Interested in a Spring photoshoot in Dorset?
The changing seasons mean that now’s a great time to book a spring photoshoot in Dorset with me.
Spring is my favourite time of year because the beautiful flowers that emerge are always an absolute delight.
Daffodils, tulips, bluebells, snowdrops, and blossoms all create a stunning backdrop for outdoor portraits, and they look amazing whether photographed in the morning or at dusk. A photographer’s dream!
Timeless outdoor portraits among the spring flowers
Around about now, in early spring, vibrant yellow daffodils and delicate white snowdrops come into bloom. Blossoms are also starting to appear. These pretty pastel flowers are lovely to feature in your family portraits.
Bluebell sessions
Later in the Spring, usually around April/early May, colourful tulips and beautiful bluebells then begin to emerge.
Sadly, many of my favourite spots for bluebells here in Dorset closed last year and won’t be reopening this spring. The crop was so damaged by people who didn’t stick to the pathways. It’s such a shame! Hopefully though, in time, the crop will regrow to its former glory.
There are still some lovely patches of bluebells around though, so I do still hope to be able to offer bluebell woods sessions this spring.
If you’re particularly interested in a bluebell shoot, get in touch. I’ll add you to my waitlist and I’ll keep you posted when I know where the best places are this year.
Spring family photoshoot locations in Dorset
Every year, I scout out new locations to take my clients for outdoor portraits among the spring flowers, and this year will be no different. I always manage to discover some wonderful new places, literally bursting with colour!
An example from a few years ago would be this field of vibrant yellow rapeseed that my friend Jackie and I came across one evening. Here’s my daughter Lizzie (looking a lot younger than she is now) among them in the gorgeous golden light, just before sunset.
It was a beautiful location for my spring family photoshoots that year, and I returned with clients often.
Why book a spring photoshoot?
There are so many reasons to book a spring family photoshoot with me this year – whether you choose a spring family photoshoot or an outdoor maternity photoshoot.
- For one thing, it’s always nice to get outdoors, particularly after a long cold winter.
- Another reason is that you can enjoy the beauty of the emerging spring flowers while also having some fun as a family. If it’s a maternity photoshoot that you’re interested in, you can enjoy some peace and tranquillity in beautiful surroundings before your baby arrives.
- Plus, you’ll be able to update your photo albums with your new springtime portraits or get some beautiful new artwork onto your walls at home.
Since time passes quickly and children grow and change so fast, even if you had a family shoot a few years ago, wouldn’t be nice to get some updated portraits now the kids have grown?
What happens during a spring family photoshoot?
All my spring outdoor photoshoots are held at locations within Dorset. I’ll make a recommendation nearer the time based on the flowers that I know are in bloom there.
It’s suitable for up to 5 people and lasts around 1-2 hours.
I’ll take care of everything. As well as sourcing the location, I’ll guide you on how to interact and pose for the camera on the day.
I’ll encourage you to relax and simply enjoy the time together and, while you do, I’ll capture a variety of individual and group photos.
Spring photoshoot outfit ideas
I will help by giving you ideas and recommendations on what to wear to your spring photoshoot.
Mummies and daughters are also welcome to use any of my princess-style dresses. I have them in many gorgeous pastel shades that complement the stunning colours of the blossom and bluebells, making them ideal for outdoor portraits among the spring flowers.
Aren’t they fabulous?!
I also have some cute outfits for little boys and accessories that I can bring along too.
Book your Spring photoshoot in Dorset today
Both outdoor family portrait sessions and outdoor pregnancy sessions are available this spring, but slots are limited.
The flowers don’t stay at their best for long, so if you’d like a spring family photoshoot or an outdoor maternity session, please don’t delay in booking!
Take a look around the website for details of my prices and packages, then contact me to book.
I’d love to capture portraits of you and your family this year. I guarantee you won’t regret taking some time to be photographed together among the spring flowers – they really are beautiful!
Karen x
Celebrate your amazing mum with a Mother’s Day portrait session
Mother’s day gift inspiration!
Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday 27th March. Have you arranged a special Mother’s Day gift for the mums in your life yet?
If not, why not consider a Mother’s Day portrait session?
My family photo sessions are ideal for capturing a beautiful mother and daughter or mother and son portrait, or one with several generations of the family!
Don’t forget to treat mum this Mother’s Day!
By the way, fellas, if you’ve become a daddy in the past year, and this will be your partner’s first-ever Mother’s Day, don’t forget to treat her with this fantastic Mother’s day gift!
She’ll love a portrait session with you and your baby – it will be a great memento of your growing family.
