Candice’s Family Portraits in Madison
May 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Candice graduated from UW Madison Engineering Department. She and her family came to James Studio for family portraits. Her parents and grandparents travelled all the way from Taiwan to be an integral part of Candice’s graduation.
Candice arranged the photo session a week ahead. She came with her mother a few days prior to meet me and see what backgrounds were available. We discussed clothing, sets, backgrounds, and time. She provided a check in order to confirm the shoot. We also discussed shooting at Memorial Union or a park, but the weather was not the best and their time was limited. So the shoot was done in the studio.
The family shoot included three brothers. One of the brothers had a girlfriend who was also a part of the shoot. Everyone had a great time. In addition to the large group portrait, we broke the group down into smaller groups with parents, brothers, grandparents, couples, and individual shots, too.
Since the extended family was together, it was a perfect time to get professional portraits. James Studio is less than a mile from the campus and offers excellent pricing. The shoot was set up for an hour, but everyone was enjoying the time so much it went on for 90 minutes or more at no additional cost to them. I offered Candice $159 for a one-hour session, plus I included two high-definition digital files with permission to print. This is a great deal. If you are looking for professional photography for your family, call Jim at James Studio. You will receive a personally crafted, enjoyable experience with beautiful photographs to enjoy forever.
During the shoot I took about 180 photos. Below is a video I put together using just 22 photos. Enjoy the clip. If you have a high speed connection to the internet be sure to click on the HD icon for a better image of the video.
James Studio Photography
Madison Wisconsin Photography Studio
Candice became a graduate of engineering from UW Madison May 14,2011.
The following is a traditional group portrait. Compare it to the next image.
The following is a composite of three images. This image also had the background modified in Photoshop.
The following is Candice with her three brothers. They made for a nice triangular shape in this shot.
This is a composite of two shots. It was hard to get the hat in the right spot and get good expressions at the same time so I fixed it in post. It became my favorite image of the entire shoot.
Here is Candice with her lovely mother.
Her father is showing some personality in this shot.
Candice’s grandparents do not understand very much English but with lots of hand motions and commotion from the photographer I was able to get some nice expression.
Toward the end I wanted Candice to give me several fashion looks. This was one of them that is fun.
Christmas Portraits
October 29, 2010 by 1 Comment
Are you interested in a beautiful, professional family portrait for Christmas this year? Give us a call!
I take the photographs while tethered to a large high-definition monitor. This allows customers to see the images right away and together we make some adjustments. Then I take more pictures till the perfect shot is achieved. You choose your favorite image and I send it to you with the right to print.
Gift cards of $50 or more are available.
James Studio is located at 2611 University Avenue in Madison. Directions: If you are heading east on University Avenue (toward downtown Madison), stay right on University when Campus Drive splits off from Old University. Then park in one of the three spots in front of the studio. Ignore the sign stating a 10-minute limit. If the spots in front of James Studio are filled, go straight ahead on Old University for 1/2 block; there are usually parking spots available on both sides of the street.
Studio & UW-Madison Arboretum
October 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Saturday, October 3, 2010 I had a photography session with Katie Thompto. Katie is currently a student at UW Stout, but her family lives here in Madison.
The following are some of my favorite shots from the day. In fact, this first image is a great shot of her face, eyes, and her peaceful countenance.
Doesn’t she have a beautiful smile? I think it really shines in this pose.
She is a sweet young lady who enjoys being photographed. She had taken some modeling classes, so she knew just what to do with her arms by keeping them away from her body. Keeping the arms away from the body reveals more of a woman’s shape and is generally a more pleasing look.
I like the subject in the prone position. I think it is flattering. It provides an interesting shallow-depth-of-field look. In this picture the face is in focus while the legs and feet are out of focus.
Katie is leaning against the barn-wood wall that is in the studio. The barn wood is all natural and provides a variety of interesting looks for my subjects.
Next we went to the UW-Madison Arboretum. There are many beautiful spots in the Arboretum; this one is extra special and is complete with several ducks that have temporarily made it their home.
In this photo you can see that the ducks were really cooperating quite nicely–they decided to visit us on our side of the pond.
I thought Katie would look great among the weeds, so we journeyed to another part of the Arboretum for some shots just after sundown. Notice the rosy sky in the background. Now if you are wondering if Katie really had to walk out into the the weeds, she did not. There is a path for people to walk on so no damage is done to the foliage. But the natural look is still very good.
Here is another look. I really like this image a lot except for one thing. It looks like Katie’s hips are shifted toward the camera, which is to her best advantage. The subject’s weight should be on the back leg and the hips shifted away from the camera to help show her slender shape.
Katie was a great sport, as she was willing to do lots of jumps for me. She really enjoyed this part, but I think part of her enjoyment came from the fact that it helped to warm her up when it was getting quite chilly. In another picture I could clearly see goosebumps on her arms!
