Rylee

[smoke665]

While I still had the set up, I invited some friends of ours over to shoot their little girl. I was a little nervous about it as it's the first time I've done this with an unknown child. Started off a little scary at first as she didn't like the lights, she didn't like me trying to get an exposure reading, and within short order she was pissed. Fortunately when the snow came out, all changed and I managed to get a few shots. couple from the shoot. Would have liked a little more light on the left side to raise the shadows, but any attempt to adjust the left side, sent her back into noncompliance LOL Found out how much easier it is to photograph a model accustomed to the studio setting (our Jemms)

 

[benhasajeep46 44]

Well, we know who is in charge at the studio at your house now.

 

[smoke665]

@benhasajeep I first met Riley's Dad Adam, when he was literally a kid himself years ago. His Dad and I were in the Fire Department and Adam was constantly wanting to tag along. At 18 we let him go active, and now a few more years pass and Adam is an Assistant Chief with two of his own, the oldest a son is now following his Dad and his fascination with everything Fire Department. The circle has again come around. Love the community we live in and the connection with all the families in the Valley.

 

[smoke665]

She wasn't really interested in the light, so only had one shot at it.

View attachment 149719

 

[tirediron]

Nice; the expression in the second image is fantastic!

 

[smoke665]

Nice; the expression in the second image is fantastic!

Thank you, she has such a sweet little face, but is slightly on the timid side, unlike what we're used to with our rowdy show off. It was difficult to bring out expressions, good learning experience.

 

[davidharmier60]

What an ADORABLE little girl!
I have NOTHING bad to say about the pics.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[smoke665]

What an ADORABLE little girl!
I have NOTHING bad to say about the pics.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

Thank you for the comments, yes she is.

 

[JustJazzie]

Wow! What a cutie. Love the setup and the expression she is sharing.

Just a personal preference: I feel the shadows are too dark, especially in the first one. It looks completely black/lost on my screen. But then again, I am always told my images are too bright.

 

[smoke665]

Wow! What a cutie. Love the setup and the expression she is sharing.

Just a personal preference: I feel the shadows are too dark, especially in the first one. It looks completely black/lost on my screen. But then again, I am always told my images are too bright.

She is a sweet child. This was a huge step outside my comfort zone, as this is the daughter of some friends/neighbors. Up to this point I've been dealing with my granddaughter, who I can tell, stand here, look up, look down, turn, smile, don't smile and even at the young age of 2 she's learned to work the camera quite well. Not a shy bone in her body.

Ms. Rylee on the other hand is on the timid side, unfamiliar with lights, all the excitement, and HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO STAND STILL. I was using the same three light setup that I did with my granddaughter see My Christmas Angel for set setup. The first 20 mins. were exciting, my wife was on one side, Rylee's mom on the other and her Dad off center in the front. Imagine a bouncing ping pong ball in a triangle. Once the snow came out it was a little better, seems like the kids are fascinated when snow falls on them out of no where

For some reason, neither of the images appear as dark when I open them in LR or PS, but I did have some concerns about the 1st image, as she had moved off the mark just enough to loose the light on that side. Before I finalize the edits, I probable need to revisit that one.

 

[davidharmier60]

It looks fine on my Samsung Galaxy 6 Active.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[Derrel]

This set and the earlier set look very high in contrast to me, with very extreme highlights and very extreme shadow tones. Not sure if this is the desired effect, or if your monitor is set to a low gamma or to a high brightness level.

 

[smoke665]

This set and the earlier set look very high in contrast to me, with very extreme highlights and very extreme shadow tones. Not sure if this is the desired effect, or if your monitor is set to a low gamma or to a high brightness level.

I somewhat agree with you, on your point. The effect I was going for both lighting and processing was a cold, bright moonlit snowy night. One thing i had problems with was getting the lights low enough and close enough for a full profile on "little people", causing the light to be much harder then I would have preferred. In the case of Rylee, she's only about 32" tall (The post in the background is 30". Because of her timidity I also had to pull the lights back, leaving a very small ideal area to work with. Notice the difference in light fall off between the first and second image and the post in the background, she didn't move far.

With my granddaughter I could put the octabox right in her face and it wouldn't faze her, as she's used to it. If/when I do this type of shot again, I'll go with stands that lets me get the light down on their level, or possibly use V flats, which might be less intimidating, give me a larger light and would help corral them.

Finally, this was a first attempt at offside lighting, so I still have a lot to learn there as well.

 

[vintagesnaps]

The second one is darling. The family should love that one of her.

The snowflakes worked sort of like bubbles, which most kids like watching, reaching out to touch, etc. The lantern, she probably couldn't relate to it or know what it was.

Now you know with little ones it's necessary to be ready as soon as they come in! lol They may be too young to understand why the heck they're sitting there! and if they're at the stage of what seems like constantly moving the child may not be able to sit and wait any length of time. Or if they're at that stage of being aware of strangers, it can take a bit for them to get comfortable with someone. I found it can work to interact with the parents; if they'd be chatting with me etc. then the child would start to warm up (they figure that if mom and dad think she's OK, then she must be alright!).

Probably trying out your lighting set up besides with your granddaughter could work using a teddy bear or something as a 'stand in'. Young children are not necessarily able to do much waiting, just depends on the age and stage.

You could tinker with adjusting the contrast of the first, and the second one is probably a good one to give the family.

 

[Gary A.]

#1 for me. Derrel does make a good point on the high contrast in relationship to children. To my eye, I found that high contrast portraits seem to work better in B&W/sepia.