is it better to...

minniemouse22 · Feb 4, 2013

I have a mini studio in my home for children and newborns. I'm striving to be a natural light photographer and while I'm using the natural light from the window behind me, I was wondering if I should move my set up and place the window to me left and have a reflector on my right? I just purchased a Neewer 110CM 43" 5-in-1 Collapsible Multi-Disc Light Reflector and I am hoping this will be adequate for this type of shooting? Shadows can be a problem if I have a parent over my shoulder cheering on their toddler but it's not all the time either. I do have a speed light but, correct me if i'm worng, these are not good for continuous shooting? Thoughts would be appreciated.

pixmedic · Feb 4, 2013

It is better to have a few speedlights with diffusers and understand how to control the lighting in any environment.
why would you need to use continuous shooting? how fast is that infant moving?
if you rely ONLY on the light from the window, you are going to be limited by time of day you can shoot, weather conditions appropriate for natural light shooting, and where you can place the subject in the room. even with reflectors you still may need fill light to get the best images and remove shadows.

minniemouse22 · Feb 4, 2013

Infants not so much. But toddlers on the other hand, would require continuous shooting, even if it's 3 or 4 frames. Sometimes that makes all the difference. Crawling, walking and an attention span of a small child requires more than a few shots. I've had success at different times of day, morning and even 4PM in the afternoon. It only requires a larger aperture and a few adjustments of the settings. Like I said, Im wondering if changing the location of the setup to a different wall and adding a reflector will give me a better chance of all around exposure and less chance for shadow