Haley Mason grew up surrounded by photographers and videographers. “My dad and uncle always had a camera in their hands,” she says. “My grandpa collected cameras as well and would talk about them often. He had me dip my toes into film, and my uncle gave me my first camera, a point-and-shoot, and my first DSLR. I slowly fell in love with capturing everything I saw.”

Haley’s segue into child portrait photography began at age 15, when her then-boyfriend (now husband) presented her with another DSLR and she began photographing newborns and families. “When my own daughter was born, I didn’t want to miss a moment,” she says. Today, Haley’s focus lies in capturing portraits that capture the details of every child in front of her camera.

“Lighting and focal length can make or break a photo,” she says. “If I see something in good light, I’ll grab my camera to capture the moment, or I’ll re-create it later. If I’m desiring more negative space when composing a shot, I’ll consider the color, texture, emotion, atmosphere—whatever it takes to make the viewer feel something. One thing I’m not great at is following rules. I tend to just ‘see’ a photo in my mind. If I can’t bring that vision to life, I move on.”

To help her achieve her dramatic child portrait photography, Haley uses the Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 telephoto zoom. “I’m more of a prime lens shooter, so I was pleased to find this is an amazingly accurate and sharp lens, even fully zoomed in,” she says. “With its F2.8 minimum aperture, the lens is incredible in low light—I’ve even used it in fog. The Vibration Compensation (VC) feature ensures I don’t have to worry about camera shake, even when I have to bump up my ISO. Plus, it’s very compact, at just 6.2 inches long, and weighs just over 30 ounces, which is so light for a telephoto zoom.”

HALEY’S QUICK PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

Find the right lighting and backgrounds.
I like shooting during the golden hour and blue hour, but I prefer, say, sidelight with a big tree on one side of my subject to block the sun, or shooting indoors using window light. I can shoot most times of day using this kind of available light, depending on what part of the house I’m shooting in. This type of light also works well in colder weather when I can’t bring the kids outside.