I have been wanting to photograph this family for over a year now. Can you see why in the photos? They are beautiful! The mom is a dear friend of mine , and we have been discussing a photoshoot for many many moons. However, they are quite a busy family, and our schedules never manage to sync up. Surprisingly, her family and I were all free this past weekend (in the middle of winter!) so we made it happen. I couldn’t have asked for a more fun photoshoot. I just let the kids be kids (with a few poses snuck in here and there). It was very relaxed, not too cold, the scenery and light were beautiful down on the beach, and I think they will treasure these photos of their family forever. The moments are fleeting when you have little ones, and that is part of the reason I LOVE this job! So blessed to be involved in freezing these little moments in time. Enjoy!
I can honestly say that leaving presets behind has been the single most effective thing I could have done. I am not saying I will never use a preset ever again, but I am growing so much and really finding what works best for me and my style. The one thing I am struggling with right now is getting the bright images I LOVE without having little bits of kids’ faces with highlights blown or nearly blown. I read somewhere that this could cause problems when printing. I have not figured out how to keep the image the way I want and avoid this problem. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! Thanks for stopping by!
Michelle
mysweetwilliams 
Another gorgeous set of photographs! You are truly amazing! I’m so glad you’ve gone manual…it beats presets by a mile. That’s what drives me crazy about low end digital…so few manual options. No suggestions on the blown-out highlights. Hopefully someone with more digital experience will be able to help with that. These look awesome though!
Thanks friend! And thanks for the encouragement too :o)
Michelle! These are so great!
Thanks Shelly!!!
Beautiful family and great shots! The silhouettes are so sweet.
Thanks Jen =)
These turned out really good Michelle! Maybe we could do each others family photos 🙂
Thanks Blaize! I’m game for sure ;o)
Love what you’re doing, Michelle! =)
The best trick I can think of is to use your camera’s histogram to double-check your exposure settings. That’ll spotlight anything that’s blown out so you’ll be able to keep that precious detail without sacrificing your highlights. Hope that helps!
Thanks Sheree!!! If I use my histogram then I do not feel like faces are as bright as I like???
I hear ya. 😉 You can adjust it in post (in Lightroom or Photoshop) and brighten the specific areas to your heart’s content!
Thank you sooo much for the suggestion! I will try that on a shoot :o)