Vivian Killin Photography

Colorado Couples & Family Photography

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Hayward Family Session

Families, Outdoor November 14, 2018

I’m going to start reflecting on my sessions so that I can keep getting better at taking pictures, posing, and editing.

I did a sunset family session with J & T’s family in Hayward last Sunday! We originally weren’t going to take pictures because of the smoke from the Camp Fire, but the smoke lifted a bit, and heartbreakingly made a beautiful sunset.

I learned a ton from taking photos during this session and editing. I’m learning what aperture to be at for group pictures to make sure everyone’s eyes are in focus. I LOVE shallow depth of field though so I’m still trying to play around with how low I can go before people get out of focus. I had my ISO too high at the beginning when the sun will still somewhat high, so I googled how to make photos less grainy without making the subject look too softly focused. I do like the soft focused look though because film photos tend to not be the sharpest. It gives a dreamy, timeless look. I also had to get some green sun flares out, and that was tricky! I didn’t do it for some pictures because I liked the effect. I ALSO learned that I need to make sure my flux (my blue light filter) on my computer is not on because otherwise my screen is very yellow! I had to fix a bunch of pictures because they were bluer than they should’ve been. I’ve also never photographed a sunset and sky as orange and tinted as this so it made editing fun! I’m slowly figuring out what style and tones I like — I re-edited some pictures 6 times trying to get the white balance and tint and tones how I wanted them. Some pictures have more of a pink tint but the sunset cast an orange/pink glow, so I tried to balance that. Some pictures where there wasn’t a natural bright reflector (like pictures in the grass) were harder to edit, so I’m going to keep working on that!

Style preference right now: (I’m curious to see how this evolves over time) I like showing the highlights (important for a day where the sky was super beautiful), lightening the shadows, and not over-exposing too much and not increasing contrast a ton. I like warmer white balance but am trying to stay as true to color as possible.

I made my workflow slightly more efficient by figuring out a good way for myself to cull and edit, and I learned to export at a slightly higher file size and make sure the PPI is bigger in care people want to make prints.

Posing-wise, I’m learning what actually looks natural and what doesn’t. They were so easy-going though so I feel like I got tons of good poses without even asking them! It also helps that Austin was behind me pretending to be a dog playing fetch with himself.

We got to recreate a picture of the kids from 6 years ago (and one of them didn’t know it was coming so the reaction is real!), and we also intentionally took some super tacky photos. You always need some of those!

If you made it through, I’m impressed. This is a journal for myself to see how I’ve grown! Keep going to see just a few pictures of this beautiful family! Check out another family session I did here after you get through this post!

For some of those last few I struggled with white balance a lot but I like how they turned out. It’s tricky to balance when the sky is orange!

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  1. San Jose In-Home Family Session | Vivian Killin Photography says:
    December 19, 2020 at 2:07 PM

    […] LOVE photographing families! Check out another blog post from a different family session […]

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Vertical photo post featuring the incredibly stunn Vertical photo post featuring the incredibly stunning Lindy and her beautiful venue and florals and the talent of their vendors!!! 

Last year I got to photograph a wedding ceremony by some pretty redwood trees, and this year I traded those for aspens. Clear creek inn and the town of Georgetown are so cute!!

Also, a champagne toast at the end of the ceremony is a great idea 💯

Now I will delete this app again, go into my editing cave, and see this beautiful inside and out couple on my screen every night! You can see some more previews in my story highlights

Venue: @clear_creek_inn 
Florals: @boulderblooms 
Makeup: @calliekayartistry 
Hair: @rachael.thehairologist
Congrats to Lindy, Zach, and their little girl!!! Congrats to Lindy, Zach, and their little girl!!! These two got married on Saturday in Georgetown, and the predicted all-day rain thankfully stayed away 🎉

I was delighted and honored that they moved their wedding from Kentucky to Colorado (where they live now) and asked me to photograph their nuptials. One of my favorite parts of weddings is seeing all the family and friends love on each other and the couple—Lindy and Zach’s community is amazing and I love that I got to meet them. I get to photograph the best people 💕and it’s clear from the way that people talk about these two that they are especially thoughtful, gracious, and welcoming. 

For now here are a few horizontal photo previews!

Venue: @clear_creek_inn 
Florals: @boulderblooms 
Makeup: @calliekayartistry 
Hair: @rachael.thehairologist
I had fun hanging out with this new family of 5, e I had fun hanging out with this new family of 5, especially because one of the kids shares my love of photographing families 🥰
Before the Ryders moved out of Colorado, we took s Before the Ryders moved out of Colorado, we took some family photos at Reunion Park, where they announced their third pregnancy almost two years ago!

🥹🥹I have photographed this family 7 times since we moved to Denver 3.5 years ago! Each time I leave feeling so much joy and gratitude that I get to know them ♥️ miss you all
It is always so amazing to see someone you know be It is always so amazing to see someone you know become a parent for the first time 💕 it literally makes me squeal with joy 😂

Swipe to see Tewla adjusting to her new life sharing (or getting bumped out of?) the #1 main girl spot in the family
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