Joel and Amy family portraits

Spent some of Friday afternoon shooting Joel and Amy, along with Joel's parents and sister. Joel's family was visiting from the Chicago area and were greeted to a spectacular day. Did some shooting on the south side of the Oceanside Pier, then moved over to the rows of off-season lifeguard towers.

Lighting was pretty simple for the pier shot. I knew there would be some great afternoon sunlight streaming through the pier pilings, and I wanted to accentuate the long vanishing point of the pier. They needed lots of light, so I had two strobes mounted on a Brewer Bracket and fired with Pocket Wizards.

The vertical lifeguard tower shot was a little more complex. I loved the look down the row of towers, and I thought the layout of the tower would make a great place to assemble a small group. Amy and Joel (at top) and Joel's sister were lighted with a strobe shot through a translucent umbrella placed on a stand on the tower just to the left of the group. Joel's parents were lit by the same setup placed just to the left of them underneath the opposite tower.