My Son

[Big Mike]

My Son just turned one year old...so I put together a quick photo shoot to document the occasion.

#1

#2 He loves this Truck. He pushes it around the house making engine sounds.

#3

#4

#5

#6

 

[Foques]

I like 1 and 5 the most

 

[Big Mike]

#7 He got the 'Bee Bop Band' for his birthday from his Baba.

#8

#9

#10 "I'm done!"

#11

 

[Laika]

These are all wonderful! #2 is my favorite.

 

[gullopettibone]

I am new to this forum and really have no idea how to use. I came across your pictures and they are adorable!

 

[Dismine]

#10... like a rockstar throwin his sticks at the end of a show. and the facial expression is priceless.

 

[ShawnS]

7 and 10 FTW

 

[bigtwinky]

cute kid Mike. Love the Oilers jersey. He'd be cuter in a Montreal Canadians jersey though

 

[Big Mike]

Oh....them is fightin' words.

He likes teams with winning records

 

[iolair]

Well done ... all great shots. (Personal favourites 4, 7 and 8)

How were they lit? (I'm still learning portrait lighting, but it looks to me like an umbrella high-left, and fill from the direction of the camera?)

You got him looking at the camera most of the time - seems pretty difficult with this age (though my 22 month-old daughter LOVES to play up for the camera).

 

[Hardrock]

:thumbup:Great pictures and cute boy. Whats your setup if you dont mind me asking?

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks for the comment everyone.

How were they lit?

Whats your setup if you dont mind me asking?

These were shot in my 'basement studio'. If I get a chance, I'll post a wider pic of the whole setup.

The background is white seamless. It's actually a low reflectivity vinyl material, much more durable than paper but hard to travel with and the wrinkles can be a pain.

For lighting the background, I have two B400 strobes. Both mounted fairly close to the background (one is actually on a super clamp that is attached to the autopole which is holding the backdrop). These two lights are pointed up to the ceiling so, in essence, the background light is all coming down as bounced ceiling light. This set up isn't ideal because that light spills all over the subject but it keeps me from having to set up separate light stands for the background lights, which is important because I've got less than 12' in width.

The main light is a large softbox to camera left. It's on a 13' light stand, as low as it can go...a couple feet off the ground. I didn't want to go too high.

That's it for lighting. I didn't add anything extra for fill, but there was plenty of light bouncing around and the softbox was big enough to just about wrap the light around him anyway.

One thing I could have done, was to turn up the background light on camera right. The backgrounds lights were set evenly, but when the main light was added to the backdrop, the left side ended up a bit brighter than the right.

You got him looking at the camera most of the time

Well, I also took a lot of shots. But overall, he was pretty cooperative for this shoot.

 

[Christie Photo]

Well, I also took a lot of shots. But overall, he was pretty cooperative for this shoot.

This is my favorite. Nicely done, Michael. Did you consider cropping it to center your faces?

He's sure a cute lil fart!

-Pete

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks Pete

This is my favorite. Nicely done, Michael. Did you consider cropping it to center your faces?

Not yet...but if/when I go to print this I'll definitely have a look at different crop options. And if it goes into a frame, I think that it probably would look better with the faces centred a little more.
For this one, I just quickly used my rule of thumb, leaving equal spaces on opposite sides.
That's one thing I really love about working in Lightroom...crops are not permanent.

 

[JayClark79]

Hey Big Mike nice shots... what does your background have underneath it... carpet? cement? Im wondering because right now my "basement studio" has a concrete flower :/