Child photography is the starting point for many new photographers to break into the professional market. While, Belle’s specializes in bridal portraits, we have had a following of parents begging us to photograph their kids for years.  Belle’s typical child session grosses over $1K.

This workshop is aimed at photographers considering child photography. We also have had lots of photographers attend these little $99 workshops for fun, to sharpen their skills, and get new portfolio pieces.

This workshop is 1/3 lecture and 2/3 workshop aka shooting. We’ll cover the basics about child photography - what is expected by the parents, what to expect from the child, and how to get your session to flow as smoothly as possible.

We will be covering the following content:

* Location - Great Places to Shoot Children
* Using Natural Light Effectively
* Marketable & Unique Ideas That Mom’s Eat Up - (psst! This is Great for Location Shooters!)
* Child-friendly Poses for Different Ages
* Challenges specific to Child Photography (crying, wiggling, toddling away)
* Basic Technical Techniques - aka figuring out how to use your camera (ISO, DOF, flash, etc)
* Adding Pizazz with light, color, texture
* Irresistible Compositions
* Basics of Composition
* Negative Space & How to Utilize It
* Basics of Shadows and Light
* Separating Yourself from the Soccer Moms
* Getting Started in Child & Baby Photography
* 2 Model(s) Provided - 1 girl, 1 boy - ages 5 & 8

Intro to Child was created to allow photographers to establish a sense of what skills are needed to shoot children. You’ll find it a challenging and fun beginner class. This is a BASIC level class. The only recommendation is that you have a DSLR camera, although students have attended in the past with SLRs and point and shoots. This is a good workshop to see if child photography is for you. We will be talking about baby photography through tween photography (~9yrs old), with an emphasis on babies and toddlers.

This workshop will be held at an excellent child portrait location in, San Antonio, Texas. The San Antonio Botanical Gardens is the perfect place for this workshop and will even have child friendly exhibits that will make awesome backdrops.

During the workshop photographers will have the opportunity to shoot a preschool model and a 3rd grade model. We’ll talk about how to make sessions FUN AND PROFITABLE. If you session isn’t fun, there is no way it’ll be profitable in the long run. And over the years I have heard many Moms say they dread taking portraits of their kids because its an automatic tearfest, which makes it highly stressful for the mom. At Belle’s sessions fit the child’s personality, which allows for a lot of latitude from the child. We’ll even talk about how to get great shots if your client is grumpy or cries a lot. Some children don’t like cameras. There are ways to deal with it and make your littlest clients feel happy and comfortable. During the day there will be on-going speaking and opportunity for Q&A.

This workshop is a BEGINNER level class which means newBs are welcome. We will have 2 child models. One thinks she’s a movie star and the other is shy. This will help you learn to work with the different personality types. This class will accommodate a larger group of photographers than our other workshops. Teacher student ration is ~1:12. This workshop will be set up rotation style. You’ll have time allocated to each model and instructor.

INTRO TO CHILD PHOTOGRAPHY:
Date: December 7th, 2008
Location: San Antonio Botanical Gardens, San Antonio, TX
Instructor: Mike & Holly
Time: 1:00pm-4:00pm
Investment: $149 per person
Early Bird Discount: $99 per person* before Nov 15th. That’s a $50 discount per person!
To sign up: SOLD OUT

* Please note: Workshops are 1st come 1st served. When the class is full, no more students will be admitted. Any and all funds will be returned if you enroll after the class has reached capacity. Due to the nature of this event, it is non-refundable, non-transferable. If the event is canceled by Belle’s, all registration fees will be refunded. In the case of inclement weather, please contact the studio for updates.

I had a wonderful time meeting everyone last Sunday.  We had a long day!  I’ve seen some of the shots you guys shared and they look wonderful!  I personally love dramatic lighting and had fun sharing with everyone exactly how to accomplish that look/ feel through lighting and posing.

While you are doing your post processing, remember that you will have very warm images from the lights we used.  I personally like that look, you may want a truer white balance.  To help you out, both of the gowns Apryl wore white and both of Brooke’s gowns were Ivory.  That should be helpful if you need to adjust WB in post.

Thank you to all our sponsors - MPIX.com, Albums Unlimited, Simply Canvas, AsukaBook, and Kubota Imaging Tools.  I’d also like to thank David Avery Salon in Abilene, TX for providing awesome wedding hairstyles and make up!

Below are some of the shots I took while lining up all the components we spoke about - posing, lighting, & composition.

The Chair:  How can you not just LOVE this chair!

The Gown:  Apryl just goes to show how far a fun bride will go for a good pose.  She was easy to work with and willing to try suggestions…and she is not a pro model!

Favorite:  This has got to be my favorite pose/ set up from the day.  It has an old master’s flare with a contemporary twist.  And that gown is totally fab.

Lace:  Lace looks so soft and wonderful.

Belle’s Photography has an intro level wedding workshop coming up in Austin, TX on November 9th.  The class is almost full.  For more info check out this post.

Belle’s will be announcing their 2009 wedding and photography workshop schedule shortly.  Keep an eye on the blog and workshop page for more info!

Eh, what to call this post?  Its more of a follow up of last weekends workshop - like a section review before you move onto bigger and better things.

I thought this may help based on some comments from the workshop in Denton last weekend.  Some of you were struggling with composition and weren’t sure what I was looking at.  I just want to say - once you figure out what you want out of a shot, the composition and posing begin to work together with the background and lighting - and you can see it before you shoot.  There are a lot of variables that make a shot good.  When all those variables work together, that’s what makes a shot great.

Here are a couple of shots I grabbed to demonstrate what I was looking at.  #1 is on the stairs.  It was one of the 1st poses we did.  It was supposed to be rather casual, contemporary pose.  A little tude.  Mostly pretty.  Notice her hair still has definition on both sides, she has her head tilted into the empty side of the frame, and the triangles.  The subject is making eye contact.

Camera settings: ss 1/60, f 2.2, ISO 125, 50mm f2.0 lens.

And below is the main shot that we were attempting to include the architecture into the shot.  There were a lot of different ways we could have done this.  You might have gotten a good shot of this.  And of course, I would recommend wireless flashes all the way.  WAY easier to work with once you know how to operate your flash.

Off the top of my head, this is what I imagined.  The shot is fairly naked, not a lot of PP.  But you can get the idea.  We wanted the lamps, the barrel ceilings, and the windows in the background.  You can shoot up VERY carefully and get some nice stuff.  Watch your bodice lines and keep your lights above the subject.

Camera settings: ss1/60, f2.8, ISO 500, 14mm, 14-54mm lens

Next workshop is the mother of all workshops in Abilene, TX on October 26th.  If you have any interest in weddings, that is thee workshop to attend.  The $500 is peanuts compared to what you can potentially gross booking weddings after you have learned and applied the workshop info.  You’ll be a better photographer AND a better business person.  Seriously, book one baby wedding and you’ll recoup your educational expense of the workshop, plus some, plus be tooled with this info for as long as you shoot…not to mention the portfolio pieces are going to be stunning.  In short - its worth it.  You have ALL DAY detailed instruction on wedding and bridal photography.

If you havent seen that workshop yet, here is the link: http://workshop.bellesphotography.com/index.htm There are still a couple of seats left.  Grab them while ya can!

And for the rest of you crazy people, see you in Austin at the castle in a few weeks!