the shoot.
Cassandra & Art Engagement
Cassandra & Art Engagement Shoot
Cassandra & Art Engagement Shoot
This past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot Cassandra and Art’s engagement photos. I am so glad they allowed me to be a part of this special moment and I was able to get some amazing shots of intimacy, play full fun and great backgrounds. The shoot was at Fernwood Botanical Gardens in Niles, Michigan. I had been there before, my daughter and her boyfriend wanted pictures for an anniversary they had last year. So I was a little familiar with the place, but not that much. My daughter, her boyfriend and myself didn’t venture to far into the park, it was a little warm that day, so we just stayed close to the entrance. So for this shoot I went a day in advance to get a better look at the place, walk around and look for good spots to get some pictures.
Fernwood Botanical Garden
I found a lot great places to get some good shots. I walked deep into the gardens and was absolutely ate up by the bugs. It recently rained the day before, so the bugs and mosquitos were out in full force. The Gardens had a lot of narrow walking paths, bridges and large grasses to use as part of the background. But after I was done looking at the entire place, as I drove out, their was a field of large grass that I thought would be the perfect spot to get some great shots with a wide open area and trees in the background. I knew we were going to be meeting in the morning hours, so I wanted to be sure to get the sun as a backdrop and I settled on this spot for the majority of the pictures.
Holding Hands
Shoot Day. I made sure to arrive a little early to get a closer look at the field I wanted to get the majority of the pictures. Turns out, the grass was a lot taller than I expected and deeper in terms of grass around our feet. It was still a little wet from the rain so when Cassandra and Art showed up I made sure to let them know that we probably wouldn’t be going in there because I didn’t want to get them all wet. But they were troopers and said they didn’t mind getting a little wet and wanted to get the best shots. So there we went and went right to work. This being my first time doing Engagement photos, I watched a lot of YouTube videos to get an idea of posses, how to position the couple and best backdrop spots to use. I am glad I watched them, they helped a lot and one of the best pieces of advices I learned from them was to talk to the couple before the shoot and let them know what you were looking for. I told them I wanted intimacy, closeness and fun, and they were very open to it.
Large Grasses Spots
When I went to scope the place out the day before, I found a few places with large grasses in small spots. I took my camera with me so I could see what they looked like in-camera and I noticed that if I just positioned myself in certain spots, I could use the grass as a foreground or a background. The key to many of the shots was where I positioned myself and use the grasses to my advantage and get the best look. I wanted to build depth into my pictures and use the couple as the center for all of them.
Cassandra and Art sniffing each other
When I spoke to Cassandra and Art, I asked them to show intimacy, closeness and fun. The best parts of the shoot for me were the fun shots. When I watched the YouTube videos, they gave me a lot of tips on how to make the process engaging and how to get your couples to laugh. The funniest one I heard was to tell the couple to whisper sweet vegetables in each others ear. That was hilarious just listening to them trying to make vegetables sound sexy. Another one was having them sniff each other like dogs do and trying to catch them laughing and having a good time. I got a great shot when they were doing it and you could see the laughter and fun they were having.
The shoot lasted about two hours and we walked around to a bunch of spots to get pictures. At the end of it we were all pretty tired, hot and sweaty, the heat had picked up and it as we ended about noon with sun over head. It was difficult for me to pic a favorite picture for this shoot, I had so many good ones. I think for me, the best shot was just showing the couple together and how much they looked in love with each other. So I found the one below and I think it was the shot of the day.
Cassandra and Art shot of the day
