Ashley and I took pictures for about half an hour on Friday, mostly so I could practice some manual techniques on my camera. Things went pretty well — although there has to be a more streamlined and time effective way to achieve what I was trying to do. It’s been a bit of a frustrating transition from the XTi to the 50D. I knew my XTi like the back of my hand and could make it do pretty much what I wanted by the time I upgraded in November. The controls on the 50D, however, are pretty different and still take some getting used to in order to switch and change things quickly. I’ll get there — I just need little mini sessions like these more frequently!

Anyway, this was also a good session for starting to document my workflow. Processing these images took a little long, but most of that was due to the speed of my computer, still, I think I can cut down on some things and come out not spending quite as much time but still achieving very similar (if not the same) results.

Thanks for coming out Ashley and letting me take your photos! The cherry trees were beautiful and so were you! :) I hope you like them!

See the facebook album here.

• Familiarize myself completely with my camera. I’ve come a long way already and know a lot more about my camera than I did two years ago, but there’s always more to learn and I need to get comfortable adjusting settings in manual on the fly.
• Develop a distinct shooting and editing style that is unique and just me. I’m currently trying to figure out ways to bring in my love for Russia and all things Slavic into my photography. It sounds weird at first, but we’ll see what I end up with. It’s going to take a lot of research, and I’m okay with that.
• Hone my workflow. I want to know exactly how many hours it takes me to process a group of 30 photos, and I want it to be as low as I can get it without sacrificing quality. This will impact the number of clients I can take on in the future.
• Start zeroing in on the types of shoots I like the most and what my target audience / clientele will be in the future. Get to know the types of products they want, and start developing a product line accordingly.
• Develop a strong business plan that I’m able to start rolling out as soon as I’ve decided it’s time to start business.
• Nurture relationships with those who get involved in the photography building process and grow a sizeable following to my blog/website and my facebook fan page.

They actually seem pretty simple and to the point when I write them out like that, but every single goal in there is a huge step toward launching a successful business when I’m ready. I appreciate the support I’ve received so far for my decision and I only hope that it continues in the future. Thanks so much!

But then last Friday, I really started thinking about it. And I realized that, being the determined perfectionist that I am, I don’t have the time to do this right now. And I want to do right. I want to be able to provide a stellar, unmatched client experience from start to finish with photos they will treasure forever. And I just can’t do that right now. I have to stand back and recognize my priorities at this moment in my life, and my first priority right now is getting my Bachelor’s with good grades and helping my husband pay the bills. Not to mention maintaining my relationship with my husband, friends and family.

So I’ve decided to take a few steps back. I am going to resume the portfolio building phase for the next couple of years until I’m done with my Bachelors. Once I’ve finished my BA, I’ll evaluate where I’m at and what I want to do, and I might launch the business in earnest then, and I might not. The point is, I do love photography and I want to be able to give it my full attention when I can.

So what does that mean for you? First of all, if you’ve already booked a date with me and signed a contract, things will progress as normal. However, if you have not and you are interested in getting your photos taken, from this point forward, I will be offering photo sessions for free. But there are a few caveats.

1. You must sign a model release form for all participants. This will be for my portfolio.
2. You must sign a session agreement so we’re all on the same page.
3. You must understand that this is on my own time and at my own pace. Getting your photos edited will not be my first priority. If you need photos for something immediately, I suggest booking a full-time local photographer in addition to myself. However, this will not change the level of quality and attention I will give to your photos. They will still be fully edited, color corrected, blemishes removed, etc.
4. You will not be receiving your images on a disc. I will upload your pictures to a proofing gallery where you can order prints for yourself at cost there. I do not want there to be any exchange of actual goods between us to cover myself more than anything else. The prints will still be high quality and better than what you could order elsewhere as it is through a pro lab.
5. You will receive web resolution / watermarked versions of your images.

I will be offering these sessions usually on a last minute basis dependent on when I have time. The best way to keep informed of when these are being offered is to become a fan of my facebook page. I am most interested in photographing: Maternity, newborns, babies, children, seniors, couples and boudoir. I will not be photographing any weddings or events moving forward. Note that boudoir will still require a model release but it will be modified so that you help me select which images are usable. If you are interested in having me do your maternity and/or newborn sessions, I highly recommend contacting me while you are still pregnant so I can make sure I have time set aside for your sessions.

