A girl and a horse and beautiful farm

As a photographer, part of the process of capturing truly memorable images and considering the location for the shoot, the time of day that will convey the lighting and vision you have in mind, and of course figuring out how to utilize the lighting, posing and scenery to your creative advantage.

Through the generosity of my friend, Holly, I was able to indulge Ashley’s fantasy to do a farm/western style photo shoot with her. Since she was little, my daughter has always loved horses and has always known how to play to the camera and pose. So much of my work was pretty simple, however the technical aspects of on location, natural portraiture brings challenges in capturing the images you sometimes have in mind.

Here are my top 12 favorites from the session...

 If you would like to view more of the images, check out my fan page on facebook where I have posted the album or view the gallery directly on my Cheri Wenger Design Photography website. If you aren't a fan of the music, just hit mute while you browse the site, and if you want to see any of the photos at a larger size, just hit the slideshow button in the upper right and hit escape key to exit when done viewing.

Please leave me comments, suggestions and inquiries if you are interested in having me take photos of you or your family. If you are on the facebook fan page, be sure to like my page and help me expand my fan base. Thanks! Happy Friday!

Oh, The Sunlight in Your Hair!

There is something so simple and beautiful about the sun painting a radiant glow along the edge of flowing locks of hair. This is something that can be so beautifully captured as the sun begins to set. It is the perfect kiss of color of nature’s purest highlights that can turn an ordinary portrait into a brilliant result. You can literally watch the sun work it’s magic to breathe life into the frozen frame of a portrait.

This technique of hair lighting works with any color hair, but with lighter shades, it is often most striking. For these casual senior portraits, the location was the side of the road, yet you can see how the sun against the dark green palette illuminates, Kylie in her photos.

We later moved to a brighter location away from the trees to allow some brighter light to shine down. And for these shots, I really wanted to showcase her long beautiful hair so I asked her to turn away from the camera and tilt her head up. Then I asked her to bunch up her hair and play with it. These shots were a mix of dramatic and playful images...and ones that became our mutual favorites from the evening photo session.

Photo Tip: When you feel like you are running out of ideas and poses to try. Ask your model to touch or play with her hair. Since it is ultimately attached to the person, there becomes some type of emotional attachment that unveils itself before the camera. It also helps to loosen up their hands and get them more comfortable with posing. Depending upon their hairstyle, you might want to introduce a clip, a headband, a hat or some other prop. Try this out at your next shoot and share with me your results!

One Shoot in Adverse Conditions - 3 inspiring results

What do you get on a stormy night, with a bit of drizzle and a lot of enthusiasm? Three concepts for shooting in less than ideal conditions. Here is how you can think quickly on your feet and salvage a senior portrait session.

When we arrived at the park, it was still lightly drizzling with the weather predicting a one hour window before sunset, however clouds were constantly looming and lighting was tricky, so I started out under a large gazebo posing my model, Christy, while I sported an umbrella over my shoulder to protect my camera. Here are some of the images working within the confines of the gazebo.

We then moved outside the gazebo once the rain let up using, at first, a frame as a prop, then a brightly colored umbrella. Yes, mine! I thought, why not work with the weather in this situation and have fun.

For this model, who is a very natural beauty, the umbrella shots were some of her favorites from our session. To think, those might not have even happened if it wasn’t for the weather!

Another amazing outcome was the spectacular sunset that occurred. I used this opportunity to use it as a photo backdrop as well as to experiment with doing some dramatic silhouette, artsy style photos.

So the lesson of the day is, if you can work around the weather, you may be pleasantly surprised by the end result. Let it test your quick thinking, challenge your creativity and inspire new approaches to your portrait photography. For more photo inspiration, visit my website.

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