Rylee

[smoke665]

#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.

Ah, but then you wouldn't have that wonderful blue glow that snow will cast in the moonlight.

 

[smoke665]

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.

Even at 2yrs old our little granddaughter is somewhat of a "diva", she doesn't tolerate being kept waiting, and you really don't want to see her "attitude" come out. LOL

All kidding aside I have a small statue that was just about the right size/height, that I did all the initial set up with. Granddaughter was the first shoot, so I was able to fine tune most of it quickly. Rylee knows both my wife and I, and wanted to be held as soon as she saw us (she gets spoiled by everyone). She was mostly just scared of everything about the set.