Newborn family portrait session

[Braineack]

Did their engagement, wedding, and now first born.

They really wanted to start with a few outdoors, I wish we did all indoors... didn't get a chance to get all the shots I wanted to try with them before baby was done for the day.


DSC_5294 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5308 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5319-2 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5324 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5333 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5351 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5402 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5658 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5671 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5685 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5735 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5779 by Braineack, on Flickr


DSC_5791 by Braineack, on Flickr



full set can be found here: J & P - Kaylin Mae Dannaher

 

[smoke665]

Nice set with some really great poses, that will be cherished by the parents. Only negative is the the new Mom's yellow skin, which I suspect is from childbirth. Same thing happened to my ex after the birth of my son.

 

[Braineack]

I've had this issue with all her pictures, I think it's the tanner she uses... And he's naturally red so if I correct for one it makes the other worse.

This session also sealed the deal that I'll probably never try speedlights outdoors again. I was firing one at 1/2 power and it was simply taking way too long to recycle. I later got smart and added a second and ran them both at 1/4, but still. Also annoyed I forgot my light meter so I had to light based on the preview, and I accidentally bumped the f-stop from where I set it for the background so it's not as dark as I wanted -- overall I feel like they are too lit.

Indoors I used my XPLOR 600 with my c-stand through a 32" round softbox to mimic natural light -- I was much happier in this environment with this flash. But like I said, I was a little bummed Baby was done because I had a few more poses in mind, and wanted to capture a few candid-esque shots as well, like looking at her in the crib, etc.


bonus, their house is FILLED with my shots:

 

[smoke665]

And he's naturally red so if I correct for one it makes the other worse.

Mask, mask, baby! LOL

I'm always amazed at prior to the shoot I can think of ALL the things I need to do, but once there, I have a LOT of momentary brain farts.

I didn't spend much time, put in a levels layer, did a selection of just her face to create a mask, then adjusted the Red, Green, Blue, and finally the RGB to get close. Could probably use some refining, but the method works. Should be able to do close to the same with an adjustment brush in Lr, just seems easier Ps.

Edit: forgot to mention the wall display of wedding photos using all square crops is absolutely brilliant!!!

 

[Derrel]

Some really nice poses. Agreed with smoke, her skin is super yellow, and his effort at correcting it with the mask really does improve things quite a bit.

If your speed light's recycling is too slow, the easiest answer is an ancillary battery pack, either a Quantum battery or one of the inexpensive made in China eight AA cell batteries.

 

[Braineack]

Looking again I see it's pretty bad. Went through and adjusted and I'm going to re-upload. So for anyone else wondering, this is the comparison of the edits:

 

[Derrel]

These look a lot better

 

[Braineack]

Thanks!

 

[smoke665]

Much better. To me the bottom right corner one is the choice, but then again, I've been color grading a set today and all the colors are starting to all run together, so I might not be a good judge right now.

 

[Derrel]

Slow flash recycling is very typical with manual fractional power settings like half power or quarter power. Sometimes it is possible to set the flash in what is known as Auto Thyristor mode, although in recent years it has come to be known as A mode or auto mode or Aperture mode. Basically one sets the flash to say F4,and the sensor in the flash squelches the flash burst once it has received back enough light for an f/4 aperture at the ISO that has been set on the flash. This is different from TTL flash, and is a much older protocol. On old flashes that were really good quality, they would often have three or four "auto f-stops "

With something powerful like say a Quantum Turbo battery, I would expect most modern speedlights would recycle in less than 1/2 second at half power.

In the last year or so there have been a couple of Quantum-like battery packs that have come to the market (Quantum was one of the first companies to use a fairly large, powerful Gel
cell lead acid battery),and I still see some eight 1.5 V AA cell auxiliary batteries that are sold for affordable prices on eBay and Amazon.

Around 1985 I bought a Quantum Battery One, which has two outlets to power two speedlights, and this unit still works some 30 years later,much to my amazement. About every six months or less I charge it up. In 1987 I bought a Quantum Turbo battery which gave out within 10 years. The Turbo was a much faster and more powerful battery, but like I said, it quit working years and years ago, and I was never very happy with its size and weight.

