I was so thrilled to do Jessica’s senior pictures in downtown Tucson! Only a year ago I had worked with her sister, Christina (see her images here) and what I loved is that even though they both wanted similar locations for their sessions (downtown Tucson followed by Saguaro National Park West) they looked very different!
Spring in the desert is a great time for high school senior pictures. I love that there is so much variety in the backdrops available – from the desert to downtown to mountains to running water – for high school senior pictures. I also really appreciate that I can photograph both an urban and a desert look all in the same session and still have awesome light thanks to having off camera lights in my arsenal. Currently I use and love Profoto for all my off camera lighting. Most of these images below feature one Profoto B1 with occasionally an A1 for rim light. Using off camera light is so important for keeping skin tones balanced, showcasing beautiful bright eyes, and working in more shaded environments.
Having hair and makeup done always adds something special to senior pictures. In Jessica’s session, Gabby from Heather Van Houten’s team did Jessica’s makeup and it was on point.
I use more natural light as it gets closer to sunset and really use the sun in the photos as high key back light. But often I will add off camera light to help balance the face and body against the sun and sky.
Using off camera light is one of the things I think sets me apart from other senior portrait photographers.
