My First Photo Shoot

A friend of mine knew that I was wanting to get practice time in with my camera and asked if I could take photos of her son for his upcoming 2nd birthday.  Of course I jumped at the offer and we scheduled the day.  The original birthday theme was farm animals however it eventually evolved into trains.  I thought this was great since I've always wanted to photograph on the tracks (I've been eyeing them all summer every day I go over them in Kissimmee). I did some research on websites as well as flickr to see what kind of props I needed, poses I should use as well as the best angle to take the photos.  It's hard enough taking photos of a toddler not on a railroad track so I also had to figure out how in the world was I going to keep him from running away.

I thought the session went great.  The props I brought along with me included a small toy train, a walkie talkie, a whistle and balloons.   The location was at Toho Square in downtown Kissimmee which is next to the Amtrak station.  The client wore a white shirt, denim pants, a red handkerchief scarf and a pinstriped conductor hat.  We were lucky enough to have the train in the background during some of the shots.  I had a great time with him and every time I lost his attention, I brought out a new prop.  At the end, I used a lollipop to keep his attention and it was a nice "thank you treat" for him as well.

Post-processing was a blast.  I already knew I was going to have to do some post-processing since the little boy got recent cuts and bruises on his nose the day before.  His mommy was worried but I knew I would get around it.

Check out more click on: Ethan's 2nd Birthday

Before

After