Keep busy during this pandemic - capturing senior / graduation portraits

If you had asked me back at the beginning of March if I would be bored during this time of year, I would have laughed at you. I had most weekends booked with events, photo tours to Costa Rica, Scotland and Ireland. Oh, and we can't forget the Olympics which was supposed to be starting next month.

But with the pandemic, all of that changed!

I have to admit, when all this shelter-in-place started, I took it in stride and welcomed the down time. I figured that this would be a short-term issue and that we would be back to normal within a month or two. As things progressed, it became obvious that this would not be the case. Now, months later, I have to admit that I am not always my normal happy-go-lucky self. It seems that every morning I wake up to another event postponement or client asking about our future photo tours. But I think the hardest thing to deal with is the lack of client interaction and the lack of creating images for those clients. Basically, I want to get back out and be creative again!

The good news is that, with the shelter-in-place loosening up a little and graduation season in full swing, it has given me a chance to get out and capture images for my clients (while maintaining a safe distance). And boy does it feel good to shoot, download, build galleries and retouch again!

I thought I would share some of those images (with camera settings) with all of you.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 150mm, ISO 400, f/4, 1/125th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

This photo was taken about 3 weeks ago and it was the first time I had gotten out with my camera since March 7th. I photographed Allie in her front and back yards and it felt great to get back on the horse!

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 105mm, ISO 160, f/4.5, 1/200th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

A week and a half ago, I was asked to photograph a graduation party in one of my client's backyard.

(Canon 5D MK IV, 24-70mm 2.8 lens at 35mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/320th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

They did an awesome job of throwing a grad party with each family having their own table 10 feet from the next. We had to do a group photo of the boys with their masks on, as it tells the story of the time.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 135mm, ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/100th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

Last weekend I photographed for another client in front of their house.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 95mm, ISO 250, f/3.2, 1/250th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

Sarah was graduating that afternoon, but we got together in the morning to capturing these photos of her. For almost all of these photos, I used the Canon 1D X Mark III, Canon 70-200mm lens, and Canon 600-EX-RT flash.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 70mm, ISO 1600, f/5, 1/000th sec)

This photo really cracks me up. Her family wanted to a jumping shot in front of the house. I put the Canon 1D X Mark III into high speed burst mode and captured many images of them jumping. After we took their photos, I asked them if they could get their dog to jump as well. Knowing where the family was placed in the previous photos, I had them get the dog over to the right side of the front door for his jump. I then composited the images (one for the men on the left, one for the ladies on the right, and one for the dog) in Adobe Photoshop CC for this final image.

(Canon 5D MKIV, 24-70mm 2.8 lens at 59mm, ISO 250, f/4, 1/160th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

In a recent blog post, you saw the image I took of our neighbor Jeffrey, who graduated from high school. His family threw him a graduation party on his driveway, where many friends drove by and celebrated with him from a distance.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 135mm, ISO 160, f/5, 1/80th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

A couple of days ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Rachael for her graduation photos. The last time I photographed her was 5 years ago for her Bat Mitzvah.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 142mm, ISO 400, f/3.2, 1/200th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

We met at a local park to get these photos of her.

(Canon 1D X MKIII, 70-200mm 2.8 lens at 160mm, ISO 400, f/3.2, 1/160th sec, Canon 600EX-RT flash at -1)

This was one of the last photos we took of her. She reached up to reposition her cap, and I liked the pose. I asked her to hold that for a second and captured this photo, with that big smile. Just being able to shoot again and socialize put a smile just as big on my face.


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