Cherry Blossom Session | Bellevue Photographer, WA
Aww... Spring is finally here! What better way to celebrate than to take beautiful pictures of a sweet little girl among cherry blossoms!
I found a perfect spot that has beautiful cherry blossom trees with very little people around. This gave me plenty of time to take the pictures I needed, without having to fight for a good spot, like the case with a more popular place, Washington Arboretum.
Please meet Milana! A sweet little girl that loves having her pictures taken. I had a certain vision in mind and she was a natural and very quick to understand what I needed her to do. Made it really easy on me. You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram!
I used my favorite Canon 5d Mark iii camera, and Canon EF 70-200mm 2.8 lens for this entire session
For this shot above I found awesome cherry blossom branches that went all the way down to the ground. I thought it would be such a beautiful background to have her surrounded by cherry blossoms. I wish you could smell them! The aroma these blossoms put out was heavenly. I had Milana hold just a few of the blossoms and very gently take in the fragrance.
This is by far my favorite picture out of this whole session. The moment I uploaded it on my computer I knew it would turn out amazing. To me it represents such sweetness and innocence. It almost takes you to a different place.
I used the aperture of f/2.8, shutter speed of 1/400 and iso of 125 at a 190mm focal length.
I usually always set my shutter speed at 1/500 whenever I use my 200mm zoom lens ( this usually always guarantees crisp, sharp images), but I didn't want to bump up the iso in order to have as little noise in the image as possible.
I figured since she wasn't really moving too much I could get away with it and still get sharp results.
For this one I had Milana hold cherry blossom branches to create a frame around her. I used the aperture of f/2.8, shutter speed of 1/400 and iso of 125 at a 102mm focal length.
f/2.81/400 iso125 102mm focal length
f/2.8 1/320 iso125 200mm focal length
For this above image I had Milana sit on a fallen down tree that had cherry blossoms growing upwards. This created a beautiful frame all around her.
I used aperture of f2/8, shutter speed of 1/320 and iso of 125. I used a 200mm focal length to help blur the background behind her, which created a nice depth of field.
f/2.8 1/320 iso125 130mm focal length
For this one I thought it would be so cute to have her read a bunny book to her stuffed bunny animal. She was so excited to do it. She is actually really reading in these two pictures!(above and below).
I had to be careful with the light on these two. The sun just came out so I had her positioned with the light behind her creating a nice back light.
f/2.8 1/320 iso125 125mm focal length
f/2.8 1/1250 iso250 70mm focal length
This one was a bit tricky. I haven't been lucky enough to find cherry blossoms in perfect rows to each other. At this location they only had one nice row. I've decided to get creative and had Milana skip with her bunny to take the picture.
Than later when procession the image I flipped it horizontally in photoshop and masked the second row in, this again help to creat a frame around the subject and brings balance to the image. I love how playful this image came out.
I had to us a high shutter speed for this one of 1/1250. This made sure that I had a nice sharp image of her skipping.
Needless to say I had a lot of fun taking these pictures. I was so happy to be able to find such a beautiful and secluded spot.
I usually always go to Washington Arboretum for my cherry blossom sessions, and it is always so packed with onlookers. This makes it extremely difficult to take the shots that I want without any people in it.
It also is usually very muddy there. The ground almost feels like a little swamp. So when I found this trees I was beyond ecstatic. I spent two days driving around just in hopes of being able to find something beautiful and secluded.
I found a few places and changed our location multiple time with Milana's mother until I finally settled on this one. I hope I didn't drive her crazy with all the changes!
I know a lot of photographers would want to know this location, but for now I've decided to keep it a secret. I'm not ready to risk it of getting too crowded, not just yet.
If you are interested in a Fine Art Session, please contact me via e-mail at arina@arinasizemorephotography.com
We will be more than happy to book your appointment or answer any questions you may have.
To see more of Arina Sizemore portraits please visit our gallery for more images.
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