Fantastic photos Kris you must be extremely proud to have captured your daughter in these fantastic poses . No doubt you will both look back on these with fond memories in the years to come..
I would love to acheive this type of photo with my grand children , I have a month old grand daughter and another one on the way in 8 weeks that I`d love to try to photograph with proper lighting .. however what sort of expense does a set up like yours cost ?
A couple of questions for you if you dont mind. .
What size of softbox are you using and how much does that type cost ?
What type of light are using with the softbox ? again at what cost ?
I guess the most inexpensive part of the kit is the Stand ....
Obviously I`m not suggesting for one minute that its all down to the lighting Equipment , I`m aware its much much more than simply having a light or two and pressing the shutter release,, there is a Lot of experience at play here which shows in your photos .. This is something that I`ve been mulling over for a good few months now and the biggest part of this for me is acquiring the correct light which I know can be pretty expensive ..
From my end I was budgeting for around £300 for a Softbox, Stand, and 1 or 2 refletors - the biggest expense after that would be the Light ..
I`ll probably start a thread to see what sort of advice would be offered from the guys ..
Coho - Blue
Hi Coho, well given the ages of your grandchildren, you have plenty of time to practice and add bits as you go, if you enjoy it. Getting the lighting right is 95% of the image, the rest is the polishing in pp so it is vitally important.
You don’t need to go mad, these were taken with one light and a couple of reflectors. Softboxes tend to be expensive for what they are, to be honest, they’re well over-priced really for the materials. Once you buy into a brand, you buy into their attachments in general. I’d look at brands such as godox and lencarta as they share a common fixing (S-fit) so most manufacturers attachments will fit. I went for elinchrom, which is a unique attachment to them. I started with their 2 head kit (d lites) and added a 3rd later (rarely if ever use) and have upgraded the soft boxes to their extortionately priced Rotalux soft boxes, but bought them gradually and will last me for life. Truth be told I favour a couple. The one here is a 100cm square which I bought secondhand. I’d certainly keep an eye on classifieds and look to buy a small setup.
I have the flash centres background stand and a load of papers I’ve accumulated, though I prefer a few grey colours usually so taste will dictate as to what you wish to achieve.
These are shot on a white paper, but if you don’t light and place the subject far enough away, you get a light grey ( I’ve added a slight texture in post afterwards)
I could add plenty more so maybe start a thread and I’ll chip in. Lighting equipment can work out expensive but you don’t need lots for the basics. You are best to start off small with one light and work from there. Get the basics together and build if that’s the direction you like. Study the type of lighting you like from images and deconstruct how the lighting was setup. There’s plenty online to help you but it’s great fun learning. There’s a great community here to help, keep us posted.
PS. My baby studio pics of my daughter I found tricky though it’s a great time to learn. The best bit at that age is that they don’t run off and play up (other than cry) or need bribing. Very rewarding when it comes together. I’ll post some of my efforts on your thread if you like for pointers.