Timeless, natural portraits
My photoshoots are informal and relaxed, and the pictures are natural – as I know you like them.
I have an expert eye for capturing the special moments you share on the day, and I’ve several tricks up my sleeve for making children of any age feel comfortable in front of my camera.
Family portrait sessions at KW Photography
I offer portraits at my photography studio in Poole. Or, if you’d prefer an outdoor location, I’m more than happy to meet you at your favourite park or picnic spot across Dorset for some al fresco portraits in the spring sunshine (fingers crossed about the last bit!).
Capturing special memories: The perfect Mother’s Day gift!
As a working mum, I certainly don’t know where the weeks go! I rarely get round to having photos taken where I am in front of the camera, with my kids.
My daughter Lizzie is a great model, and I’ve hundreds of pictures of her, but very few of me together with my children or with my mum.
Perhaps you are the same?
If so, a Mother’s Day portrait session at KW Photography would be a lovely way to celebrate your beautiful brood and get the family photos you want, once and for all.
What’s included in a Mother’s Day portrait session?
Group family sessions start from just £299 for a one-hour photoshoot, and up to five people can come along. This includes 5 photos via a download link.
If you’ve got a larger family than that, no problem! Larger groups can be catered for as well if you arrange it with me first.
Mother’s Day photos
I’ll professionally edit around 20-30 final images from your Mother’s Day portrait session and you can view these within a private viewing before choosing which ones to purchase.
After the shoot, you will have the opportunity to buy from a range of high-quality photo products priced from just £150.
Or you can opt to receive the images on a KW Photography keepsake USB.
How to book your Mothers Day portrait session
Booking is simple and there are two options available.
- Either book a family portrait session be held within the next week or so and then present the images as a gift on Mother’s Day.
- Or buy a KW Photography voucher to present on Mother’s Day and book your family session at a mutually convenient time later in the month or year.
Treat your mum to a Mother’s Day portrait session
I’ve already got lots of bookings for Mother’s Day weekend although I do still have a limited number of slots available.
So if you’d like to treat your mum or partner to a professional photoshoot for Mother’s Day. Then contact me to book today on 07749 270431 or via karen@me.com or via the contact form on my website.
Let’s celebrate mum with timeless photography. After all, she’s worth it!
Karen x
Why professional photographers edit their photographs
If you haven’t hired a professional photographer before, you could be forgiven for wondering why professional photographers edit their photographs.
Common questions I have been asked by clients before include:
- Why do the images need editing – surely a skilled professional photographer creates the image in the camera itself, not on the computer?
- Why can’t I just be sent the digital images, on the day of my photoshoot?
- And, why must I wait up to several weeks to view my images?
The thing is, I realise that when you’ve had your photoshoot, you’re so excited. I know that you just cant wait to see the results!
But I don’t make you wait for your images just to tease you, I promise!
There is a valid reason why, and that is that there is a final stage in the process after the photoshoot itself. And that process is editing.
Almost all professional photographers (some may not, but certainly most do) edit their photographs. It’s a critical step in the process. And in today’s blog I’ll explain that in a little more detail.
What’s involved in a professional photoshoot
Despite what you might think, there is much more to a photographer’s work than setting up a shot and then clicking the buttons on the camera.
- Lots of planning goes into it before you even turn up for your photoshoot
- And after the session, many more hours are spent finalising the pictures so that they are ready for you to print.
Which also explains why professional photography comes at a considerable cost.
You aren’t just paying for the time I spend during your phootshoot – which is up to an hour for most portrait sessions, or several hours for a newborn session.
Behind the scenes of a professional photography shoot
Each and every photoshoot I do involves many hours of work behind the scenes too!
But since you typically only see the final images when I share them on Facebook or in your online photo gallery, you’ve perhaps not realised that there is such a lot of work involved.
Before the photoshoot
Yep, creative styling is a huge part of the work in advance of any photoshoot. Whether that’s a maternity or newborn session, a baby ‘sitter session’ or group portraits with older children, or a family studio shoot.
After all, those coloured backdrops, props, dresses, headbands, newborn outfits and wraps, don’t buy themselves! And I need to setup the photography studio so I am ready for you, with everything I’m likely to need to be at hand.
I have to create and pre-plan my shoots and then editing is a fundamental part of the creative process after the shoot in order to get the image just right.
After the photoshoot
While I will always aim to get the portrait as good as I can in camera, there is always some editing to be done afterwards. I use digital editing techniques to finish each and every image that I include in your gallery.
I do this so that each image is consistent with my KW Photography brand style; something that I’ve developed over the years and which sets me apart from other photographers.
Without that editing, which is the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle so to speak, they simply aren’t finished KW Photography images.
