Mini Location Scouts

These guys helped me scout locations a while back for a wedding.  I made them pose a lot, and they were really good sports about it.  Here I even got an unexpected wink.

The bride, Aidee, had requested one photo where the groom picked her up, so just for fun we tested the pose... quite entertaining :)  They crashed to the ground right after.

I love the idea of visual contrast--not just light and dark tones, but also the subject and their environment.  I noticed a desert area near the reception venue (Spring Valley Lake) and I could just picture Aidee walking through it in her beautiful white dress, hand in hand with her new husband.  So, I convinced the boys we had to take just a couple more shots.

Alas, Aidee wasn't super keen on going in the desert with her dress on (and who could blame her.)

Up, up and away! :: Surrealism Part II

We had some fun with surrealism today.  This was Emerson's idea--I asked him what he wanted and he said to float away with a balloon.  I said "That sounds fun, but we don't have any balloons."  His response: "You can just make one on Instagram."  Say what?  You're FIVE.  When I asked him how he knew about Instagram he said I had shown him, and turns out he meant Photoshop, but still.  He helped me edit and insisted on removing the chair which I had deliberately shot to add some "realism" to the image.  So, the first one here is his pick, and the second one is my original idea.  I'm interested to hear feedback.  These are a composite of 4 images all shot from the same spot at the same focal length (do not read any further if reading this will ruin this photo for you.)

1. The balloons (borrowed, creative commons licensed for reuse.)

2. Emerson on tippy toes

3. The chair in the scene, tipped and held in place by Ansel

4. Just the scene minus any people, chairs or balloons.

Of course the best balloons that I could find that were appropriately licensed had to be all almost the exact color of the sky.  So, we set out to colorize them with Emerson picking out the colors.  He now knows the term "masking."