Whew, finally catching up on blogging my family sessions! I was so excited to photograph this family because the last time I saw them their sweet girl hadn’t been born yet! They were one of the most stunning expecting couples I have ever photographed, you can view their session here. Their new baby girl is just adorable, and so happy and smiley.
Bokeh is a Japanese term that describes the out of focus or blurred area of an image. I’m sure you could find it explained in quite a few different ways, but that makes the most sense to me! Bokeh can be smooth and buttery, or sparkling through bubbles of light. What I love about it is that it really draws your eye to the subject by blurring out any distractions in the background. Most bokeh looks gorgeous while doing it, too! I must admit, out of all the challenges so far, I thought this one would be easy. Not so fast, this one was tough for me! Bokeh can depend on the type of lens used, aperture, and distance from background. Lens selection is important. My favorite lens, the 50/1.4 was out of commission this month, and my boys are a bit tired of my camera as we are nearing summer’s end. My friend Allison helped me out and loaned me her 85/1.2L, which produces some of the most gorgeous bokeh ever! My little guy also came through for me with the help of Dusty the plane. The only negative: I am pining away for that lens!! Time to start saving! Visit the blog of Allison Jacobs, Orange County Photographer to see the gorgeous bokeh in her work (she is the lucky owner of that 85L!). Follow through the circle and view the work of all of these talented ladies!
Below is the one photo taken with my 24-70/2.8. You can see the difference in the bokeh between this one and the photo above (taken with 85L).
Most of my macro photography lately has been bugs, snails, and spiders. Keeping busy with my boys this summer, we’ve found lots of them! Here are some that I took this past spring for those of you that are not bug fans. Those will be coming soon, don’t worry I will warn you first! The first two were taken in my backyard, the others are of purchased flowers. One of the best tips I have read was to buy a bunch of flowers every week or so and practice using different angles and viewpoints. I try to pick some up as often as I can from Trader Joe’s. I love them for flowers!
Canon 100L/2.8, 1/160, f/5.0 ISO 2500
Canon 100L/2.8, 1/400, f/6.3, ISO 640
Canon 100L/2.8, 1/200, f/9, ISO 3200
Canon 100L/2.8, 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 3200 (I should have lowered this a bit!)
Canon 100L/2.8, 1/200. f/2.8, ISO 500
Canon 100L/2.8, 1/640, f/4, ISO 1000
This month’s topic for Project 12 Portraits was definitely one of the most challenging so far! Our goal was to photograph a portrait session with our kids in a location that would not typically be considered for that purpose. To illustrate what we were able to accomplish with our spot, we are including pullbacks of the area from afar to give a clear perspective of the location. We all thought hard about this topic, I know I changed my mind many times about where to choose. In the end, I just decided to stay close to home and see what would happen. The boys and I ended up at the Whole Foods just down the street. It is a bit unique in that many of the store fronts are empty, in preparation for an upcoming renovation. We photographed along the front of the buildings as well as the rear of the store. There was a small trail across from the loading dock that connects to the park that boasted some beautiful light – we will be back here for sure! The only thing we didn’t do that would have been a lot of fun is photograph inside the store, maybe next time I will be brave and try that! Below each set is a pullback of the spot. This topic is sure to provide lots of inspiration, be sure to visit the blog of SF Bay Area Photographer Jessica Holden and follow through our circle!
Here is a pullback of the strip mall spot where the above photos were taken.
The above three photos were taken here, behind Whole Foods.
This is the trail that connects the rear parking lot to the park.
The front of Whole Foods has beautiful wood siding!
Love this! So many great spots! My favorite is the one on the crosswalk behind the market- beautiful sunlight!
These are great!! Your boys are so cute!! Love the variety and the shots on the path and then behind whole foods…that light, yum!
These are so awesome Kim!!! Love them all, seriously I can’t pick a favorite + you really rocked that shopping center. Now I want to go shoot there too!
These are fantastic! I love that you were able to utilize several different spots. My favorite use of a location is with the wooden background. It totally looks like your son is in front of a wooden building or wooden backdrop people pay to have. Not sure I would have seen that wood on the corner of the building and thought to use it as you did. Very creative!
These are WONDERFUL!!!! You’ve inspired me to go out and totally look for places around here–I feel like I am in such a slump and these give me hope!
I was so honored to photograph this beautiful new baby girl. Her mom is one of my best friends and they are the most amazing parents. She joins three older brothers, and they are taking their job very seriously already. It was so cute to watch them all together, the boys are so protective and so in love with her!
The boys are big Power Ranger and superhero fans, so this photo was a must!
[…] To continue through our circle of photographers and to see their take on portraits with bokeh, you can beging by visiting the lovely and talented, Kimberly Skeen | Orange County Family Photographer […]
Love these! My favorite bokeh is with pretty light coming through trees or with lights. You nailed the pretty light in trees. These are so pretty!
These totally remind me of my son- he loved his airplanes! Love the bokeh in these, and that you showed the difference in lenses. My favorite is the last with the fence framing your son, the pretty backlighting, and beautiful filtered light in the tree. Perfect!
It was so fun to meet you to shoot for this challenge and I think you found some great bokeh! Your little guy is just too cute—what a treasure to have that portrait that shows his missing teeth down the road!
Hi Kimberly!
I struggled too with this theme and wasn’t expecting that at all. These are gorgeous and that bokeh is amazing! But, I really cannot covet another lens–my husband says no more lenses! They just don’t get it! Beautiful work!
These are absolutely wonderful! And I borrowed that lens of Alli’s once too–it also left me pining… One day!
Good grief your son is cute! These are precious shots of him. Beautiful Bokeh!
He is just crazy cute!!! I think my daughter would be smitten with him : ) You did a awesome job with the bokeh…love!! You nailed this!