Life – Rural Oregon – Style!
Posted by Michael D Davis on October 8, 2009
A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of photographing a lifestyle family portrait for my very good client’s Chet and Mary. The session took place on the grounds of an equestrian boarding stable during one of Southern Oregon’s wonderful early autumn afternoons.

Careful planning went into the preparation of this portrait a couple weeks prior to our session. I scheduled a visit to my client’s home specifically for the purpose of selecting clothing, props, location and time of day to design a portrait for them that would be indicative of the relaxed country style we wished to portray.

The afternoon of the session was pleasantly warm with a hint of fall and the quality of existing illumination perfectly angled for side lighting in some images and for creating a soft diffused glow from the wide open sky in others.

I made use of on camera speedlight in most images to fill in the shadows that were darker than I desired. I took care to dial down the flash power to keep from giving the portraits an over lit look. The idea was to hide the appearance of any axillary illumination and make the images appear as if they were taken with straight natural light.

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All in all I was pleased with the outcome and enjoyed the opportunity to make creative use of such a wonderful late afternoon in Rural Southern Oregon.

The End
Mary Miller said
Well, as usual we are absolutely thrilled with the pictures! The whole experience was very fun and having you come to the house beforehand to pick out wardrobe was huge (especially with three teenage girls!). Now the only problem is narrowing down the choices. Thanks again Michael!!!