Plus, as in the example below, there may be a need to do some editing to digitally remove parts of the image.
During my newborn photoshoots, I make sure that I always pose babies safely. When I’m trying to achieve portraits like this one, I ask parents to support their child’s head while I take the photos. Then, once the image is edited afterwards, all signs of the parent’s hand or arm are removed. Like magic!
Editing out blemishes
There’s also another reason why editing is important. Often newborn babies have blotchy, uneven coloured skin for the first few weeks. And marks or blemishes on their bodies that parents would prefer to be removed on the computer.
Also, older children may have chickenpox scars or snotty noses (I’ve certainly edited out plenty of snot in my six years as a baby and child photographer!). I can edit the images that I take in my camera to whisk these away!
If a portrait of your newborn baby or child is going to be hung on the walls at home, it’s usually the parent’s preference to have me edit the image so that these things are removed. But let me assure you, I won’t edit to the extreme! I have limits on what I will do.
Why professional photographers edit their photographs
So, I hope that helps to explain why professional photographers edit their photographs? And why there is a small delay in getting the images to you for viewing and ordering.
If you have any questions or concerns about the editing process, do always ask me your questions either in advance or during your photoshoot.
To book your session please contact me today. I’m available on 07749 270431 or email me at karenwiltshire@me.com or complete this contact form.
Karen x
Perfect portraits captured in unlikely locations
Perfect portraits
Hey, everyone!
If like me, you have been enjoying the great outdoors this summer, then you can’t have failed to notice the grass getting long and that patches of wildflowers have appeared. The council has also been leaving it longer between grass cuts.
This is great for the wild bee population, and the butterflies have been in abundance this summer.
The long grass and wildflowers are not only great for the insects though – I love it too! (Except on the A31, where it’s really dangerous coming to the roundabouts!)
Through the lens: What I see
Every day I drive past a small but perfectly formed patch of wildflowers on the way to school. To me, they are just crying out to but used in a photoshoot!
I’m sure most people would think I am slightly nuts getting excited about this. After all, it’s just a small patch – a couple of meters long – at the side of the road! But what I see through the camera lens is different to what others see.
Despite what you might think, as a portrait photographer, I don’t need a sweeping meadow or an amazing vista as a backdrop. I can see the potential in even the most unlikely locations.
I know how to make a perfect portrait in the most unexpected of places and even in very small spaces.
Trying out an unlikely location
So, armed with one of my many new dresses from the studio, and a willing small person off I ventured.
Safety is really important to me – as you can see from the video below, we were at a safe distance from the road. And mum, of my model Betsy, is right there too, keeping an eye on the children while I take the portraits.
Another thing to point out is that it is hugely important to me that we don’t damage the flowers at all. We don’t wade through the patch, reeking havoc! Instead, we stand on the edge and I can use clever camera angles to make it appear as though the child is actually in among the flowers in the final photo.
Betsy loved the flowers and the dresses and we had a great time getting some lovely location portraits for her mummy.
On another occasion, I took my daughter and her friend back to the same spot for a few more.
And on that day, we also found a patch of long grass which I didn’t even know was there. Although this all took place so close to home, it’s not something I had noticed before. It goes to show what beautiful things we could all be missing out on, right on our doorstep!
Perfect portraits captured in unlikely locations
So what do you think?
Would you have known that these portraits were taken next to such a small patch of flowers alongside a main road?! I suspect, not.
I love creating perfect portraits in unlikely locations like this!
Do get in touch with me if you would like something similar. Contact me on 07749 270431 or you can email me at karenwiltshire@me.com or complete this contact form.
And let me know in the comments if you know of any little patches of flowers locally that might be suitable for your very own location shoot!
Smile baby! Newborn, baby and child photography
Is there anything more adorable than a smiling baby?
Lucky for me, I get to meet so many gorgeous little ones in my job in newborn, baby and child photography.
And since it was World Smile Day recently, I felt it fitting to collate a collection of some of my recent ‘smiley’ portraits for you to enjoy.
To sleep or not to sleep…
The majority of newborn babies I photograph are less than two weeks old. At that age, they typically spend up to 18 hours per day asleep.
So it’s no surprise then that they spend most of the photoshoot blissfully unaware of the flashing camera. Safely in the land of nod.
But there are always a few cheeky ones!
Sometimes the babies I photograph just refuse to play ball. They’ll be wide awake and taking it all in. This is really lovely if it happens. It gives me the opportunity to capture some great open-eyed shots, like this.
Smile, smile, smile
And if I’m REALLY lucky, they’ll flash me a super-cute smile too!
