Lifestyle senior portraits in Kettering, Oakwood, Centerville, Beavercreek….and more

One thing about the internet is that you cannot tell exactly where your visitor traffic is coming from. I can see that people are interested in new ideas for their senior portrait sessions, but I cannot tell if those are students from California or New York. I can just hope that if those students are looking for senior portraits with their horse or how about a young lady who wants her senior portraits with her dad’s hotrod or senior portraits on the farm or with their best friend, then the students in my area are also interested in those things and are also visiting this web site.

So if you want a relaxed on-location senior portrait session and you live in Oakwood, Kettering, Centerville, Beavercreek, Washington Township, Springboro, Middletown, Fairborn, Miamisburg, Germantown, Huber Heights, Troy, Tipp City, or any of the many other towns and burgs surrounding the greater Dayton area, then I am hoping that you are stopping by my web site to see a different sort of senior portrait session.

My photography has an enduring quality and not too trendy. Trendy is fun, but it may not be you and trends tend to pass on by. If I can capture something special about you and your way of being and the things or people that are important to you, that can last a lifetime. I like my portraits to look nice hanging in the family homestead for many years not just while the trend is hot. I like my clients to invest in canvas wall portraits and professional quality photo books or various framed prints from their sessions.

That’s not to say that I would not be up for some urban/graffiti or other interesting stuff, but I want it to be about you, not because it is a trend. So give me a call and tell me about your ideas and lets work something out. Peter DeMott Photography at (937) 478-6222 in SW Ohio.

Senior portraits with horse and dog and even donkey

Friday night I had a great senior portrait session with Ceili (Kay-lee). She wanted some pictures with her horse and some pictures with her dog. As Ceili went to retrieve her horse, we discovered another rather entertaining pasture ornament. It was Cledus the mammoth jack donkey. I had my wife Patty as my assistant for the session. This is a picture of the mammoth jack donkey with my wife Patty. Ceili’s farm is sort of between Middletown Ohio and Oxford Ohio, but for equine portraits (including senior portraits with horses and other equestrian sport photography opportunities, I will travel up to several hours for a session including mid to northern Kentucky, mid to South East Indiana, and mid to South West Ohio)

Since I specialize in photographing horses, I have a little trick in my iphone. I have MP3 files of horses whinnying that I sometimes play to get horses’ ears up or to get their attention. When I played it for the donkey it got his attention, you could see the interest building, several big breaths of air and WOW that donkey can bray. We had to move away and cover our ears it was so loud. He was looking about trying to find where on earth those other horses were and he certainly knew how to make it known where he was.

Ceili was ready with Stormy Jazz and we found a good place where the corn and a barn provided some open shade and a good clean background. Ceili has a great smile.

We took various poses, but at one point I put my camera down to my side and Ceili took a breath and relaxed more. She also reached over and gave her horse a big hug. Fast reflexes and up the camera went and click, click, I got the shot. It seems that in almost every on-location session, there are several spontaneous moments. Keeping your eyes open and being ready for whatever comes your way can lead to some great portraits. Of course you have to know how to set up the poses too. When I do my portrait sessions, I am comfortable with my equipment, my assistant knows what I want from the lighting, so that allows me to focus on my subject (not just camera focus) and be looking for that natural smile and spontaneous moment.

Jean, Ceili’s mom also wanted some relaxed portraits without the horse.

Last we moved to the front yard and took some portraits of Ceili with Nemo. The family has several beautiful german shepherds.

Even though it was very hot, Ceili was able to make a couple changes of clothes and didn’t get too hot. Around here, it has been raining often even with the heat so everything has stayed green. If you want portraits with your horse, please don’t wait and call after everything dries up and turns brown. We may be lucky this summer and have green and pretty all season long. That will also make good for a very colorful fall. Please visit my web site if you want to have your portrait made with your horse at your farm or stable. http://www.photosbypdemott.com . You can also send me an email at peter@photosbypdemott.com or call me at 937-478-6222. For senior (highschool portraits) and for anyone else who loves their horse and wants some great images to remember them by, I come to your farm or stable and will travel some distance if needed (you’ll need to pay a bit more after 25 miles). Hope to hear from you soon.

Equine photographer means senior portraits with horse

This Friday evening at about 7pm (weather permitting) I will be taking portraits of Ceili and her horse to complete her senior portraits package. Earlier I did a session with her best friend with lovely outdoor farm settings.

