A new school year is upon us, and with it a new graduating class. High School and College Seniors Class of 2019, Schedule a Photo Session for your Senior Portraits with larue.photo.

How to Prepare for Your Senior Portraits Photo Shoot

So you’ve booked a Senior Portraits with larue.photo. What can you do before hand to get the most out of your portrait session time? How can you prepare, so we can capture the best portraits of you that we can during your session?

Brainstorm Places with Special Significance to You

We want to tell your story from senior portrait session. And part your story are the places you love spending time.  Is there a park with a fountain and ducks you like to feed? Your schools softball field? How about that old tire swing where you and your sweetie shared your first kiss? 

I find though, that the senior portraits with the most personality are the one’s we create outdoors, on location, during golden hour, in a place that has special meaning to you. Those are the portraits that will be the most meaningful to you for years to come.

Get a Hair Cut 5-7 days before

You want to look your best for the photos we’ll create together.  Getting your hair cut can make you look much nicer. And you know how you don’t like to way your new hair cut looks, because it’s still fresh and obviously new? Go get it cut a week or so before your photoshoot to give it time to look a bit more natural and lived in.

Bring an Outfit Change

By bringing 2-3 outfits with you, we will be able to deliver a more varied final product to you. Try to bring 1 formal outfit, 1 casual outfit, and 1 outfit which reflects your favorite hobby.  These pieces of clothing reflect who you are in 3 different aspects of you life, and we want to capture each of those sides of your personality.

Think About Props You Can Bring

What are your hobbies? What are the tools you use for those hobbies?  Bring those things and help visually tell the story of who you are, and what makes you unique.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Seniors, Bring:

  

  • Cap & Gown
  • Suit & Tie or Dress
• Athletes, Bring:
  • Your sports gear…no wait…your sports gear is filthy and smells awful. Mom knows. Wash it first. Or better yet, bring…
  • A brand new ball, bat, glove, hat, etc.
• Musicians, Bring:
  • Your instrument(s) and accessories
  • Sheet music
  • Marching Band: Ask your band director if you can borrow your uniform, shako and plume
  • Drummers: sticks, mallets, practice pad, a drum and/or drum head, and a cymbal or two
• Eagle Scouts Bring:
  • Class A: That includes Shirt, Pants, Belt, Hat, Socks, Merit Badge Sash, Neckerchief
  • Scout Handbook
  • Tent, Pack, Stove, Camping Gear

Bring Some Music to Listen to

Feel free to put together a playlist of your favorite songs to play during the shoot. I find that hearing familiar music can be comforting, and can help relax you if you’re feeling nervous about being photographed.  These shoots are meant to be fun, and I want you to feel as comfortable as possible so that I’m able to capture the true, inner you.  We all have plenty of pictures of ourselves giving that same practiced smile.  You know, the one that you put on after hearing “Say Cheese!”  That’s not what I’m after. I want to capture the candid moments that show you as you truly are.  So gather your favorite tunes, and get ready for a fun photoshoot with larue.photo.

Other Milestone Portraits We Capture:

Family Portraits
Engagement Portraits
Maternity Portraits
New Born Portraits
High School Senior Portraits
College Senior Portraits

Take a look at my portraits portfolio

Connect with larue.photo

Connect with larue.photo on Facebook , Instagram, and Twitter  to see new photos as soon as they’re published.

The post Senior Portraits with larue.photo, Scheduling, How to Prepare appeared first on laruephoto.

In honor of Father’s Day, I have gathered some New Born Portraits I’ve captured. Enjoy!

New Born Baby in a Pumpkin

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She was born in October so we created this scene for her birth announcements. We placed her on a blanket inside a pumpkin, and surrounded that with hay, burlap, and autumn leaves. Happy Father's Day!

Schedule a New Born Portrait Session

Today & Save 25%

Are you expecting to become a Father soon? Contact Me to schedule Maternity and New Born portrait sessions. Book a new born or maternity portrait session with me today and receive 25% off your session! Together we can create lasting memories of this brief period in your life.

