I Spy...
I had my girls in to the studio to shoot some clothes for a catalogue assignment I was working on and once we got done with the 'proper' stuff I let t...
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I had my girls in to the studio to shoot some clothes for a catalogue assignment I was working on and once we got done with the 'proper' stuff I let them have free reign of the studio while I sat back and grabbed some images. It was their first time in the studio and they had a great time checking out the set, marvelling at the lights, and were just seriously good little models for me.
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Sep, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in the studio at the school where I am currently studying for my Diploma of Photography. My teachers are extremely encouraging and recognised my passion for photographing children, and suggested exploring that passion in a studio environment.Time
The images from this shoot (including I Spy) were shot in the afternoon. Zee (my daughter in the picture) was actually woken up from her nap at daycare to come up and do the shoot and she was not impressed. She's one little girl who loves her naps! Needless to say it took a while for her to warm up to the idea of Mummy following her around a big studio with a camera and it took a lot of patience to get her feeling comfortable. But once she was, she opened up and started to have a lot of fun, allowing me to get some great images.Lighting
I used a basic lighting set-up, with just a couple of background lights to give me that clean, bright background, and a soft box for lighting my subject.Equipment
I shot this on my Canon 6D using my 24-105mm lens, and used Pocket Wizards to trigger the 3 flash heads.Inspiration
After my teachers encouraged me to explore my love of photographing children in the studio, we were given an assignment to produce a number of commercial images. My husband brought my daughters Zee (in the picture) and Punky to the studio and I photographed them in a range of different outfits, with the brief that we were shooting images for a kids' clothing line. This image was taken towards the end of the 1.5hr shoot, once I'd gotten the "catalogue"-style images I wanted for my assignment. It was the perfect time to try and get a few portfolio shots and both girls were good enough to grace me with some beautiful expressions to photograph.Editing
I've been experimenting with the Duotone mode in Photoshop to create my own black & whites, so applied my basic Quadtone edit and then I adjusted the Curves to get all the tones where I wanted them. Other than the black & white conversion & curves I haven't done much else to this image. I didn't even get rid of the traces of the chocolate we were using as a bribe for posing from around her mouth, because I love little things like that in my kids images, things that are barely noticeable but that are authentic to that moment, like some dirt under the fingernails or finger paint on their hands.In my camera bag
Up until recently my 50mm 1.4 lens has pretty much lived on my Canon 6D body. I love to take my camera everywhere I go, and it's the perfect lens when you're not sure what you'll end up shooting. I just bought a Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art lens and I've been having a LOT of fun experimenting with it. The auto-focus is pretty useless but I don't mind that, and it gives the most creamy, blurry bokkeh when open wide. I prefer prime lenses but I also have a Canon 24-105mm, as well as a Tamron 10-24mm that I use on the rare occasions when I'm able to get out of the house by myself to shoot some landscapes. All of this lives in my beautiful Lilah Snow leather camera bag which I couldn't go anywhere without because it fits all of my gear plus my wallet and sunnies, meaning I don't need to take any extra bags with me.Feedback
Shooting kids can be a frustrating experience, especially your own kids (kids tend to be a bit better behaved for strangers than they are for their parents!) so my biggest tip is to just be patient. Don't push them to perform or they will just resist even more and you'll both end up in tears. Everybody loves the smiling photo with the child looking straight down the lens, but the most beautiful and natural images can often come in between the posed ones so always be prepared to take the shot at any moment. And know your camera! Kids move really fast and they won't wait for you to fiddle around with your camera controls trying to find the right exposure. Know how to change any of your exposure settings without taking your eye away from the viewfinder and practice, practice, practice until you get to a point where you know what settings you're going to use for the situation & light conditions before you even pick up the camera.
