p.77 #2 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
My kids are normally very calm and well behaved. So of course during a family photo shoot I didn’t want to do to begin with they were just so irritable. My daughter complained the whole time and my son who almost never cries basically cried bloody murder for 30 minutes straight. Eventually they both wore themselves out, my wife hastily stuck them together and I captured two of the least interested looking humans in the world.
p.77 #3 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
wittyphrase wrote:
My kids are normally very calm and well behaved. So of course during a family photo shoot I didn’t want to do to begin with they were just so irritable. My daughter complained the whole time and my son who almost never cries basically cried bloody murder for 30 minutes straight. Eventually they both wore themselves out, my wife hastily stuck them together and I captured two of the least interested looking humans in the world.
Wow I relate so much to this post with two kids of my own (although I don't know what 'normally very calm and behaved' means /s).
p.77 #4 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
He recently discovered that a very unique sound comes from planes.
I'm currently working on my muscle memory for the 65mm focal length. I dropped to one knee as he was walking towards me AND looking at me, but quickly realized I was too close for horizontal and switched to vertical just before he looked away.
I think it tracks very well with the A9 and it will get the job done with a couple (2-3) missed shots out of 10. I'm talking about a constantly moving toddler coming towards me.
p.77 #7 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
abadger wrote:
Wow I relate so much to this post with two kids of my own (although I don't know what 'normally very calm and behaved' means /s).
Beautifully captured despite the obstacles faced!
Thank you! Yea I knew I was in trouble when I saw my wife furiously texting and then she followed up with the dreaded “Would you be interested in taking pictures of…”. Turned out to be quite an ordeal, since I don’t like taking pics of kids other than my own (and even that is questionable sometimes
Here’s another where they were far more cooperative.
p.77 #8 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
wittyphrase wrote:
Thank you! Yea I knew I was in trouble when I saw my wife furiously texting and then she followed up with the dreaded “Would you be interested in taking pictures of…”. Turned out to be quite an ordeal, since I don’t like taking pics of kids other than my own (and even that is questionable sometimes
Here’s another where they were far more cooperative.
Great picture! Would you mind sharing how you set up the lighting? Was it on or off camera flash?
I'd like to take these kinds of photos of my nearly 1 year old but so far my results with bounce flash have given me fairly flat results. Not deer in the headlights but just overall bright without much contrast.
p.77 #9 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
You can look at the shadows to get an idea of the light source. If you look at the young girl's feet or the tree you will see that the light source is coming from the left. I'm not seeing a shadow directly behind the tree, baby, or the girl so it's probably not on camera flash.
Also, if you look at the wall on the left side near the window you can see that the angle of the light is downward but also at a higher elevation. The horizontal window sill gives off a shadow based on the light source. The shadow is triangular in shape so you can use the height and length of the base to figure out the angle of the light if you wanted to be that precise.
Honestly, flash/light work to me is the next level up in photography. You can watch videos about it to guide you with basic techniques and what to buy, but you have to put in the shutter counts to get good at it.
p.77 #10 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Ludvig83 wrote:
You can look at the shadows to get an idea of the light source. If you look at the young girl's feet or the tree you will see that the light source is coming from the left. I'm not seeing a shadow directly behind the tree, baby, or the girl so it's probably not on camera flash.
Also, if you look at the wall on the left side near the window you can see that the angle of the light is downward but also at a higher elevation. The horizontal window sill gives off a shadow based on the light source. The shadow is triangular in shape so you can use the height and length of the base to figure out the angle of the light if you wanted to be that precise.
Honestly, flash/light work to me is the next level up in photography. You can watch videos about it to guide you with basic techniques and what to buy, but you have to put in the shutter counts to get good at it. ...Show more →
Thank you very much for walking me through it. I knew it wasn't on-camera directly towards the children but I wasn't sure if it was still on-camera but bounced off the wall/ceiling from the left. Now that you pointed out the shadows around the window sill it looks more like a light stand than bounced flash.
To be honest I was hoping it was bounced. My son will absolutely knock over a light stand.
And I completely agree with you about flash/light work and the solution being practice, practice, practice. The concepts have been easy enough to understand and to follow but implementing them correctly has been much more of a challenge for me.
p.77 #11 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Ludvig83 wrote:
You can look at the shadows to get an idea of the light source. If you look at the young girl's feet or the tree you will see that the light source is coming from the left. I'm not seeing a shadow directly behind the tree, baby, or the girl so it's probably not on camera flash.
