3 Tips For Taking Great Portrait Photos | Behind The Scenes Vlog

Maternity photos for Lexi and Jaden and an engagement shoot. Technically it's maternity photos. It's gonna be good. We're going to the Light Loft. and we're gonna get the best lighting in Abilene. So stay tuned. Here we go. Jaden's also going to be in the maternity photos. Let's get a fit check. Jaden, how's that? Dudes, white dudes. How much was the shirt? Shirt was, uh, $60. How much was the shorts? Shorts were, uh, another $60. Shoes? Shoes were I think they were 50 bucks. Limited edition Hey Dudes. Limited edition Hey Dudes that have no sole. Limited edition. Lexi, are you excited to take pictures?

Yes.

How you feeling?

Just pregnant and all. Are you excited about all that?

Jordan's coming out soon, right Winnie? Right Winnie? In preparation for a maternity shoot, what do you do to get ready?

Eat some Jello Mix. Make sure I have SD card, batteries, cameras, lenses, which my husband provides.

Thanks, Howdy Media.

Um, today I pulled up a bunch of Pinterest stuff. Shh. Look, while I'm driving, this is so safe.

Don't do it while you're driving.

And I have a maternity board and we're just gonna roll through what poses are most comfortable for Lex and, uh, the light loft has so many different possibilities, so I'm excited. But that's really all I do. And then the editing is the hard part, finding an edit you like and rolling with it. But I'm so excited. It's gonna be great.

So excited.

Oh, I guess also I asked them like What are their colors? What are the outfits? Do you want multiple outfits? Do you want to do one outfit? And that kind of helps me build the session too. Some poses look better in certain outfits.

Heck yeah. Let's get it. How you feeling, Jordan? Oh, you're not Jordan. That's Jordan.

There he is. Good luck.

How you feel? You hot yet?

Yeah.

It's only about 107 degrees outside. So, all right, let's get it.

Let's go get— not in the— this is the F boat.

All right, if you guys are looking for a studio to take pictures in other than the Howdy Studio, obviously this is the next, next best spot. Great natural light, it's going to be good. The Light Loft, check it out, link in the description. Look at this lighting.

Beautiful.

There's 3 actual things that will help you get the best pictures whenever you're taking portraits like this. So the first thing is going to be the camera body. It's the least important thing on this list because there's a lot of good camera bodies out there. They all have about the same sensor. There's nothing else to it. As long as you know how your camera works and how shutter speeds work, aperture and your ISO work together, you'll be fine. The second one is your lens option. Right now you're seeing the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 aperture lens. The reason I love this lens is because the bokeh is glorious. If you just check it out, it's at f/2.5 right now. And the background looks very blurry. So the glass that is on your camera body is actually, in my opinion, more important than the camera body that you're using.

Yes. Oh, that was cute.

Who would you say the best photographers in West Texas are? The best photographers in West Texas are— just unbiased opinion— Darren Pacheco, Katie Pacheco, that's Lexi Gibbs, then Jaden Gibbs. That's my list. And fifth year. And last but not least, it is your location. Make sure there is great lighting. If there's not great lighting, bring great lighting. In this case, we have these massive windows here downtown and the sun is bouncing off of those buildings. Back over here this way into these rooms. And these massive windows let all this light in. It's super soft because it's deflecting off of the buildings. So either shoot in a location like this or find a spot outside if it's not 110 degrees outside. Holy moly.

Here. I'm good, thanks. Oh, you?

Okay.

Jaden! Jaden! Being nasty. Oh wait, that was kind of cute. I could see the belly pit. Can you do a little breakdance moment here? Like how to spin? Like this? Cute! Awkward! What are you doing? Okay, thanks for that.

Before you get to the shoot, make sure to have a good idea of the poses that you want to put your client in. A good resource for this is actually using Pinterest boards, even though I've been against Pinterest boards for a while, but my wife changed my mind. So I've been tasked with getting Jordan Elliott put together on the sign, and it looks pretty good. It looks pretty good if you ask me.

I said you gotta have two L's.

No, you did not. So you gotta put no T in there. Should have told me that in the first place, Jaden. Is that easy?

Can you do it again?

How's it going so far?

Good, it's good.

What are y'all about to do next?

Um, they're currently switching outfits and I'm doing a little detail shot, kind of like you see at weddings. Um, I'm basically going to stage— I think there's some more outfits over there, but kind of like you see at weddings, they have like an invitation, the special shoes and stuff like that, and just kind of get a shot of that. So, woohoo!

So I'm curious to see your guys' photos. If you would drop a link in the comments below, I wanna see some of your pictures. If you've done maternity shoots, if you've done engagement shoots, I want to see your talent because it's always good to have a network of good photographers. All right, that's the wrap of the shoot. We got our bag, our trail mix. Katie did a great job with posing and the camera. Thank you. She did all the work. I just used another camera to make this video, so.

I hope it turns out good.

It will, it will.

I'm sure it turned out on camera.

I'll have to put my videos rated R.

Wow, he won't even kiss me on his camera.

I'll black it out so we don't get rated R. We won't be able to monetize.

Nothing you do is rated R.

Take 8, we'll see y'all later. The framing is immaculate.

Yes! Good!