First practice shoot this weekend

[TheMaggedy]

And I made a ton of mistakes. We still had full sun at 4:30, I forgot to use fill flash, I forgot to close down my aperture so the pics are soft ... and still, Mom loves them. No charge, of course! She's a friend and agreed to let me practice. I learned a ton from the mistakes I can see, and I bet I'll learn more from the ones you can see.

That being said, here's a sample

http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/IMG9075/821515229_n554B-L.jpg (http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/11643443_FTtxN#821515229_n554B-A-LB)

http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/IMG8422/821470775_NNGEr-L.jpg (http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/11643443_FTtxN#821470775_NNGEr-A-LB)

http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/IMG8283/821468156_MLtjo-L.jpg (http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/11643443_FTtxN#821468156_MLtjo-A-LB)

http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/IMG9157/821480242_ero48-L.jpg (http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/11643443_FTtxN#821480242_ero48-A-LB)

http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/IMG9334/821483255_527xn-L.jpg (http://mairimages.smugmug.com/People/Botanic-Garden-32710/11643443_FTtxN#821483255_527xn-A-LB)

[arild8515]

The shots you posted look very nice. You managed to capture affectionate looks, and I guess that´s what´s most important when shooting kids and their parents together (disclaimer: I know nothing about what´s most important, really, but I do think you pulled it off).

[WAD]

Yeah, I agree ^^ I have no idea what is photographically "preferred", but they look very affectionate.

[KinoC]

I like them too.

I remember my first session or the nightmare at Key Bicayne:
I forgot to change the ISO setting (3200) from the night before so I was shooting at F16 and F22 with speeds of 1/800 with very good light. I found it weird but it look good on the screen so I continued shooting my friend's family (friend, wife and 2 boys). The wind took my umbrella, flash and the light stand for walk at the beach, their kids one will look at me and smile while the other had his eye shut down. My friend will be smiling and mother will be screaming at the kids. I gave one of the kids my LastoLite "20 inch white balance FRIZBE" so I had to run after it before the sea claim it. Ah.. plus I lost my 6 year old daughter for 10 minutes. She needed to go to bathroom so she went without telling me. When I didn't see her and there was no one at beach. I ran all over the place, I threw my camera next to the bag and I was running all over and screaming her name when she comes out of the bathroom which is about a 5min walk from the beach saying why I'm screaming. Oh! I huged her, cried, (yes, old men cry too) then I remember I left my camera at the beach so the saga continued. I never told my wife that I almost lost Sofia so I don't take my kids with unless I ducktape them to my back or I ducktape them to the light stands ( yes, they call that I'm helping my daddy while I call that I fear your mother!:( ).... that's a joke I just don't take them! Things have change since that day but it always makes me smile when I think about it.

Enjoy your journey.. its fun but don't take your kids because you can only pay attention to what you are getting paid for and you will forget the most important thing your kid. Your life could change with a blink of an eye so do not take them unless they are your subject!

My two cents.