Getting that Perfect Shot

Ever since I got this cute bag, I have been meaning to take some time one day, dress Avery up (my 18month old), and put her in the bag to take some shots. I'm not sure why. I saw the bag, saw Avery, just thought of it, and then, forgot about it. Until Saturday. Saturday turned out to be cloudy and rainy and overall just nasty. Since we were stuck inside for the day, why not try my cute-bag-with-Avery shot? In my mind, I knew exactly what I was looking for... but when I started to figure out exactly HOW to get that mind-shot, I discovered it was a little more challenging then I had expected.

Now, I've been asked by several people to post SOOC photos (straight-out-of-the-camera) and then the finished photo... so, here goes. Just to keep it real, when I pulled up the photo in PhotoShop, I did click up the clarity & staturation sliders just a hair... so it wasn't quite so blah. If that's cheating, and you want to see the blah, by all means, let me know and I'll give some blah to you.


First, I started with the bag. Simple. I wanted to see what lighting I had to work with, see the composition, see the colors. And look at that bag. Isn't it so CUTE?


Now, I put Avery in the bag. She's pretty cute, too. But now, I'm not sure about this angle anymore. I definitely don't like the light at this angle at all. Not sure about Avery in the bag anymore. Yet, I press on.

Still okay - but getting a little crazy being too far from Avery as she is falling over in the bag and not too sure of it anymore. Still wasn't the shot I was going for... I was thinking, maybe I should change the background.

I liked this angle much better, yet, it just didn't do it for me. Not sure what it was. I still thought it was a good picture, but not my "mind-shot". Try a different background...

Here is same shot, post-processed. I ran a few actions on it - added more color, more contrast, some sharpening, some noise-reduction, some eye-sparkling, and I think a little warm-up at the end.

I have no white walls in the house anymore, so I took my big white blanket, set up some chairs by the window, threw the blanket over them as a back-drop and started shooting again.

And now, Avery hates the bag. Oh dear.

I told Alissa to help me make her happy... Not quite what I had in mind and I don't think it worked.

Then, I had a good idea! Pull out the fruit snacks :) So now, she's snacking while in the bag :) And I kept shooting... until...

I got it!!! My "mind-shot". It was perfect. I was so happy.

Here is the same image - post-processed. I touched it up the same way I did the other one. This one looks so much better because the light was perfect :)

Next, I try Alissa. I didn't have anything particular in mind when shooting with her - except I thought it would be cute to have the bag handles over her shoulder.

But, it wasn't quite working until....

again... fruit snacks save the day.

Then, she gave me some good shots - I loved her silly pose here :) But it wasn't quite right for me... so, I pressed on.

What you can't see here is that Avery is standing on the chairs, looking down at Alissa, laughing and bouncing. It was the funniest thing.

Then she did this pose all by herself :)

Then she gave me her latest silly smiley face...

Then I had her sit up - and - there it was! I got what I didn't know I was looking for. Honestly, I would have liked to see the whole bag in the photo, but I was so happy with that, I called it quits for my girls. They were such good sports. And I was out of fruit snacks :)

And here is the same image - post processed. I loved how she was holding onto the handle and giving her cute real smile.

So, there you go. How I got that perfect shot. And it doesn't always happen like that, but this time it did, so I thought I'd share :)

How do you try to get that perfect shot? Do you imagine it before hand? Just wing it? Both? I would love to hear how you come about getting the images you do :) There's always a method to the madness.