Child Portraits in the Garden. In the half-dark

I love low light. I am sure I have said this before

I love low-light

Half dark. Where shadows loom, where the light of day is edging towards the dark of night.

Here are pictures of my gorgeous niece in her garden in Glastonbury, England. In low light. The remains of a summer day. There are more to come. I am doing a series - one week in the garden with my two nieces, and here are just a few I took at the end of our portrait session one evening.

I love how she plaits her hair into braids, and her paired down look in a simple hoodie & jeans.

In the summer garden series I am trying to capture the delicate transition between girl hood and woman hood.

So much is shifting.

On the one hand, innocent & child like.

On the other, worldly wise & interested in typical teenager things.

There are such contrasts across the whole series of pictures that tell the story of our precious time together.

I have to open the aperture wide and really focus on a point, such as an eye, or the edge of clothing. Usually the white of the eye if I want a portrait in best possible focus.

Sometimes blurry softer portraits work really well when the blurry look is intentional. However, I have to keep an open mind when taking pictures in low-light conditions & sometimes so called "mistakes" can make the most interesting pictures. They have a feeling of ease and spontaneity.

In a black & white conversion, the shadows will be prominent. The blacks can be deep, intense. At the same time, lighter elements will stand out. Here, the fir tree in the background of this portraits create some lighter textures. The contrast of blacks & whites can create drama! And who doesn't love a bit of drama in a picture...

I am going to edit these pictures a bit at a time and then choose my best 10 or so for a photo series with a documentary feel. As well as black & white portraits with an authentic feel, I am going to keep an eye out for pure documentary style moments. This can be a challenge, of course, finding the best unscripted moments from my week away in England

More to follow from this series, one week in the garden in Glastonbury, England

Here for family & lifestyle photoshoots in Dublin, including natural documentary style portraits

Have a wonderful week, Cara