Hi everyone! My name is Autumn Branscome and I am a family and children’s photographer located in Princeton, WV. I love all things lifestyle and capturing the everyday! I am married to my high school sweetheart and have a gorgeous little girl. I love to read and am addicted to buying makeup!
I fell in love with lifestyle photography not long after my daughter was born. I knew from the moment that I saw her I wanted to preserve every moment I possibly could in hopes I would never forget those little moments that make life so full. My daughter is now four and I am so thankful to have so many images of her just being herself! Today I am going to share some tips with you that I have come to learn about lifestyle photography!
Embracing The Grain: People laugh when I tell them that I live in a cave, my house truly is one of the darkest homes I have ever been in though! The light never directly hits our windows and we live beside of a hillside so our house is shaded by around 5:30 PM. This has really pushed me to crank my ISO and embrace grain! The image above was shot at ISO 3200 with my Canon 5D Mark III. Now I know what you’re thinking, of course she can shoot that high of an ISO, she’s shooting with a Mark! I have been cranking my ISO to extremely high numbers for years, even before I got my Mark. Crank that ISO and embrace the grain.
ISO: 6400
Embracing the Mess: My daughter has earned the nickname Hurricane Hannah. I can clean her room and within five minutes, it is destroyed. I’ve learned to just embrace the mess and go with it. I walked into her room to find her having a tea party and knew I wanted to capture that moment because she looked so cute with her little pig tails and dress on! As you can see though, the area under her bed is a disaster zone. It was too cute of a moment to miss so I just started shooting and decided to go with it! I took this image two years ago and am so glad I captured this moment despite the mess! My favorite tip when it comes to embracing the mess? Convert the image to black and white! This will help your eye be more focused on the subject rather than being distracted by the mess!
Embracing the Quiet Times: If you follow my work at all, you’ve probably seen the sleepy shots I take of my daughter. I absolutely LOVE photographing her when she is asleep; she just looks so peaceful. Sleepy shots have been trial and error for me. I won’t lie, there have been times that I snuck in her room to take pictures of her and she woke up. I ruined nap time and we had a LONG evening a head of us! For the most part though, she is a heavy sleeper and I can usually get about 15 minutes to take images!
I typically sneak into her room about 20 minutes after I know she’s fallen asleep. She’s generally in the deepest sleep and I can move her around however I need to. When she was in her crib, I would move her crib closer to the window to get the best light. Now that she is in a loft bed, I have to be more creative in order to get the best lighting. Typically I just crank my ISO and do what I can!! Another tip for sleepy shots is to get above your subject. I always stand on a kitchen chair! (You should see my husband’s face when he walked into our daughters room and I’ve moved the crib to the opposite side of the room and am standing on a kitchen chair photographing her, it’s a sight to behold!)
Embracing the Everyday: Lifestyle photography is all about capturing those little moments that make our lives so rich, but we so quickly forget. I always want to remember how sweet my daughter looks sleeping in her car seat and how much she loved her baby doll she named Baby Kate. I never want to forget how much she loved her pacifier! Capture these every day moments, you will not regret taking five minutes out of your day to freeze time!
Direct, Don’t Boss: The final tip I am going to give is what I believe to be the most important thing when photographing lifestyle images of your children. With my daughter, I always ask her first if she minds if I snap a few photos of her while she is coloring, brushing her teeth, etc. This is CRUCIAL for us. I have been doing this since she was two years old and if she tells me no, I don’t even get the camera out! Always ask your littles first! Second, make sure you are directing them and not bossing them. If I need to get her to move to a different spot where the light is better, I’ll say “Oooh, let’s go over to this side of the room. I bet you’ll be able to see better since it is brighter!” I’ll also play games with her. “I bet you can’t take 3 hops to that side of the room!” For the pool shot below, I asked her to count the flowers by her foot! Don’t be bossy, just have fun with them!