You are correct though,speed lights are kind of a pain in the butt compared to studio oriented monolight type flash unitswhen you need to speed.Speed light flashes are designed for a flash shot every 10 to 30 seconds, while studio oriented lights are aimed at delivering a full power flash every three seconds or so.

 

[Derrel]

I looked through the full set on your proof gallery, and you have some really lovely poses and great pictures. I really like the black-and-white shot of the babies feet being cradled in the hands of both the mom and the dad. That is a very evocative image and it looks spectacular in black-and-white.

The display of the 12 pictures you took at the wedding is really nice. I like the way they have made Square images which have been matted and framed and wall-mounted. It's a really nice cross section of the wedding.

 

[tirediron]

Very creative and nicely done, especially after the skin tweak. Have to say this is one genre I've never dabbled in (and have NO desire to).

 

[Braineack]

You are correct though,speed lights are kind of a pain in the butt compared to studio oriented monolight type flash unitswhen you need to speed.Speed light flashes are designed for a flash shot every 10 to 30 seconds, while studio oriented lights are aimed at delivering a full power flash every three seconds or so.

Sad thing was I had my portable 600w/s monolight in the car, but it wasnt that close to quickly run and grab. I positioned them in a shady area, and was using flash to expose them. BUT since it was already so damn bright out at 8am, I had to stop down significantly to get the sky where I wanted it to stay under auto-fp, so the little flashes had to still work to overpower the sun -- a failure in experience here. I brought out the two with stands in a easy-to-carry bag thinking I'd do a main and kicker, but had to quickly adapt and make it work. Next time I'll go straight for the mono and c-stand, I would have preferred to shoot at a higher SS and wider f-stop anyway -- but they look good at f/8 to be honest since the BG was so far away across the pond.

I looked through the full set on your proof gallery, and you have some really lovely poses and great pictures.

It was very important for me to come loaded with an arsenal of poses/ideas/concepts -- really came in handy. People do NOT know how to pose themselves, photographers have to master so much ****.

Very creative and nicely done, especially after the skin tweak. Have to say this is one genre I've never dabbled in (and have NO desire to).

lol thanks. Baby was doing great the first half outside; she just slept. Indoors was different, but I've learned to have tons of patience. We gave her a pacifier, let her chill out, removed it and fired off a batch of shots. A lot of shots she wasn't facing the camera so it didn't matter. It's not exactly the genre I want to be in, but people want them baby pics -- I know two other pregnant coworkers right now that want a similar session after they give birth.

honestly, newborn is still better than toddler and up...

 

[smoke665]

was very important for me to come loaded with an arsenal of poses/ideas/concepts -- really came in handy. People do NOT know how to pose themselves, photographers have to master so much ****.

True this!!! Even worse are the ones who "think" they know, but don't have clue.

Posing has always been difficult for me, I don't have as much problem posing kids as I do adults. Kids seem to follow directions better....to a point. Then you just have to walk away and let them be for a bit. I've found parents to be the biggest hindrance with kids. Little Johnny/Suzy starts to act up, left alone for a few mins, they'd be fine, but the parents want to "correct" them which causes it to escalate. Unlike adults, even pliable adults, kids don't have the hangups about looks or preconceived notions of how they should look. They're mostly WYSIWYG.

 

[Derrel]

was very important for me to come loaded with an arsenal of poses/ideas/concepts -- really came in handy. People do NOT know how to pose themselves, photographers have to master so much ****.

True this!!! Even worse are the ones who "think" they know, but don't have clue.

Posing has always been difficult for me, I don't have as much problem posing kids as I do adults. Kids seem to follow directions better....to a point. Then you just have to walk away and let them be for a bit. I've found parents to be the biggest hindrance with kids. Little Johnny/Suzy starts to act up, left alone for a few mins, they'd be fine, but the parents want to "correct" them which causes it to escalate. Unlike adults, even pliable adults, kids don't have the hangups about looks or preconceived notions of how they should look. They're mostly WYSIWYG.

Parents of young kids badly affect many sessions, by attempting to "correct" the kids, and by acting as the 'smile police'.