4 Year Old Portraits

adamhiram · Jan 23, 2019

One of my goals in learning portraiture and studio lighting has been to take better school pictures. My son just turned 4, and it was a good excuse to take some new portraits. Nothing too exciting - just a basic 3-light setup on a textured background.

A large white reflector has become my go-to fill light, as it adds nice soft fill without adding a 2nd catchlight, and is easy enough to adjust "power" by simply moving it closer or farther away from the subject. The painted canvas backdrop I used has proven to be quite versatile when used with various gels, although I have to blast it with a lot of light to get lighter tones. I am still learning hair/rim lighting, but was pretty happy with the positioning and power in these shots. I think I’m still getting a little bit of rim light spill on the side of the face, but that seems to be more a factor of the subject moving than positioning.

Lighting:

Key light: 38” Octobox
Fill light: White reflector, metered at 1 stop below key for a 1:2 key/fill ratio
Rim light: Gridded stripbox metered at 1 stop below key
Background light: Gelled (1/2 CTB) and metered at 1 stop above key on a gray painted canvas backdrop

Shot on a D500 at 85mm, f/8, ISO 400, with 3x Godox TT600 speedlights

20190120-DSC_1387a by adamhiram, on Flickr

Getting a natural smile always starts with telling him not to smile and only serious faces. I guess this is his serious face.

20190120-DSC_1381a by adamhiram, on Flickr

More serious faces before the smiles came out. I love that his personality really comes out when he does something other than posing and smiling for the camera.

20190120-DSC_1382a by adamhiram, on Flickr

Here's a pull-back shot of the setup.

20190119-DSC_1341a by adamhiram, on Flickr

smoke665 · Jan 23, 2019

Nice Adam. Man I wish you lived closer. Your son and my granddaughter together on set would be interesting. That is if we could keep from laughing at their faces.

adamhiram · Jan 23, 2019

Thanks! I think that would be a lot of fun... or possibly a catastrophe, but at least a really cute one.

smoke665 · Jan 23, 2019

adamhiram said:
Thanks! I think that would be a lot of fun... or possibly a catastrophe, but at least a really cute one.

Setting up garage studio today for Valentine's photos tomorrow. By tomorrow evening I may be voting catastrophe. Granddaughter is approaching 3 1/2 so there's a lot of similarities in silliness and stubborness. While the first image is great, the last two are the ones that will make you smile when he's all grown.