Beginner First Go At Maternity Photography

vtrjames

vtrjames

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490
Name
James
Edit My Images
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Evening All,

First of all I apologise if this is in the wrong section of the forum...

My wife and I are expecting our first child in March and as such she has asked me to take some photo's of bump. Now, I've always had a fascination with low key photography but I've never actually got round to doing it. Tonight I set up my flash off camera at around 30 degrees to the left of me and placed it so that the light fell onto the bump. I'm somewhat pleased with the outcome as its my first go at low key photography and I quite like the abstract nature of it but I'd really appreciate some advice on how to improve.

I found that the photo had quite bad banding straight out of camera and I don't know the reason why it occurs; if somebody could explain that to me I'd be extremely grateful. Secondly, I'd dialled the flash power back because I wanted to avoid hot spots, in hindsight I could have probably wound it up a bit more.

My wife has agreed to another go over the next few nights so I'll be able to practise again shortly. The photo was taken in our living room using a Shanny SN600SN flash, Nikon D7200 and an 18-55mm kit lens.

Any critique and advice is hugely appreciated,
James

 
What banding do you see? o_O I can't see anything I would describe as banding.
 
TLR-330 said:
What banding do you see? o_O I can't see anything I would describe as banding.
Click to expand...

Morning,

I'll the post the original when I get in tonight. The original had what I thought was banding thay I've processed out by adding noise in Photoshop.

James
 
I like your image, but I’ll clear up some misunderstandings.

The size and position of the flash is what causes hotspots, the power of it makes no difference. Light looks the same when it’s correctly exposed whether it’s a tiny speedlight on min power or a big speedlight on full power.

Banding is usually a consequence of underexposure, shadows break down into bands where there was insufficient light to create the smooth gradient.

So, don’t underexpose to alter the quality of light, do that with modifiers and position (I’d suggest a white sheet or shower curtain between the flash and subject)

And don’t think that covering your ‘mistakes’ in post isthe way forward.

Nice shot though, you should both be pleased.
 
Thanks Phil, I completely agree with your point on post processing; it was an attempt to salvage something from our 'experiment'.

By putting a white sheet between the flash and the subject is that to make the light bigger, sort of like a soft box? I have a book on using speedlites that I've been reading - and will continue to read - that I'm sure had been recommended by yourself.

James
 
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