Lately the heat and humidity have been terrible here in the Dayton area, but gladly we have had consistent rain from time to time so grass and foliage have stays nice and green, ideal for on location and outdoor portraits. Ceile and her mom LOVE, LOVE, LOVED the pictures from the first session.

If you have an interest in an evening session (when things have cooled down some), now is the time to schedule an appointment. For equine (horse) portraits, after evening feeding is a great time when things have cooled down and your horse is content. It also gives you time to clean and prepare and the light is great then as well. Peter DeMott 937-478-6222. Please don’t wait for the grass to burn out and become ugly brown before you call.

Scioto Run endurance ride by equine photographer Peter DeMott

Last weekend I covered an endurance ride near Chillocothe, Ohio at the Scioto Trails State Forest. Mollie Krumlaw-Smith was the ride manager and was able to give me a couple good places to try to capture the experience of the riders on trail. My wife, Patty, told me that these are some of the most difficult and yet most beautiful trails in Ohio. In several places you ride along a ridge that gives you views of grand vistas of hills and valleys. On the first day there was mist and clouds rolling up the hills and running through some of the valleys. It was breathtaking.

For this ride I tried to capture some scenic shots as well as the rider favorites of one rider at the trot.

Here is junior rider Morgan. At awards that evening she won lots of prizes.

The trails are wide and well kept here at Scioto Trails State Forest. Then in the evening when the light was better and riders had a chance to clean up some I was able to do some “mini portrait sessions” for those who were up to it and wanted them. The heat during the day was grueling with high humidity and temps over 90 degrees most of the day. Many horses were pulled related to the heat.

On the second day I was able to shoot at one of the vista views. My telephoto lens does little to show you the view, but I gave it a try anyway. Most of the riders would pause at the top of this ridge and take in the view before figuring out how they would get down the very steep trail presented to them in another 10 feet.

These photographs are copyright protected. To purchase photos from the ride go here: Scioto Run Endurance Ride Photos

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

Kristen’s senior portrait session Animoto Video

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I just remembered that this embedded video will not show up when this goes over to facebook. Here is the LINK to the YouTube video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA2__fOMahQ

In addition, this is a LOW RESOLUTION Animoto video slide show. I have decided that anything that I provide as a commercial for sale item will require me to purchase their HIGH RESOLUTION version of this programing system which gives HD quality imaging.

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

Trails End Equestrian Center Barn Door Mini Sessions at DLSC show

These are  a couple young ladies that I hope will become the subjects of some of my senior portrait sessions with horses. These are from mini barn door sessions that I took while at the horse show at the Trails End Equestrian Center which is a couple miles down the road from my home.

It’s fun to get professional portraits of kids with horses. At these shows and stables, kids can enjoy horses in a very controlled environment that is fairly safe. Kid’s, children and horses, with great smiles, you can’t beat that.

Sometimes I shoot the local horse shows in the DLSC (Dayton Local Show Circuit). Here are the participating farms:

http://www.trailsend.biz/dlscorgs.html

and the schedule of shows

http://www.trailsend.biz/dlscshows.html

Participating Farms and Stables Listed here. Come and join the fun.

Dancing Horse Farm – Lebanon – 513-933-0343

Greenstone Stables – Germantown – 937-859-1835

The Riding Center – Xenia – 937-767-9087

Shelby Farm – Centerville – 937-886-9230

Stillwater Pony Club – Beavercreek – 937-426-9443

Trails End Equestrian Center – Dayton -937-835-5062

Wetherbrook Farm – Waynesville – 937-885-6328

Whitehouse Stables – Sidney – 937-492-3831

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post ontwitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

Inspiration for the spring and summer horse show season in the Dayton area

How about we change gears and just get excited for the spring and summer riding season here in the Dayton area. I went through some horse show pictures from a dressage show at Weatherbrook Farm in Waynesville. This leopard spotted horse caught my attention. These were from 2008 in July.

I’ll bet you cannot wait.

This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post ontwitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.

Senior Portraits in Snow, Horse and Rider Portraits in Snow & Family and Kids in Snow

Gray and dreary outdoors here in the Dayton area. I cannot wait for Spring and the blossoms and new green foliage.

Right now in the Dayton area, there is not much snow. However the first weeks of February can be unpredictable and we could have what West Virginia is digging out of any time in the next several weeks (first three weeks of February, that is). As it is now, we have nothing but gray and it does not make for beautiful outdoor portraits.

