The absolute BEST part of being a Portrait Photographer who specializes in creating Creative Portraits through the art of Composite Photography is seeing the smiles inspired by a Portrait that captures a family’s story perfectly. Sometimes, those smiles are tears brought on by something special hidden within their Portrait.
I’ll explain in a few minutes…
Today, I’m going to break down the Spicer’s Pool Party Family Portrait so you can see exactly how I bring a family’s story to life.
The reason my Creative Family Portraits are so successful is that I take the time to really dig into a family’s story and what’s important to them. This all begins in our Discovery Session where we get to know you and brainstorm ideas for an Amazing Family Portrait.
So, put on your swimsuit, and let’s jump into the making of a Pool Party.
The Spicer’s Discovery Session
Going to a new client’s home for a Discovery Session is like walking into the great unknown because I never know what type of family I’m going to be working with. Will they be free and outgoing, or will they be stiff and uptight?
The second I walked into the Spicer’s home, I knew instantly my experience was going to be nothing short of interesting.
Let me just say, wet kids from the pool, crazy dogs running everywhere and humping, and maybe a little too much spirits for some of the adults were on the menu for today’s Discovery. Then dad comes buzzing around the corner and thankfully pulls everything together around the kitchen table.
This Family Portrait of the Spicer family represents them perfectly.
On first impression, it was clear the Spicer family was NOT like any other family, and after digging into their Discovery, I quickly realized their Family Portrait was going to be as Uniquely Different as they all were.
What made me think that you might ask?
Hmmmm… Could it have been the dogs humping as we were standing in the entryway of their home, or could it have been the fact that they considered one of their kids to be a “mixologist”, or maybe it was the iron statue in the front window flipping us off as we walked up to their front door.
Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
When I left there the day of the Discovery, one thing was for sure, they had a super cool modern home and their Family Portrait was going to be over-the-top CRAZY. Anything was game and they pretty much allowed me to do whatever I thought was best for their Family Portrait.
50 Images of Pool Party
I know I mentioned having to stitch several images together to create the kitchen scene for the Lloyd’s Family Portrait called “Kitchen Chaos”, but it’s not just inside Portraits that require a lot of creative piecing together of images.
For Pool Party, it took 4 separate images to bring the Spicer’s backyard to life.
I frequently tell my clients as we’re getting started, “The only limitation you have with your Uniquely Different Family Portrait, is your own imagination”, and thanks to the many compositing tools I use, I can do virtually anything you want.
The photos above are just a couple I used to piece together their backyard scene, which, BTW, was not easy to piece together into one Amazing scene.
#1: Jeff
#2: Victoria
#3: William’s Body
#4: William’s Head
#5: Henry’s Legs
#6: Henry’s Body
#7: McMillin
#8: Grandpa
#9: Dog #1
#10: Dog #2
#11: Wine
#12: Wine Glass
#13: Nerf Dart
#14: House Image #1
#15: House Image #2
#16: Lit Windows
#17: House Image #3
#18: Pool Image #1
#19: Pool Image #2
#20: Pool Water
#21: Pavement Image #1
#22: Pavement Image #2
#23: Foreground Tree Right
#24: Foreground Tree Limb
#25: Foreground Tree Left
#26: Background Trees Left
#27: Background Trees Middle
#28: Background Trees Right
#29: Chase Building
#30: Rocket Building
#31: Power & Light Building
#32: Green Light Building
#33: Hyatt Building
#34: Sky
#35: Southwest Plane
#36: Chemtrails
#37: Flying Bottle
#38: Darth Vader (Item #1)
#39: Lego Truck (Item #2)
#40: Mom’s Box (Item #3)
#41: Nombs (Item #4)
#42: Bear (Item #5)
#43: Turtle (Item #6)
#44: Ferdinand (Item #7)
#45: Basketball (Item #8)
#46: Freddy the Finger (Item #9)
#47: Green Bay Hat (Item #10)
#48: Rope
#49: Music Symbol
#50: Music Symbol
A Closer BTS Look
In my opinion, one of the coolest things about creating my Creative Family Portraits is seeing the Before Images, and how they came to live with a little Photoshop magic. Ok, maybe a lot of Photoshop magic.
That’s a Wrap
Earlier I mentioned how, upon a client seeing their Creative Family Portrait for the very first time, one may be so emotionally touched by something in their Portrait that it makes them cry.
For this Family Portrait, Victoria really wanted her mother’s ashes somewhere in the Portrait to symbolize her mother.
I thought because I’m always doing that, the BEST spot to hide her mother’s ashes would be on the chair right next to where her dad is sitting in the background. This brought Victoria to tears as she was so happy to see here mom and dad together in their Amazing Family Portrait.