Babies don’t usually smile before the six-week mark. Anything before that is an unconscious reflex, similar to the jerky arm and leg movements that they do in their first few weeks.
But if they do smile, it’s unbelievably cute! If I can capture any smiling shots for the parents, I always will. Seeing their baby’s smiling face for the very first time is just magic!
Natural smiles are the best!
Older babies, toddlers and young children also regularly give me the most adorable grins.
Unfortunately, as kids get older they learn to give the posed “cheeeeseeee” grins whenever a camera is presented in front of them. This isn’t so great, and it’s one of my daily challenges when working with toddlers and older children.
But capturing a natural smile, when the child’s eyes and entire face light up, is fantastic at any age.
I hope you enjoy the smiles! I love baby and child photography!
If you are expecting a baby and wish to discover more about my newborn photography sessions, visit my Frequently Asked Questions page as well as my Newborn Photography Guide here.
Don’t forget to book as early as possible to secure your preferred date. Book around the time of your 20-week scan if possible. Slots do fill up fast!
Until next time,
Karen x
A day in the life of a children's photographer - Pumpkin patch
A day in the life of a Dorset children’s photographer.
So, the sun is shining but there’s a little chill in the air. This can only mean one thing. That summer has passed and autumn is in full swing.
I love those late summer evenings with the golden glow of sunset, but I have to confess I really love autumn too. The colours and bright crisp days are great for a little location photography. Just wrap the kids up warm, hats, scarves and gloves, chunky jumpers, and wellies. It’s a kid’s dream! They love running in the leaves and splashing in puddles (I mean, who doesn’t? If only us grown-ups could get away with it) and generally being kids!
Today I headed off in search of a slightly different type of location. After a quick search on the internet, I found a great “Pick your own” pumpkin farm on the edge of the New Forest in Sopley.
What a great backdrop for a photoshoot and with half term and Halloween just around the corner, it seemed like a great opportunity to get some fun seasonal photos. We followed the pumpkin signs and found it fairly easily, pulled into the carpark, and Wow! Row upon row of pumpkins. It was a photographer’s dream. A photo opportunity around every pumpkin.
The boys had an absolute blast choosing the biggest and best pumpkin. The farm even supply little sledges for you fill with your finds.
Not content with just pumpkin picking, the boys decided to test out their wellies. This meant things were going to get very messy! Well, boys will be boys and I loved the fact that they had so much fun out in the fresh air on their photoshoot. We had plenty of lovely clean shots before the splashing started so mum was pretty relaxed about the mess.
Things quickly got even messier with all three boys enjoying the splashing fun.
We finished off the trip a lovely photo on the farm tractor. The boys had a fantastic photoshoot doing exactly what boys love doing, getting messy!
If you’d like a lovely Autumnal location photoshoot then please get in touch (I promise puddle jumping doesn’t have to be included). What a great way to spend the day making memories with Dorset children’s photographer!
Bye for now
Karen x
My top tips for photographing reluctant children
Have you ever tried to photograph a child who does NOT want to be photographed? (I presume you are nodding your head right now.)
Yes, it can be very difficult, for sure!
Photographing reluctant children
I have literally photographed thousands of children over the years and, believe me, not all of those have wanted to have their photo taken.
Delaying and avoidance tactics? You name it, I’ve seen it!
You could say that photographing reluctant children is a day to day occurrence for me.
Over the years I’ve developed lots of coping strategies for handling even the most resistant children.
I often see parents getting stressed when their child doesn’t cooperate during a photoshoot. But there really is no point.
I always get the shot I am after eventually. If you heed my tips below you will too!
My three top tips
1. Be prepared to wait
While it can take time to get reluctant children to cooperate, you’ll usually be rewarded for your perseverance and persistence.
Don’t rush the child or make them feel under pressure to perform to the camera.
As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait!
2. Let them explore the environment
Whether I’m photographing on location or in my photography studio, the setting is usually new to the child.
So I let the child get comfortable in the surroundings first, before attempting to take their portrait.
I also often pull out props for younger children to climb on – chairs, a rocking horse, or a toy car for example.
Toys such as teddies and softballs are also good to distract a reluctant child.
If outdoors, encourage them to find sticks or leaves, and run around for a while to burn off some energy before you attempt to take their portrait.
3. Make them laugh
If a young child is refusing to look at the camera or, worse, is crying or having a tantrum, I sing!
A quick rendition of ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ or ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’ usually induces a smile. Or at least a cursory glance.
And that’s despite my terrible singing voice!
Noisy toys – things that squeak, rattle or jingle – also work well to get them, at least, looking in the right direction.