BUT, if the snow flies again consider professional on-location outdoor portraits

If we do get a big dose of snow in the coming weeks, I just want you to know that I am available to take Senior Portraits in Snow. I’ve recently posted some snow portraits with horses along with some tips on how to get great snow pictures and portraits. Lots of white snow is NOT a time when you can just trust you camera to make the right decisions. If you want to take your own pictures in the snow, review my previous posts to get some good ideas, but it you want professional on-location snow portraits of your high school senior or your children (special family time portraits of mom and dad with the kids), don’t hesitate to give me a call when the weather man starts talking heavy snow. If you have a wooly horse that you want portraits with in the snow, I can do those too. If it works out, you will have extra special portraits, completely unique and fun to share. Call me at 937-478-6222 (Peter DeMott). IF the snow comes and IF someone takes me up on this offer, I will share some extra special and completely unique family portraits, senior portraits, or horse and rider portraits here on my blog.

If you missed my earlier posts with tips on getting good snow pictures and portraits with your digital camera, here they are:

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/2010/01/snow-snow-snow-taking-better-pictures-in-snow/

http://www.photosbypdemott.com/2010/01/taking-better-winter-snow-portraits-follow-up/

This post is on my web site and blog here: http://www.photosbypdemott.com . It will also appear on my personal facebook page where you are welcome to friend me: Peter DeMott . It will be on my Twitter account: pdemottphoto . And last it will show up on my facebook fan page: Peter DeMott Photography . You are welcome to share these posts and links with your friends in snowy areas, become a fan or friend or follow my web site by subscribing on the top right of my home page. Thanks, Peter DeMott

Muddy Horses in Ohio and Senior portraits and equine portraits in Spring

Not too many portraits to be made of horses once the snow melts in Ohio winters. Melting snow turns to MUD.

But, now is the time for kids and moms to be looking at the work of various photographers and considering who they want for their senior portraits or not just seniors, but horse owners of all ages who want to capture their relationship with their horse as a beautiful canvas print, you can be looking and considering too.

As you look through my website (you can click on the menu item that says “horse and rider portraits”) you can consider if you want to have your relationship between your and your horse in an art canvas to enjoy for many years to come.

While you are considering, please consider subscribing to this web site (see top right of the home page), or becoming a fan of my facebook page, or a friend of me on facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter. All of these will give you opportunity to see examples from senior portrait sessions, local horse show, endurance rides and horse and rider portraits as I shoot them this spring and summer.

Taking better winter & snow portraits (follow up)

A couple days ago as the big snow was about to arrive here in the Dayton area, I posted about how to take better snow pictures.

Snow is white and bright and it will trick your camera into thinking that it needs to cut down the amount of light coming into the camera. You see cameras are calibrated to average the scene at 18% gray. When you are shooting in snow and most of the scene is white, your camera is programed to make the scene 18% gray. So your camera without a little help from you will severely underexpose your snow pictures. Your white snow will become gray murky snow because not only is it under exposed severely, but because it is underexposed there will be an increase in digital noise (that looks like little specks of various colors sprinkled about the picture).

What needs to happen to make good snow pictures? Most modern digital cameras have a control called “exposure compensation”. If it is in your menu, it will be a marker that can be moved to 1+, 2+, 3+ to add more light or 1-, 2-, 3- to reduce the exposure. With snow, you want to increase the exposure by 1+ or 1.5+ or 2+. This is counterintuitive (it is not what you expect without much thought). But, you don’t want gray snow right? So do it. Now take a picture with lots of snow in it and take a look at the histogram on the back of your camera. The white portion of the scene will show mostly on the right. If the histogram graph shows mostly in the middle, your snow will be gray. If most of the data is to the left your picture will be very underexposed, almost black.

The snow came and I noticed a bunch of dark snow pictures on Facebook and other places. I am sure there are many folks out there, frustrated that their portraits and snow pictures did not turn out very good.

This morning we woke up and saw that there was hoarfrost all over the trees. It was very cold and yet the air had some humidity in it. The humidity frosted onto the branches of the trees as if it had snowed. It’s very pretty. My wife Patty said, “lets go take some pictures of the hoarfrost and the horses. The following portraits are the result of using the exposure compensation adjustment (on my camera there is quick access to the exposure compensation). I tried 2+, but that was a tad too much. When I looked at the image on the back on my camera my over exposure blinkers were showing. I moved it down to 1.5+ and in some cases 1+ and the images turned out great.

Additonal portraits from this morning’s session can be found here: SNOW PORTRAITS

This post will appear on my facebook and my facebook business page. It is also on my web site here. You are welcome to follow my by friending me on facebook, becoming a fan or signing up for email delivery from the front page of my web site.

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