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Archive 2014 · Maternity/Family Shoot with (and without) Godox ES600P Pack/Head

  
 
JandALight
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Maternity/Family Shoot with (and without) Godox ES600P Pack/Head


Hey guys,
I've been kicking around FM for awhile, posting mostly a lot of "event" coverage (70yo dude's catered birthday party at his house)...(not as bad as it sounds, he was a cool guy). I've been trying to get into wedding photography as an extension of that tradition, and shot my first a couple weeks ago (https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1300016), but I must say that doing more formal/controlled portrait work has helped me along the most the last few months.

Just starting out, I have to admit there is still a bit of unfamiliarity with my gear, and I find doing slower portrait work gives me a much better idea of the cause/effect of the techniques/principles that I try to implement into my work. On this shoot, I was blessed with a family who very naturally fell into graceful poses, and could step outside themselves to make some nice pictures, but it was still a workout for my nascent directing skills. I also used the session as a way to test what I can get with the Godox ES600P 600Ws pack/head in a 36" octobox. Anything that had a flash used that kit as a key light (rim/backlight was just a bare speedlight).

Having such a powerful light really changed things; much easier to set up full body portraits because I could back the light up and get some of the surroundings and maintain good flash on the subject, and I could light up bigger areas, and just generally balance a wider/higher range of sunlight. Just really nice to have the flexibility, and honestly it wasn't too much more cumbersome than handling speedlights on stands with sandbags (the ES600P's pack acted as a sandbag), and I didn't have to worry about battery power since the pack is rated for I think ~400 full power 600Ws pops 2-3s apart. I'll probalby put up a review of the ES600P on my blog at some point.

The shoot was done mostly in the shade with strobes since I coudn't scrim them in the 11AM sunlight which was practically directly overhead. Started in a park near their home, then just did a couple of setups at their place. The silouhette stuff almost didnt' happen because I forgot my roll of white seamless, but luckily the had a big outdoor projection screen on hand that was even better than the seamless (it probably reflected around 1-2 stops more light than the seamless I deal with, and it wrapped just every so slightly around them to give some nice definition in overlapping body parts. Also just got some stuff with mom in there. The three shots at the end I was actually using the ES600P in the 36" softbox to mimic some soft window light

Overall, I was really pleased with the results, and was just happy to be able to give the family something of a keepsake before the arrival of their new daughter. If I could do anything differently, I would probably allow backgrounds that were closer to the subjects to blow out, rather than try to underexpose them with smaller apertures -- I think that the set under the tree on the rock are a little unnatural looking because everythign is in focus. In the set on the grass towards the end, I would probably not use such a long focal length (pretty sure I was at 200mm, someting like f/4 for those photos...they were tack sharp, but their backgrounds blurred into mush a bit too much I think ,and it made them look like they were composited in poorly.

1)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa37e4b0c9003b659017/1402513978600/_MG_1532.jpg

2)
http://www.jandlight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa17e4b091e221d0497d/1402513960149/_MG_1460.jpg

3)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa15e4b0c9003b658fb5/1402513955021/_MG_1468.jpg

4)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa20e4b0c9003b658fd1/1402513955550/_MG_1471.jpg

5)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa25e4b091e221d049b0/1402513971657/_MG_1483.jpg

6)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa2ee4b0c9003b658ff9/1402514017105/_MG_1496.jpg
Query String

7)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa2ce4b091e221d049be/1402513969253/_MG_1518.jpg

8)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa32e4b091e221d049cf/1402513988204/_MG_1523.jpg

9)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa39e4b091e221d049db/1402513979471/_MG_1579.jpg

10)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa43e4b0c9003b659038/1402514022206/_MG_1589.jpg

11)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa3fe4b091e221d049f3/1402514009158/_MG_1608.jpg

12)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa48e4b091e221d049fc/1402513993961/_MG_1622.jpg

13)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa4ce4b0c9003b65904d/1402514012907/_MG_1636.jpg

14)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa4fe4b091e221d04a0d/1402514034292/_MG_1638.jpg

15)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa54e4b0c9003b65905a/1402514037957/_MG_1649.jpg

16)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa59e4b091e221d04a2d/1402514014262/_MG_1692.jpg

17)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa5ee4b0c9003b659073/1402514037646/_MG_1712.jpg

18)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa63e4b091e221d04a42/1402514021763/_MG_1746.jpg

19)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6ae4b0c9003b6590a6/1402514029514/_MG_1841.jpg

20)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6ae4b091e221d04a52/1402514050164/_MG_1843.jpg

21)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6ce4b0c9003b6590a9/1402514044977/_MG_1851.jpg

22)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6ce4b091e221d04a5c/1402514071027/_MG_1863.jpg

23)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6de4b0c9003b6590ab/1402514054844/_MG_1965.jpg

24)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6de4b091e221d04a5e/1402514042688/_MG_1984.jpg

25)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6fe4b0c9003b6590cb/1402514033866/_MG_2030.jpg

26)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa6fe4b091e221d04a60/1402514075155/_MG_2050.jpg

27)
http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398aa71e4b0c9003b6590ce/1402514088297/_MG_2069.jpg






Jun 11, 2014 at 03:04 PM
jefferies1
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Maternity/Family Shoot with (and without) Godox ES600P Pack/Head


Overall they are nice. As for the backgrounds most prefer a heavy blur to separate the subject. I like the amount seen in these but opinions will vary. Of course if you wanted to show specific features then yes you would require more DOF.


Jun 11, 2014 at 03:11 PM
JandALight
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Maternity/Family Shoot with (and without) Godox ES600P Pack/Head


jefferies1 wrote:
Overall they are nice. As for the backgrounds most prefer a heavy blur to separate the subject. I like the amount seen in these but opinions will vary. Of course if you wanted to show specific features then yes you would require more DOF.


Actually, looking at the photos I posted, these weren't the problems, and I agree the effect is desirable here. I'll try to post a couple that I think took it too far in a bit. Thanks for the feedback!



Jun 11, 2014 at 03:34 PM
JandALight
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Maternity/Family Shoot with (and without) Godox ES600P Pack/Head


I guess this one only suffers from too much out of focus area in the foreground, which makes the whole thing look realy strange in a way:

http://www.jandalight.com/static/52cc97e8e4b00bc0db9fe507/52f32891e4b0ac1389d70350/5398c212e4b04764c8c8fb92/1402520082282/_MG_1834.jpg



Jun 11, 2014 at 03:56 PM
NoelSal
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Maternity/Family Shoot with (and without) Godox ES600P Pack/Head


without any nit picking these are all great!


Jun 11, 2014 at 04:23 PM





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