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The Queen Mother.

A rare maternity shot from my collection of work, one of the few times I'm ok with making someone cry.

A rare maternity shot from my collection of work, one of the few times I'm ok with making someone cry.
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Canon EOS 5DS R

settings

Aperture 63/10 ISO 125 Shutter 1/400 Focal Length 70/1

upload_date

Feb, 2023

Views

1097

Likes

Awards

Contender in the Photography Awards

Winter 23 Award

Summer Views Award

Contender in the Visual Poetry Project

Flawless Summer Award

Picture Perfect Award

Aperture Award

Peer Award

Top Choice

Superb Composition

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

With the magic of a fuzzy blanket, we turned an exit to the patio into a Renaissance style painting. No studio, just a quick shoot in the corner of her house!

Time

We shot this indoors, so time of day only mattered from the perspective that we needed to control the light coming inside through the sliding glass door, covered up with nothing more than a thick blanket. The rest of the lighting is strobe / ambient.

Lighting

The lighting was tricky. I wasn't in a studio, with full control of my lighting, so we had to get creative. Behind her, a dark gray fuzzy blanket is covering a sliding glass door, blocking out full sunlight. To her left, a strobe with a 2x3 softbox, pointed away from her to use the far end of the room as a secondary diffuser, gave us this lovely soft lighting that evokes a feeling a classic oil painting.

Equipment

Shot with a Canon 5DSr and 70-200mm 2.8L, hand held. Lighting was a single Alien Bee B800, mounting a 2x3 Paul C Buff softbox.

Inspiration

I don't get to do many maternity shoots, and I offered to shoot a session for a friend, celebrating her first child. She's such a lovely person, I was ecstatic to capture her in this way, such an amazing memory for both of us.

Editing

Post process is minor retouching, and a push of the black point / contrast.

In my camera bag

I typically carry a 5DSr with 70-200mm, 24-70mm, my third lens pouch being a swap for 14mm when shooting architecture, or 100mm macro if I'm out in nature/hiking. I can shoot anything all day with those combinations.

Feedback

Experiment with ways to achieve soft lighting, with or without strobes. You can do it inexpensively just by manipulating the size of your light source, creativity comes from constraints! Sheer fabric to diffuse a window light source is one way to do it, bouncing your light source off a wall or ceiling is another. You don't need expensive gear to make something like this work!

See more amazing photos, follow billndotnet

billndotnet

billndotnet

The Queen Mother.

A rare maternity shot from my collection of work, one of the few times I'm ok with making someone cry.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow billndotnet

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