Prom Portraits in Robertsdale and Fairhope

April 02, 2017 • Leave a Comment

This was a challenging and rewarding prom portrait session. The biggest challenge was the time of day. For outdoor portraits I like to shoot about an hour before sunset if it is a bright day like we had during this session. However, we had from 4 pm to 5:30 pm to shoot. On top of that we decided on shooting at two locations. The first was in the wheat field behind my house, and the second at the Fairhope Pier. This meant much of the time was going to be spent moving to another location. What we had going for us is Elisabeth has done some modeling so we didn't need much time getting into the spirit of the shoot. Secondly, I spent some time before hand to set up lights and cameras so they would be ready when she arrived.

Having her face into the sun in the wheat field was out of the question. So, I had her with her back to the sun, and compensated with using a light to make her pop against the blue sky. This also complemented her eyes against the background and made her blonde hair shine. She had a prom to attend so I didn't want her in the sun too long. We also shot under the shade around the barn in the backyard.

We shot for about 15 minutes and then made the drive to the Fairhope Municipal Pier. This gave us a new set of challenges. I didn't want Elisabeth in the sun too long and not be close to shade. The trees lining the North boardwalk provided shade so the majority of the shoot we were under the trees. However, it was breezy. I wanted some shots with the pier in the background but there was a Southern wind which meant her hair was wrapping around her when facing the direction needed. So we compromised and had to get her facing into the wind which meant the North Beach would be the background which isn't a bad view either. This turned out good as there was just a hint of clouds against a blue sky. We did manage to get a few with the Fairhope Pier in the background, but this was after we got the safe shots.