3 REASONS TO CAPTURE OUTDOORS FAMILY PHOTOS BETWEEN SEPTEMBER AND CHRISTMAS

You may be thinking that the sun won’t be out and what if rains, but here’s three brilliant reasons to take photos in the Autumn months and some selfie-tips too, if you’re doing it yourself.

1. The colours are spectacular.
I don’t think I need to say any more about this! Just look at the images.

SELFIE TIP 1: If you’re capturing this as a selfie on your phone, it is a bit hard to get lots of scenery in, so just try to leave a bit of room to one side of the image rather than centring yourselves, and make sure you’ve got autumn colours in the background.

2. The timing is perfect for the grandparents’ Christmas gifts.
There’s nothing the grandparents love more than time with their grandchildren and family. And if they can’t be with you, then the next best is being able to look at your portraits, taking pride of place on the living room wall.

And it’s a win-win-win-win for you too: 1) you can gift an updated portrait every year, 2) you don’t need to scour the shops for new inspiration each year, 3) you can give all the grandparents the same gift, and finally, 4) it can be done and dusted well before Christmas, leaving you free to think about everything else that needs doing.

SELFIE-TIP 2: Make sure you’ve got your selfie photo captured before the beginning of December so you have time to get the picture printed and framed before the Christmas print cut-off dates towards the middle of Dec. For wall art like canvases these deadlines are earlier.

Want to skip the hassle? Get professional framing with museum grade art glass and a dust controlled environment. Get a canvas that will last 100 years.
Come to me for a session, and let me create your wall art for you :-)

3. The natural light is spot on for portraits.
Sunshine is the professional photographer’s nemesis. We crave cloudy, overcast days because this creates the softest most beautiful light which flatters everyone’s skin and features. On sunny day’s you’ll notice your photographer looking for the shade for your photos. But when we can roam freely under the clouds, it means we can capture catchlights in your eyes (that’s the eye sparkle you can see in really good portraits) in any location we like. Sunlight also creates ugly, unnatural colour casts that need to be removed in Photoshop afterwards. (Ever noticed your face looking green in an outdoors photo? That’s a green colour cast caused by the sunlight bouncing off the grass and covering your face in a green light).

SELFIE-TIP 3: Choose a day with even, (white if you can) cloud cover. Remember not to go too late in the day, especially if it is a grey cloud day, as there won’t be enough light to get a good shot. When you take the photo - look for catchlights (the white reflection of the clouds above) in the eyes for a sparkle that sets your pictures apart.

BONUS SELFIE-TIP: L:et a pro take the shots, and get in the frame yourself :-)

Fancy an outdoors session with me in Victoria Park, (London, E8)?

Get on my mailing list today and I’ll email you details of my coveted autumn weekend sessions in Victoria Park, (London, E8), as soon as they are released towards the end of September*. I always release these dates to previous clients and mailing list members first, as they are so popular they tend to sell out before I get to advertise them publicly. (I feel very honoured that so many of my families love these sessions so much, thank you for trusting in me).

Want to see some more of my outdoors work? Have a scroll though some of the images below, from a few of last year’s family shoots. Want even more - take a look at my outdoors shoots page.

* Reading this later than the end of September? No problem. Join the mailing list anyway (for next year and upcoming specials), and ping me an email to check availability for this year.

Hope to see you for a photoshoot soon!

Sara

xxx