Also, if you look at the wall on the left side near the window you can see that the angle of the light is downward but also at a higher elevation. The horizontal window sill gives off a shadow based on the light source. The shadow is triangular in shape so you can use the height and length of the base to figure out the angle of the light if you wanted to be that precise.
Honestly, flash/light work to me is the next level up in photography. You can watch videos about it to guide you with basic techniques and what to buy, but you have to put in the shutter counts to get good at it. ...Show more →
Yea this is spot on. It’s a 51” white reflective umbrella with a diffusion panel on the front left of frame. It’s feathered shooting right past the kids a bit above and pointed down somewhere around 40 degrees probably. There’s a little bit of cheating via composite work as the umbrella was close enough to be visible in the frame. So I shot a clean plate without the kids and moving the light to paint it out and have another exposure option.
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gradient wrote:
Great picture! Would you mind sharing how you set up the lighting? Was it on or off camera flash?
I'd like to take these kinds of photos of my nearly 1 year old but so far my results with bounce flash have given me fairly flat results. Not deer in the headlights but just overall bright without much contrast.
What kind of flash are you using, which direction are you pointing it/where are you bouncing it from and what are you doing with your shutter speed?
p.77 #12 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
wittyphrase wrote:
What kind of flash are you using, which direction are you pointing it/where are you bouncing it from and what are you doing with your shutter speed?
I'm using Godox TT685 and depending on the room, I'm pointing it either angled towards the wall or ceiling. One room has slanted, high ceilings and the other has normal height, flat ceiling. I tried using 1/125 for the shutter speed and a smaller aperture like f8 or so but I found by doing so I ended up with pretty dark backgrounds if there was a doorway/hallway in the picture. I tried using 1/60 with rear-sync to see if I could get a bit more exposure from the background before the flash but I haven't been too thrilled with my shots yet. Would it be better to leave those areas dark?
The biggest problem for me is the lack of practice time since I'm chasing my son around. Currently I only get to take 1-3 shots in a short time so I don't get much of a chance to tweak and retry. That's up to me to figure out how to work in more practice.
I know this thread is meant for photos and there is a forum specifically on lighting technique, but I find it makes sense to ask questions about a photo where it's posted. If this should be moved to it's own thread, I can create one in the other forum instead.
p.77 #13 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
I feel your pain. I have a 19 month old that doesn't stop and would certainly be interested in any light stand that he saw.
What I did was to replace all the light bulbs in the house with higher lumen ones and with the same kelvin temperature. So when indoors, I just turn on all the lights that I need to photograph him. The same kelvin temperature helps because you can then create a custom white balance profile in camera for your indoor lighting.
In the picture below I was trying out a new to me 135mm 2.8, but I normally use a 1.4 fast lens for indoor shooting to keep the iso down. I have three light sources contributing light in this picture. Each has at least 3 light bulbs. We were working on getting him tired for bedtime.
p.77 #14 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Ludvig83 wrote:
I feel your pain. I have a 19 month old that doesn't stop and would certainly be interested in any light stand that he saw.
What I did was to replace all the light bulbs in the house with higher lumen ones and with the same kelvin temperature. So when indoors, I just turn on all the lights that I need to photograph him. The same kelvin temperature helps because you can then create a custom white balance profile in camera for your indoor lighting.
In the picture below I was trying out a new to me 135mm 2.8, but I normally use a 1.4 fast lens for indoor shooting to keep the iso down. I have three light sources contributing light in this picture. Each has at least 3 light bulbs. We were working on getting him tired for bedtime....Show more →
I have similar issues with shooting my kids indoors. They get even more irritated when I try to use flash, but I found out that expodisc actually helps with (typically unattractive indoors) colors. It even works with different light sources if you invest the time to set up custom WB for each .
p.77 #15 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
gradient wrote:
I'm using Godox TT685 and depending on the room, I'm pointing it either angled towards the wall or ceiling. One room has slanted, high ceilings and the other has normal height, flat ceiling. I tried using 1/125 for the shutter speed and a smaller aperture like f8 or so but I found by doing so I ended up with pretty dark backgrounds if there was a doorway/hallway in the picture. I tried using 1/60 with rear-sync to see if I could get a bit more exposure from the background before the flash but I haven't been too thrilled with my shots yet. Would it be better to leave those areas dark?
