Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes of a photo shoot?  The finished product looked great, but how was it achieved?  Today I will show a inside look at a children's portrait shoot I had this week.

Ethen and Delila are twins that I have been photographing since they were in their mother's tummy.

 Now they are five and have come in for their last "Little Tykes" session.  They started out as "Watch Me Grow" babies until the age of one and then became "Little Tykes" at 18 months to the age of five.  When they enter my studio, they come running to hug their "Miss Martha" and pet Charlie the cat.

I look to see what kind of outfits they have. While they are dressing, I choose a background that will go well with what they brought.  I have to steam the wrinkles out after I hang it.  I set up my lights and meter them.

We have chosen 2 different backgrounds and sets to work with today, a spring scene and a farm scene.  I get out props for each scene.  I have a warehouse full of props that I have collected over the years and a closet for of clothes.

Next I go to check on my subjects.  They are dressed and ready, admiring themselves in the mirror.

Now we are ready for the action.  And with 5 year old twins, there is a lot of action!  I photograph them together and separate.

Amongst the laughter and the giggles, I finally get the shot for the wall portraits that their mom is after.

At the end of their session they give me a big hug and then go to find something in the treasure box and get a sucker.

After the session, the rest of my work begins.  I have to load their images on to the computer in the appropriate file.  Then I have to choose which images I want to retouch to show in the slide show and viewing.  All of this takes place on my very messy desk.  This is where I spend a majority of my time and so it is well lived in.  I can't make it through the day without at LEAST 2 diet Pepsis and several glasses of water.  I eat lunch here (what's a lunch hour?) and sometimes dinner.  I am a "pile" person, so no one can understand my organization skills.  My daughter and husband have tried hard to reform me, but it is hopeless.

Since this was the twins last session if the "Little Tykes Club", I had to go back through the years and find images from the four previous year's sessions to put together a slideshow.  This slideshow really shows how much they have grown (plus it makes mom and me cry!).  

Now we are ready for the viewing.  Mom comes back about a week after the session to view her images and decide what she wants to order.  I project the images for easy viewing and take her through an easy process of elimination.  I even serve popcorn!

Once her order is placed, you would think my job is done!  Alas, it has only just begun.  I take her order, retouch the images she chose (if I had not done so previously), size them, print them, and package them.  I have to mount any wall portraits and make any composites.  If she purchased frames, I have to frame her images.

I'm almost through!  The last thing I have to do is burn the images to a DVD for storage.

There is a lot more to photography than "taking pretty pictures"!  I haven't even mentioned the hours I spend reading, taking classes, bookkeeping, paying bills, marketing and advertising!