Photos at Seven

It's that time of year again, our annual birthday pictures for Elora. Our big plan was to go to the school playground and take pictures around the toys; unfortunately there were people over there when the time was best, so we fiddled around taking photos out in the fields nearby until they all left. For the last two years Elora's wall photo has been in a yellow grassy field so I didn't want to go that route, but darn it, those were some of the best shots again!

The glasses were an issue again, because half of the pictures that would have normally been okay, I threw out because of the reflections obscuring her eyes. But no way would I have her take them off, I don't want her to think they're not pretty.

 Also, I wish I would have done her hair cute. I always forget that people usually do their girls' hair up nice for photos, but I never think of it until too late. I'll always think it'll look nice and natural just loose, but really, it looks kind of messy. It's silly, because I usually braid it or do something nice for school. Oh well.

 

I love the top right one here.

I like the ones by the fence even better, but they're still really similar to last year. 

 

I love the top right the best: so cute!

While we were walking along the fence, we found a cool animal skull! I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if it is a cow or a horse, but both Elora and I thought it was pretty cool. We hung it on the fence, and Elora wanted to have her picture taken with it, just for fun. A girl after my own heart.

That one in the upper right is a little foreboding! She better watch out.

Then she got acting goofy, so we knew we were done in this spot!

While we were still waiting for the playground, we did a few miscelaneous shots around, but most of them weren't that great. Elora had fun taking them though. It was her idea to do the serious face to the left.

Finally we got to got check out the playground. Of course, it wasn't that optimal light time anymore, but whatcha gonna do? First we went around random toys, just so Elora would be happy that we took pictures by everything.



Too busy, but Elora was happy! Best composition: bottom right. Best face: bottom left.

Standing by the swingset is kind of cute, but we already have too many photos on the wall with a slanty element, so I won't use it this time.

What I really had my eye on was the bright red-orange swingset. I thought it might look cool with her pretty blue sweater. The first few pics I took her face looked great, but I was still figuring out where I should stand, and I don't really like how she's just straight on right in the middle of the shot.

Top right is probably best here.

When I figured out the best place to stand, she was already tired of standing there, and was acting so silly. I really like how she fits in the frame on the top right, but she's got such a goofy face. Silly girl.

I could see using the top left or bottom right here.

By now it was starting to get too dark, and we had begun walking back to our house. Then I saw the light shining on this brick wall, so we decided to take one last group of shots. I know a brick wall is so cliche for portraits, but these might be some of the best ones we got! She was laughing and moving around, but we still managed to capture a few. When Igot them home, I was messing with effects in photoshop. At first I loved  the manipulated photos best, but now I'm liking some of the plain ones better. It's highly likely I'll use one of these for the wall (unless I decide to use a slide one, since that was my goal all along.) Which do you like?

 

Top: I like the left, Middle: I like the right, Bottom: undecided

In this last group she started getting goofy (and I was trying not to get mad, since the sun was almost down and I'd just found the perfect place to stand!) I love her laughing in the middle shot, though I don't like how her glasses cut right across her eye.

 

 

The light was about gone then, and we had to head home, but we had fun while it lasted!

 

 

 



So, since I'm sure you wanted to know, out of all of these groups these are my favorites (as of this posting; it might change tomorrow):

 

 

 

Do you have any that you like best?