The biggest problem for me is the lack of practice time since I'm chasing my son around. Currently I only get to take 1-3 shots in a short time so I don't get much of a chance to tweak and retry. That's up to me to figure out how to work in more practice.
I know this thread is meant for photos and there is a forum specifically on lighting technique, but I find it makes sense to ask questions about a photo where it's posted. If this should be moved to it's own thread, I can create one in the other forum instead....Show more →
If you’re firing it at the wall behind you, that could cause what you’re seeing as “flat” light since as I said it’s going to still appear on-axis with the camera, just maybe larger. I find indoor settings are darker than we perceive them to be with our eyes, so 1/125 and F8 is going to be really dark unless it’s a sun-drenched, white room. In a studio with 10-12 foot ceilings I use 1/250, F8 and ISO 100 will just about black out the frame. And with a speed light you’re losing a lot of power in the bounce depending on how far away the wall and subject are. I’d open up the aperture and lower your shutter speed as well if you want to take advantage of whatever ambient light there is. Just be aware of the fact that there may be a mismatch between the color temperature of your ambient light and your flash. Don’t bother with rear-sync.
As for practice, it’s tough to practice on a young child. I certainly couldn’t. Trying with my daughter when she was young was futile and I didn’t even bother with my son this year - pretty much cell phone photos until he was 8 months. Some natural light stuff with a fast prime. Certainly nothing lit. Self portraits and/or a willing friend are your best bets for practice. If you’re really just eager to practice you could also buy a dummy head from a beauty supply store or something. You just need a static subject so you can see the effect of changes in your exposure settings, light placement and light power with full control over everything. Because with a kid moving around and your flash on camera (meaning that’s moving too whenever you move) you’ve got too many variables. Every move is changing your direction of light, effective power of the flash, exposure, etc.
To your last point, I’m happy to chat over PMs here or on social media if you want and glad to help out with whatever knowledge I can share. We’re talking specifically about a photo shared in here so I figure it’s fair game for discussion, but if someone says otherwise we can take it up elsewhere if you’d like.
p.77 #16 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Ludvig83 wrote:
I feel your pain. I have a 19 month old that doesn't stop and would certainly be interested in any light stand that he saw.
What I did was to replace all the light bulbs in the house with higher lumen ones and with the same kelvin temperature. So when indoors, I just turn on all the lights that I need to photograph him. The same kelvin temperature helps because you can then create a custom white balance profile in camera for your indoor lighting.
In the picture below I was trying out a new to me 135mm 2.8, but I normally use a 1.4 fast lens for indoor shooting to keep the iso down. I have three light sources contributing light in this picture. Each has at least 3 light bulbs. We were working on getting him tired for bedtime....Show more →
I recently found bulbs in Lowes that have a switch allowing you to select one of four temperatures. After I installed them all I forgot exactly which setting I put them on, but at least I know I deliberately made them on the warmer side. So that helps somewhat.
p.77 #17 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Donzo98 wrote:
Love your post processing...
Do you start with a pre-set and then tweak??
Would love to learn...
thanks... I guess you can say I start with a preset... but it's a preset from a previous edit that I saved as a "preset" and then yes... I tweak from there. this particular edit took a little more effort as the starting point preset put a greenish tone on his shirt, so I had to do some masking. And I also "faked" a 2nd light... it kinda looks like there was a kicker/rim light coming from the left side, that was done in Photoshop with Dodge and Burn
p.77 #19 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Self portrait. I came across a lighting pattern I liked a while back and failed at it. Took another stab last night and am much happier.
Question: Does anyone know any tricks for getting wrinkles out of painted canvas backdrops? I guess this one had a few creases when it was rolled and as you can see they’re pretty visible when it’s lit from the side. My steamer didn’t do much.
p.77 #20 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
wittyphrase wrote:
Self portrait. I came across a lighting pattern I liked a while back and failed at it. Took another stab last night and am much happier.
Question: Does anyone know any tricks for getting wrinkles out of painted canvas backdrops? I guess this one had a few creases when it was rolled and as you can see they’re pretty visible when it’s lit from the side. My steamer didn’t do much.
If real life solutions fail, I use my “frequency separation steamer” in post and it works just fine. But yeah that would be annoying to do every time. Can’t steam iron it from the non-painted side/back for greater effect? I guess I’ve never tried.