Papa La Rue’s BBQ

Papa La Rue cuts the brisket for turn-in

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Using his recently custom built BBQ trailer kitchen. Complete with sturdy tables, tool drawers and most importantly, a satellite clock to keep all the meats on schedule for the turn ins at the Slab-o-Rama BBQ Challenge in Bullhead City, AZ

I’ll be spending Father’s Day with my dad, enjoying some BBQ. He’s been enjoying smoking meats in his back yard for several years now. He was meticulous about his methods, recording every step and comparing the results. That passion has evolved into a competition BBQ team called “Papa La Rue’s BBQ.” He started with one smoker; a Weber Smokey Mountain (SMW). Now he has 4 SMWs, a pellet smoker, 2 oil drum smokers, a thousand pound, custom painted Jambo Pits Enclosed model smoker, and access to a commercial kitchen.

A typical KCBS competition includes 4 BBQ turn-ins; Chicken Breasts & Thighs, Pork Shoulder, Ribs, and Beef Brisket. He’s tried a variety recipes, and it’s always fun for me to get to taste the different recipes he’s testing. So, I’ll be enjoying some BBQ with my Dad today.

Wanna see more pictures of Papa La Rue’s BBQ? How are you spending Father’s Day? Tell me in the comments below!

Thank You’s for Your Guidance!

Thank you to my father and all the father figures I’ve had in my life. My Dad, my Step-Dad, my Physics Teacher, my Scout Master (Dave), my Drum Teacher (Dave), my pastor (Dave), my neighbor who challenged me to memorize scripture (David), and the photographer I apprenticed under after University (David); My two dads, a Tom, and the 5 Dave’s. And certainly there are others, who may or may not have been named Dave, who helped raise me. You have all contributed to making me who I am today, I am grateful to each and every one of you.

The post Father’s Day New Born Portrait Special! appeared first on laruephoto.

This is the staff portrait that I created for Pinnacle Pain & Spine, a doctors office in Scottsdale, AZ which specializes in pain management solutions.  Look how great they all look! Everyone is smiling and looking into the camera. Not one person is blinking.  I’m very proud of this image.  Let me tell you about how I captured it.

Behind the Shot

This staff portrait is a lie. Well, actually not entirely, but I lied when I refer to it as a singular image. This is a composite group photo. I captured each staff member individually in front of a green screen and digitally composited each person into the final group staff portrait you see here. This allowed me to capture each person with their best smile, and to use that same exposure for both the group photo and the individual portraits.

Here is a gallery of the original images:

I setup a studio inside the doctors office, andeach staff member came to have his/her portrait captured while only missing a minute or two of work.  I was able to capture the portraits I needed before they realized we’d begun, and I think that accounts for the great smiles.  “Wow! That was painless!”, they’d say.

Because each portrait session moved so quickly, I was able to capture genuine smiles.  A genuine smile can be hard to hold and quickly becomes a fake smile if you wait too long.  Often with a group photo, the time spent posing people, and taking multiple shots to avoid any blinks, causes the genuine smiles to fade.  Instead each person puts on their best fake smiles, which are never fully convincing.

Post-Processing

This green screen composite group photo method allowed for a better final product but required quite a bit more post-processing than shooting the group altogether.  The post processing was time consuming, but not difficult. I opened each image in Photoshop then selected the green areas using a few clicks of the “Magic Wand” tool.  Using that selection I created a mask so I wouldn’t loose any pixels, in case I found out I needed some of the back later. (This is a basic rule of non-destructive editing.)  Hair caused some issues for the magic wand and required a bit more finesse, and manual attention to detail, but eventually I was able to preserve their hair styles too.

I created a mask for each person and saved out transparent files, as well as individual portraits on the blue background for use in their company directory.  Then I gathered all the images with transparent backgrounds and carefully placed each person into a pleasing composition, with care given to scale each person evenly, getting smaller according to row.

Feedback

So what do you think? Did you think this was a standard group portrait before I broke it down? Was it obvious that something was just a little off about it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Hire Me

Are you a business in the greater Phoenix area? You can hire me to create a composite staff portrait for your business too.  I’ll also create individual portraits of each staff member. You’ll be able to use these on your company’s website or printed in your promotional marketing materials.  Use my contact page to let me know about your project so I can give you a quote.

The post How I Created a Staff Portrait for Pinnacle Pain & Spine appeared first on laruephoto.

Portraits captured for Phoenix Elementary School District #1 for marketing purposes.  Shown here as used on their website.

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