Last Saturday, I had the privilege of joining Alex Jones to assist and photograph a portrait session at SteelGate Studio with Flashes of Hope. Flashes of Hope is a nonprofit organization that provides portrait sessions to children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses with the purpose of changing they way they see themselves with the gift of photography. The organization also raises money for pediatric cancer research.
Here’s a mother and her 3-month old daughter who joined us that day.
https://www.captivatingimagery.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Web-Use.png00kmillerhttps://www.captivatingimagery.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Web-Use.pngkmiller2011-02-25 16:58:482013-11-18 16:13:33Pittsburgh Portrait Photographers with Flashes of Hope
Any time I can find a few hours to experiment with new concepts for wedding photography, I take it! So I called up a friend of mine while it was still warm at the end of summer and we headed to the West End Overlook in Pittsburgh to try out some ideas I’ve been kicking around. This is a great way to keep things fresh and also to work out what is actually realistic on a wedding day. Amanda is a great sport and a lovely lady so she didn’t mind if I shared her photos before and after retouching.
There are a couple of factors in this first image. I love walking shots of brides and grooms, but this shady walk has splotchy patches of light passing through the leaves. I used off-camera light at a low level because I didn’t want to blast her with light and loose the pretty light pattern from the trees, but I wanted some even light on her face. My first job is to make Amanda pop out of the scene but in a natural way. Sure it helps to have an off-camera light, but there’s only so much you can do when the subject is walking and the light is stationary. On the wedding day, this problem is resolved with a second shooter who can assist with lighting in tricky settings. So here’s the before:
