Having been seriously into photography for nearly two years now, I was excited (and nervous!) to be doing my first paid family shoot. I agreed to meet Jennifer and her family at Nymans Woodland, a lovely set of woodland trails near Handcross in West Sussex. Luckily the weather was ideal - mild, no rain, and plenty of cloud cover brings perfect conditions for portraits. The only downside to a cloudy day is that it can be dull, so I advised the family to wear brighter, autumn-inspired colours which would help the photos pop.

We started off with a walk and chat, a great way to get to known each other and set Jennifer and her family at ease. Many people do not like their photo taken or are unsure what to expect, so making the whole experience a relaxed one is really important. We often associate a photo shoot with the formal, serious nature of a school photo - “turn your head this way, look down a bit, now smile!”. Lifestyle portrait shoots should feel completely different - relaxed, natural and often candid. This results in a better set of photos and a fun session to remember.

The first thing I look for is areas of interesting composition, this is so that a photograph can be framed in an attractive way. Luckily woodlands are great for these - paths create leading lines, benches can be a fun prop and trees/leaves an interesting autumnal backdrop. Secondly I was looking at the lighting - something which takes a ling time to master but is incredibly important. Although it was a cloudy day, there is still a lot of light and this can create unflattering shadows at times, or a very flat contrast if hitting faces directly. To combat this I used the cover of leaves which can helpfully scatter some of the light as well as provide a nice border to a photo. Lastly, I made sure to keep Jennifer’s son happy and as focused as possible throughout. He did extremely well and managed to stay engaged for the whole hour.

The shoot was a success and it was great to meet such a warm, energetic family. The photos went through about 2 hours of editing in the Skylum Luminar application which I use for post processing. After sharing with Jennifer via her personal Instaproofs online gallery, she was very happy with the photos and gave some nice feedback. Her package included 10 photos but as she couldn’t pick just 10, she decided to purchase all of them. For me this was a great moment of recognition that I had captured this wonderful family successfully.