MarkBarbieri
Semi-retired
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
- Messages
- 6,173
Every Spring and Fall, I turn my garage into a studio and invite neighbors and co-workers over for studio sessions to get kid and family shots. This Spring was busy, so I never got around to it. Instead, I did our Spring shoot in the summer and did it in our family room. I thought I'd post about it here as I go through the shots. Writing this will help me think through what worked and what didn't and what I'd like to change for next time. Hopefully, it will also be interesting or educational for some of you. Even better, some of you might have tips to help me with my next shoot.
Here is the setup I used.
For backgrounds, I had two 9' rolls of paper - one white and one black. We used the white for everything except a little baby. For lights, I had two lights on the white background set to blow it out. First lesson learned - having umbrellas or softboxes on the background light makes it easier to get an even white background (fewer noticeably grey areas). My Alien Bee 400s didn't have enough juice to do that with modifiers, so I left them naked. It worked well enough, but I'll probably spend more time on background work this way.
I used another AB400 with a 20 degree grid on a boom as a hair light. Honestly, I almost never used that. With kids that can sit still and pose well, it works great. With little ones that do what they want to do, it was almost useless. Someday I'd like to replace the grid with a skinny softbox.
For my main light, I used an AB800 shooting through a softbox. For the first round, I used a big parabolic reflector bouncing through a diffusion cover. It was a huge light, but it was too directional even with the diffusion cover. I might rig up another layer of diffusion next time. After the first shoot, I switched to a 32x40 softbox.
For my fill light, I used an AB800 shooting through another 32x40 softbox. I mounted it on a really short stand so that I could get it at ground level for kids laying on the ground.
Next time, I think I'll try moving the 800s to the background and use a few umbrellas on them. I might add one more 800 for the main. For groups, I don't know that a 400 would always meet my needs.
You can barely see it, but I had a 4x6 sheet of plexiglass on the floor. The main purpose was to give a bit of reflection. It was also useful in helping the kids understand where to stand. The biggest problem with it was that it was too small, so I have edges in the photos that need to be cleaned up. I'd like a 4x8 sheet, but that's a special order item. Several people online recommend using a 4x8 sheet of tileboard, but no one at our local home depot knew what that was. I've been told that it is a reflective sheet of hard white material. It would work well on a white background, but not with the black. The other problem with plexiglass is that it is already pretty scuffed up after one use. I think it will clean up, but that's going to take a lot of effort and I'm lazy.
In the lower right corner, you'll see my computer and monitor. I shot in Lightroom 3 in tethered mode. That worked really well. The only technical problem I had is that Lightroom would get confused when the camera powered down while still in tethered mode. Next time, I'll set the camera to never power off.
I attached the camera to the computer with a USB cable connected to a long USB extender. That gave me all the range I needed but dragging a cable was a hassle. I opted for a USB extension rather than a single long USB cable so that I would have a place for the cable to easily pull apart if someone tripped over it. The cable usually just yanked out of the camera instead. That forced me to stop and restart the tethered shooting in Lightroom.
Having the monitor was great for adjusting the lighting. I didn't even bother with a meter (that lazy thing again). The downside was that subjects kept looking at it instead of the camera. For future shoots, I'll either position it directly behind me or I'll position it so that they can't see it. I'm leaning towards the former because it helped the adults to see how they looked.
And yes, the keyboard on the computer is an antique. I like a keyboard with lots of tactile feedback, so I have a collection of old Northgate keyboards.
I'll start posting pictures later today or early this week as I have them ready.
Here is the setup I used.
For backgrounds, I had two 9' rolls of paper - one white and one black. We used the white for everything except a little baby. For lights, I had two lights on the white background set to blow it out. First lesson learned - having umbrellas or softboxes on the background light makes it easier to get an even white background (fewer noticeably grey areas). My Alien Bee 400s didn't have enough juice to do that with modifiers, so I left them naked. It worked well enough, but I'll probably spend more time on background work this way.
I used another AB400 with a 20 degree grid on a boom as a hair light. Honestly, I almost never used that. With kids that can sit still and pose well, it works great. With little ones that do what they want to do, it was almost useless. Someday I'd like to replace the grid with a skinny softbox.
For my main light, I used an AB800 shooting through a softbox. For the first round, I used a big parabolic reflector bouncing through a diffusion cover. It was a huge light, but it was too directional even with the diffusion cover. I might rig up another layer of diffusion next time. After the first shoot, I switched to a 32x40 softbox.
For my fill light, I used an AB800 shooting through another 32x40 softbox. I mounted it on a really short stand so that I could get it at ground level for kids laying on the ground.
Next time, I think I'll try moving the 800s to the background and use a few umbrellas on them. I might add one more 800 for the main. For groups, I don't know that a 400 would always meet my needs.
You can barely see it, but I had a 4x6 sheet of plexiglass on the floor. The main purpose was to give a bit of reflection. It was also useful in helping the kids understand where to stand. The biggest problem with it was that it was too small, so I have edges in the photos that need to be cleaned up. I'd like a 4x8 sheet, but that's a special order item. Several people online recommend using a 4x8 sheet of tileboard, but no one at our local home depot knew what that was. I've been told that it is a reflective sheet of hard white material. It would work well on a white background, but not with the black. The other problem with plexiglass is that it is already pretty scuffed up after one use. I think it will clean up, but that's going to take a lot of effort and I'm lazy.
In the lower right corner, you'll see my computer and monitor. I shot in Lightroom 3 in tethered mode. That worked really well. The only technical problem I had is that Lightroom would get confused when the camera powered down while still in tethered mode. Next time, I'll set the camera to never power off.
I attached the camera to the computer with a USB cable connected to a long USB extender. That gave me all the range I needed but dragging a cable was a hassle. I opted for a USB extension rather than a single long USB cable so that I would have a place for the cable to easily pull apart if someone tripped over it. The cable usually just yanked out of the camera instead. That forced me to stop and restart the tethered shooting in Lightroom.
Having the monitor was great for adjusting the lighting. I didn't even bother with a meter (that lazy thing again). The downside was that subjects kept looking at it instead of the camera. For future shoots, I'll either position it directly behind me or I'll position it so that they can't see it. I'm leaning towards the former because it helped the adults to see how they looked.
And yes, the keyboard on the computer is an antique. I like a keyboard with lots of tactile feedback, so I have a collection of old Northgate keyboards.
I'll start posting pictures later today or early this week as I have them ready.
