1st attempt at child photography

[Ganton Gunner]

Ok I do bird pics thats my excuse
my Granddaughter turned 1 year old today so I was asked to take some pic's
I set up a little backdrop I had (i only have the 1)
was inside and next to no natural light to the room so i had to rely on my 2 speed lights.
Im not sure why they call them speed lights cos I found after so long (about 30 pics in 5 min ) one got incredibly slow :O and was missing a lot and the other was slaved off it.
please feel free to give any advice and tips
(please also note i was very restricted for room and was 9 other people in the room with me )

_PAS3149 by peter staddon, on Flickr
_PAS3165 by peter staddon, on Flickr
_PAS3174 by peter staddon, on Flickr
_PAS3121 by peter staddon, on Flickr

 

[Kodiak Qc]

was 9 other people in the room with me

That alone was a cool asset to your shoot and the child responded
with sweet and happy faces.

If the ceiling and /or walls are white, try bouncing your flashes on it.
The BG take too much of my viewing attention but I know that was
your only one.

Cool, she had a bright and colourful birthday!

 

[juggler]

Cool, and much better than my early attempts!

This may or may not be useful... https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/tutorials/article-1-2-3-lights-for-portraits.127/

I will just add.. the lighting in the backdrop is mainly backlighting. In a confined space it's going to be difficult to get the lighting on the subject to match it and look realistic. The best use of it might be head & shoulders portraits on a shallow DoF to let the backdrop go out of focus with a healthy dose of backlighting for the subject.

 

[ancient_mariner]

It sounds like you all had a good time - your grand daughter certainly looks happy, especially in that first shot.

As well as the flash advice above, I'd just add that with backgrounds it's good to use them in keeping with the planned shot, i.e. the woodland path looks a little odd with a cake-smash shot. Well done for trying this though.

 

[cargo]

Hi there. Not been on the forum for a little while but logged on to the lighting section and read your post. Then found this here. Was great to see the results. As people know i'm no expert or lighting guru. That said I think the way you lite this was fine and would have worked way way better on a plain background you obviously know this so sorry for repeating it.

Well done I bet there well pleased with them.

Gaz

ps: I have never done a cake smash but for a plain grey backdrop I often use a grey roller blind from Ikea draped over a background stand. A pack of cheap laminate for the floor works too.