Children Photography, DIY Fake Pond

                           

   
                                                                      "Gone Fishing"

                                                              Children Photography with diy pond

This is one of my favorite outdoor portrait sessions from a few years ago. I am not sure how well the colors reproduced on this website.

Every now and then clients would give me extra time and money to create something different for their children.  Taking portraits of children isn't an easy task, and when you get two boys together, keeping them still and focused can be a challenge.

 I found out the boys favorite thing to do was go fishing with their dad. Several weeks before the session I decided to make a fake pond in my backyard.  Below is a list of things I used for this project.

One small kiddie pool
Heavy Duty sheet of black plastic,
                        (goes in pool and hangs over sides)
Potted Plants    from my porch
My husband's old vintage metal tackle box
Child's toy fishing rod, spray painted brown
Toy fish spray painted gray
                (with magnets that came with the toy rod set)
A wooden dock made from a discarded wood box, stained black
                (I added short legs to raise it slightly over the pond)
Water
Sticks   were placed around the top of the edge of the pond
               (later blended in psp to remove the shine from the black plastic)


I was going for a vintage look. The late afternoon sun lit up the background and provided rim light around the hair and side of subjects. The overhang from the trees was too shady.  I didn't want to blow out the background so I balanced the lighting by using strobe in umbrella to the subjects left. The fill light on the right was just the natural ambient light.

I did test shots while the children waited in the front yard.  I knew if they saw the pond first, they would go crazy and rush to it. I told the parents not to mention they were going fishing, but to dress them in overalls.  They quietly led them to the back yard. "Would you like to fish?" We got them carefully up on the dock and handed big brother the pole. They did the rest. Yes!!

They actually did catch fish and had a great time, as did mom and dad watching their babies.  The fish had magnets and they reeled them in over and over.  We just let them play as I snapped away. I have more images somewhere, but this is the one they purchased on canvas.

After the session the pond looked so good, I moved it and put a fountain in the middle with a bird seed bowl.  The wildlife here love it!  At the moment it needs some tlc.  The frogs discovered it and had tadpoles.  I didn't have the heart to dump them out and I'm pretty sure "the frog on my porch"  is related to those guys!