I will be updating the rest of the content on this webpage to reflect this change shortly. Thanks for all your support thus far and I ask that it continue over the next few years. I really want a chance to develop a truly unique style and technique over the next few years and I can’t do that without ample practice. Be assured that I am not pulling back to portfolio building because I doubt my ability to provide quality photos, but because I want to be able to run a full photography business with fully developed service, and I just don’t have the time for that right now.

Thanks again and I hope to be seeing some of you soon! :)

Tommy Ashley Engagement from Elyse Ku Felts on Vimeo.

Tommy and Ashley are getting married August 28, 2010. I was more than happy to have the opportunity to take their engagement photos for them (a) because they’re super cute and (b) because Tommy is my brother-in-law and Ashley is my soon to be sister-in-law, and I was honored to be given the chance to help document this exciting time in their lives! I took them out a couple weekends ago when the weather wasn’t as superb as it’s been this week (side-note: seriously, can you believe our luck?!). It was overcast, which worked out perfectly for the photos, but it was also freezing which wasn’t the best situation ever. Even so, Tommy and Ashley were troopers through the whole session, even when we opted to give Snoqualmie Falls a try where we all felt like we were going to be blown over by the wind!

I’m really pleased with how these photos came out, and I only hope that Tommy and Ashley like them as much as I do. It was a blast working with them and I am soooo excited to be gaining another sister-in-law so soon! Congratulations, you two!

See the album on facebook! You’ll need to become a fan of Elyse Kufeldt Photography to comment :)

Casey and Toni are Randy’s cousin and cousin-in-law, respectively. Way back on August 7 when we got married, before the ceremony, Toni and Casey went to the doctors to see if their suspicions were correct and they were pregnant … the results were positive, and later, they discovered they weren’t pregnant with just one little bub, but two! I was excited by the opportunity to take her maternity and newborn shots, and have been waiting for months for her to be “just right” for baby bump photos. At 5 / 6 months, no one could suspect that she is carrying twins, quite a feat! Moreover, she’s still one of the cutest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of photographing — she’s so full of life and willing to take any of my silly suggestions and even finds her own. I’m so overjoyed and excited for the two new additions to their lives and I am so honored to be able to do this for them!

See the album on facebook! You’ll need to become a fan of Elyse Kufeldt Photography to comment :)

1. Purpose

The first thing that you should do when preparing for your portrait session is determine what you’re doing it for and what you want to convey. Try answering these questions (for some of these questions, you might need outside opinions!):

1. Why are you booking a portraiture session?
   As a gift? To celebrate your engagement? Because you haven’t had your photos taken in a while? You need professional head shots? Facebook profile photos? It can be as mundane or exciting as a reason as you need it to be, but what is the reason you decided to get your photos taken?
2. What emotions would you like to capture (in each person involved)?
   This is likely to be tied directly to item one. Every person in the group (or just the single person if just one) needs to determine the emotions and / or personality traits they want to convey. Do you need to convey an air of professionalism? If you’re doing boudoir, do you want to appear vulnerable or smoldering? If they’re just normal profile photo type pictures you’re looking for — what emotions / personality traits do you want to come across in the photos? Enlist your friends to come up with five personality traits of yours. This is the mood that we will try to create in your photos.
3. What are important dynamics between everyone involved that are important to capture?
   For groups of two or more, find at least five defining characteristics of all the relationships. If you’re doing a couple session, look for some adjectives that describe the way you feel about each other. If you’re doing a family session, look for adjectives that describe the relationship between husband and wife, mother and son, etc. etc. This further defines the mood that we’re trying to capture in your photos, and will help me come up with staging advice to get that idea across ahead of time.
4. What are some faces / behaviors common to each individual and between individuals that those who know you best would consider uniquely you?
   Personally, this is one I’d definitely have to enlist the help of others with. Are there any facial expressions you make all the time that close friends would recognize? Those are the ones we need to try to pull out (naturally of course, I don’t want you to try to fake it!). If your close friends can help explain when those faces occur, all the better. :) Furthermore, if there are any odd or unique mannerisms between you and whoever else is in the photo session with you, be sure to write it down. For instance, Kristi & Jeremy have a habit where Jeremy bites Kristi’s nose. We stumbled upon that by accident, but those photos show a facet of their relationship that is unique to them. These are the types of things we’ll want to draw out.

