Help required please.

Glen

Glen

Uncle Glen
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Glen
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As you may know my niece was born last week. Her mum and dad have ask me if I can take some pics of them all together and of Olivia on her own in the next couple of weeks.

Does anyone have any advice on where to shoot for best effect, any techniques, has anyone done any of these kind of shots before?

I've not got any backgrounds, but I could soon rustle up a bit of material, whats the best colour to go for?

Was thinking of doing the job lot in mono, what are your thoughts?

Any help would be grateful as I've not really done any 'set up' portrait stuff.

A local photographer near where I work has got some mono, white background, almost high key pics of kids and stuff in his window, these look very good and I like that style.
 
Not everybody likes mono. Might be best to ask first?


Yeah ok its just me :)


:coat:
 
Oh yeh, this was just my thought I've not spoken to them yet as to what they want, as it was Kirstie who nipped in last night and they just asked her if I would do it.
 
Was it you who was building that tanking great conservatory? If so, that would be perfect, especially if it's bit cloudy. If it's a bright sunny day yo will want to cover some of the windows with white sheets to tone down the light a bit. I.m speaking from experience of my pa doing lots of shots of us kids when I was little, this is the technique he used and it worked well.

Bean bag may also be a vital accessory as babies of that age are a bit floppy and don't really follow posing instructions well lol. Anything you can use to prop them up etc whilst supporting their head would be grand.

Bit of flash to fill any shadows and give some cachlights in the eyes and off you go.

hth? I'm by no means an expert, but I do have a little experience!
 
one of my most favourite shots of new baby's is when the baby is lying on Mum's shoulder, Mum has her back to us and we can see the baby's face, don't forget the tiny feet too, get Dad to hold the baby and cradle the tiny feet in his big hands....I love baby photography, is sooo erm....delicious!
 
Gandhi said:
Was it you who was building that tanking great conservatory? If so, that would be perfect, especially if it's bit cloudy. If it's a bright sunny day yo will want to cover some of the windows with white sheets to tone down the light a bit. I.m speaking from experience of my pa doing lots of shots of us kids when I was little, this is the technique he used and it worked well.
Click to expand...

Yeh, just about finished.....
con-2.jpg


con-1.jpg


I could move furniture around/out I suppose. Plus if I keep the blinds closed that should take care of any sun?
 
Glen said:
Yeh, just about finished.....
*snip*
I could move furniture around/out I suppose. Plus if I keep the blinds closed that should take care of any sun?
Click to expand...

leave the furniture in , you should be able to get some very natural looking group shots. Try moving the settee sligtly away from the wall and putting coloured lights on the floor behind it , it will give a soft colouring of the wall as a back-drop.


Ps. excellent extension (y)
 
I'd quite hapilly donate a reproductive gland to medical science for a room like that! Unfortunately I live on the 1st floor so extensions aren't practical lol.

That does look ideal though glen, just be careful if you use flash that it doesn't leave any harsh shadows from furniture etc. Diffuse or bounce or both probably. Just make sure you get em round on a cloudy day (shouldn't be too hard)

is that a bean bag between the sofas too? ;)
 
Yeah, well spotted, it's one of those giant ones, needs to be to get my big a**e onto.:LOL:
 
Off topic.........thats an awesome conservatory (y)

I'm in two minds as to move or stick something like that onto the back of the house.

Don't suppose you'd mind pm'img me with the details of it :naughty:

looks great!


On topic now, don't use the full power of your flash near a new borns eyes it can damage them.

My sister gave birth to her first last night, so i'll watch this thread with interest :)
 
digitalfailure said:
On topic now, don't use the full power of your flash near a new borns eyes it can damage them.
Click to expand...

That's what the 50mm/f1.8 is all about :)

My father & my brothers son (my nephew) indoors with no flash last year :)

oliver.jpg
 
I would shoot in RAW and make 2 or more conversions of the images that are keepers.

1 full colour
1 mono
1 or more with various effects like toning etc.

Try converting to mono in the RAW converter by dragging saturation all the way down and then adjust the white balance & hue sliders to change the mono effect. You can get some very good results before you drop it into PS for finishing touches.
 
digitalfailure said:
Off topic.........thats an awesome conservatory (y)

I'm in two minds as to move or stick something like that onto the back of the house.

Don't suppose you'd mind pm'img me with the details of it :naughty:
Click to expand...

No problem will do another thread no need to PM I think, might help others?
 
Thanks!!! for all the pointers, seeing as its family, I can do a trial and error so to speak until I'm happy with what I get....watch this space and I'll post the results once I've taken them. (y)
 
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