I’m thrilled to bring you an inspiring, Behind-the-Scenes look at our DC CONFIDENCE Workshop!

One of the biggest ways to develop confidence is by facing your fears.  To often, a photography workshop will bring in models and set up ideal lighting.  The photos taken are BEAUTIFUL, but how often do we have ideal lighting?  Almost never.  I’m so proud of our DC ladies because we did part of our baby shoot in the dark on Day One!  With only two small windows and a big, dark room, we unpacked this challenge on how to make a common fear a victory!  If you don’t have enough light, what do you do?  We answered this question from all different sides!  And you would never guess, by looking at the beautiful photos below, how dark this room was!

Confidence bloomed that day and continued through the whole weekend!   Take a look at how dark it was and more importantly, what these women captured!  I think it’s safe to say that they know how to capture beautiful moments when lighting isn’t anywhere close to being ideal!  Yeah!!

Elaine Heintz, I love that you captured this exact moment.  I can almost feel what this little guy is thinking.  He has an intense, curious look on his face.

In each different lighting situation I encourage my workshop attendees to take a walk around their subjects to find where the light is the best.  Or better yet, have your subjects just slowly turn in a circle to see when the light hits their faces perfectly, then shoot them from there.  Claudia Muir found the light perfectly hitting this baby.  It created those awesome “catch lights” from the windows.

Molly Lynch, I love this image.  What a great sample of finding the perfect, even light!  Again, when you find that light is when you can capture those awesome “catch lights”.

What a timeless image Lori Pohlman shot.  I love that we can see just the right amount of mom’s face here.  Just beautiful!

Lizzy Slade was shooting is some really strong backlight, but was able to expose the mom and baby really well.  This is a perfect example of why spot metering off the subject’s skin is so important in a backlit image.

Ohhh, Leslie Chang, what a great portrait of this little girl.  Shooting with such a low aperture really gives this image a blurry, buttery background.  Love it!

Lisa Whipple, I absolutely adore this shot of mom and baby interacting.  The light on their faces, yet dark all around really draws us into the emotion of this image.

Look  at this little girls blue eyes!  Wowza!  Leslie Rottner composed this shot perfectly.  I love that the flower on her hat is up in the right corner giving us space on the left for mom.  Lovely!

Kim Myers positioned herself lower to shoot upwards on this special moment.  That is a great way to eliminate a busy background.

This picture makes me chuckle.  I love the expression that Kate DeBow caught on this little guy.  It is, and should be, our main focus because the background is so dark and blurry.  Awesome!

Jill Anderson captured another moment of pure joy!  It is so important to capture those moments that are really memorable,  like kissing or blowing raspberries on a baby’s cheek to make them giggle.  Super catch Jill!

Jenn Johnston, so peaceful!  I just love the quiet and calm of this image.  When you are shooting a baby and their family, remember to capture shots like these as well.  Documenting a baby at each stage is so important because these moments are here one day and gone the next.

Because the room was so dark, Jen Tilley was able to shoot this little guy in the window light, yet keep her background dark and simple.  I love the clean lines of this composed image. Jen also has an awesome food blog, check it out here.

We have seen a couple of shots similar to this one, but Greta Garcia’s image captures a different feeling of emotion for me.  I feel the comfort, security and love this baby has for mom.  Again, when you keep the background simple, the emotion of an image can be the main focus!  Beautiful Greta!

I just loved the little boy on this table.  Erin Yeh did an amazing job of moving herself around him to be successful in that dark space.  Yay Erin!

This is a perfect hair swirl image Claudia Landis.  You also got the added bonus of mom looking completely stunning in the background.  Love it!

A little baby at this stage is all about movement, trying to crawl away as fast as she can.   BreAnna Schumacher did a fantastic job of catching her in action, documenting this time in her life.

I often ask my moms to wear a simple black camisole during their newborn shoot for this exact reason. Becky Talbert got in close on this one to use mom’s skin and camisole for a super simple background.  Really sweet Becky…his expression is picture perfection!

I really like the composition of Ania Krasniewska‘s image.  Go ahead and take that shot that his whole body is in, then get in there close to capture an image that feels totally different.  Great work Ania!

Allison Laster, what a super moment you caught on your camera.  I love the pink pop of the pillow in the background.

I just think this image is amazing!  Noelle Soroka captured mom looking lovely!  Noelle’s eye of having 1/3 of the image dark totally works here.

It is so fitting to have drool dripping off of a baby at this age.  Sharon Clauhs caught this baby at just the right time to catch that detail.  Details tell the story:)

I’m sorry…I don’t know who took this image. Even though the baby is our focus point in this image, I am loving the composition of mom in the background.  The simple black sling that the baby is in keeps this image looking very classic.

I want to wish all the DC CONFIDENCE ladies and amazing models a magic filled, holiday season!  May you all capture photos you never dreamed possible before you found confidence in the dark!

Day Two is coming up tomorrow!

(Dallas, we’ll be celebrating your workshop on the blog in January!)

xoxo,

m

*Give your wife the gift of CONFIDENCE with her camera in 2012!  Need help being convinced?  Here are the Top 12 Reasons a Husband Should Send His Wife to CONFIDENCE.    We have limited spots left in our Seattle and Orange County/LA, CA Winter workshops.  Women only (sorry guys!).  Tampa, FL is SOLD OUT!  CLICK HERE for Seattle Details and Orange Country/LA Details!