2. Inspiration

Once you’ve answered all of the above questions, start looking for photos of your session type (i.e. if you are doing an engagement session, look for engagement photos, a senior portrait session, look for senior photos, etc.). Pull out images that you like and analyze them. What do you like about them? Check out these areas:

• Processing
  Look at the colors of the photo, the types of “effects” that seem to have been added, etc.
• Location
  What do you like about the location and background?
• Emotion
  What emotions are being conveyed that resonate with you? How are they conveyed?
• Clothing
  What do you notice about the clothing? What in particular jumps out at you? Do you see anything you would like to mimic? What works and what doesn’t?
• Use of Props
  What props do you see used that seem relevant and not distracting? In what ways are they used?
• Staging
  How are the subjects staged and positioned that you like? Look at small details — hands, stance, posture, facial expression, etc.

3. Location

Armed with knowledge of what you want your photos to turn out like, and with examples of it, now it’s time to tackle your choice of location for the shoot.

• What locations have significant meaning to you?
  Pretty self-explanatory.
• What locations would help to convey the ideas and emotions you listed in step one? Why and how?
  Use your observations from the inspiration step to help you with this. Playgrounds imply fun. Waterfronts romance, etc. Consider the types of things you liked about the backgrounds in the photos you chose as inspiration. Did you like them because they were colorful? Minimalist? Then try to find a location that fits the bill.

4. Props

Props can be tricky. You want to use something that is symbolic and meaningful to you, but something that won’t be distracting. If you’re considering using a prop, consider the following:

• Does the prop help convey your purpose? Why and how?
• How can you use these props to convey your purpose?
• PRACTICE using your props in front of a mirror before the session.

5. Attire

Attire is a common concern for people, but honestly, once you’ve dealt with the above issues, it becomes a little less difficult. Here are some things to consider, but the general rule of thumb is contrast with your environment and cohesion with the subjects.

• Consider the season.
  Winter: Think clear, contrast and bold colors.
  Spring: Think bright, fresh and lively colors.
  Summer: Think soft, cool, slightly grayed colors.
  Fall: Think deep, dark and muted colors.
• Consider your location.
  Remember, you want to maintain contrast. If there are a lot of green trees at your location, you don’t want to wear a green of the same tone, etc. You want to match, but all the same, contrast with your environment.
• Use a color wheel.
  If you need to, use a color wheel to play around with different combinations. Using the seasonal suggestions above as a rule of thumb, tempered by your location choice, select a base color for your outfit on the color scheme designer. Then, play with the types of schemes found in the upper left corner. Schemes I recommend are Mono, Complement, Analogic, Accented Analogic.
• Don’t forget about textures!
  Textures come across great in black and white and sepia especially. Play with usage of different fabrics to see what you can come up with that’s still comfortable yet visually interesting in ways other than just color and fit. With this in mind, jeans photograph really well. :)
• Avoid stripes and distracting designs.
  Try not to wear anything with logos or extravagant designs. Stay to solid colors, though plaids are also do-able if they’re similar in tone.

6. Make Up

The final consideration is your make up. In a nutshell, be sure to wear enough foundation to cover any substantial blemishes, but also be sure that your foundations is nicely blended into your neckline. Proper application of foundation saves me a lot of time in post processing! Also, you want to find a happy medium between natural, light normal wear make up and, say theatre make up, but something closer to natural. Just add a little extra accent to make your features pop. Of course, if you’re doing a boudoir session, you might be going for a more dramatic look, so again, this ties into your purpose to some degree.

Conclusion

I really hope that this guide helps. Please feel free to ask any questions on areas I might have missed or things that are not clear. The goal, again, is to create a framework so that we can effectively and efficiently create the photos you dream of and imagine! It does take some effort and thought before hand on your part, however, and I hope this guide helps steer you in the right direction.

I always tell my clients that the first fifteen minutes of any session are the worst and most awkward. You’re trying to get used to the fact that there’s a camera in front of your face and get a little bit of stage fright, and in most cases, we’re just starting to get to know each other. But almost without fail, after the first fifteen minutes, my clients start to get into it and tend to take the lead. This was very true with this particular pair of siblings. Never in my life have I seen two siblings get along so well. And boy, were they funny!

We had a great time and I hope everyone involved likes the photos — their mom included! Thanks for thinking of me!

See the album on facebook! You’ll need to become a fan of Elyse Kufeldt Photography to comment :)

I am so excited for their wedding day — the photos are going to be a blast, I can already feel it! Thanks so much for thinking of me, Leanna and Michael, I hope you love your photos and I am so excited to continue working with you throughout the next seven months!

See the album on facebook! You’ll need to become a fan of Elyse Kufeldt Photography to comment :)