Before taking pictures of Deborah's belly (and the rest of her) I had to get my mini-studio set up. So, the night before, I hung a sheet, turned on some lights, and brought in a stool to take some shots and see what I'd need to do to make things work.
It was only after I took a bunch of pictures and made notes that I went back and realized that some of the "junk" pictures I'd taken were actually fairly good shots.
I'd barely put the stool down when my first test subject jumped up, found his mark, and looked into the camera.
I swear, I did not pose the cat. I'm not sure how you would, anyway...
Photographer's Notes: 1. Incandescent lighting makes subject look orange.
2. Gotta iron that sheet.
Deborah shooed that cat off, and sat for a few shots to see if this would work for subjects larger than a cat.
I liked this picture of Deborah just as much as some of the ones I'd been planning on taking. The sweater suits her.
Photographer's Notes: 1. Good. The sheet is big enough that we can get the subject full frame.
It was late, and I wanted to shoot in natural light anyway, so we left the rest of the setup until morning. In the morning, I ironed the sheet (Rumor has it some people do this regularly — a claim I find incredible, given the amount of time required) and set things up again. The kids were unusually eager test subjects.
A boy and his car.
Photographer's Notes: Whoops. Natural light in the side window also means natural light in the front window. Add something behind the sheet, to minimize show-through.
Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeze!
Aiden will stand there grinning and saying "Cheese" until you tell him to stop. And sometimes not even then...
Photographer's Notes: Adding a woven blanket helps cut down the light... as long as you don't add a blanket with stripes.
Once I got the lighting issues worked out, it was time to try a few portraits. Fiona hopped up and grinned, and was a great subject, which is totally unusual for her. I normally get one good shot of her out of thirty, but with the studio setup, she shone for the camera.
Fiona? Sitting still? And looking into the camera? And smiling? Who are you, and what have you done with Fiona?
Photographer's Notes: Shadows too harsh. Wait an hour for better light or add reflectors to balance out lighting.
Aww.
Photographer's Notes: Hire new hairstylist.
Yeah. That'll work.
Photographer's Notes: Yeah. That'll work.
4 comments:
Those're some good pics. The cat pic is awesome. He looks like he's the secret head of some worldwide criminal organization. :)
It is my understanding that posing a cat is impossible. It is amazing that yours jumped up there like that. I can't tell you how many awesome pictures I have missed because I couldn't get the camara out without them coming to investigate my actions and destroying my perfect picture. Oh well...
> (Rumor has it some people [iron sheets]
> regularly — a claim I find incredible,
> given the amount of time required)
I have direct evidence that some people routinely check out a full 24-hour day's worth of video material, or more, at one time, from the library (on a seven-day loan). It is *very* common for someone to check out the limit of 10 videotapes and 5 DVDs at once (22 hours of viewing if they average 90 minutes each), and fairly common for one or two of those 5 DVDs to be multi-disc sets, such as entire seasons of television programs.
In one case, I actually saw someone check out four whole consecutive seasons of the same television program at the same time. It was an hour-long program, so we're talking twenty-some episodes per season at forty-some minutes each without the commercials, times four seasons, which comes to about 40% of every minute day and night for a week.
Next to that, ironing a couple of sheets is nothing.
I don't know whether these people ever sleep or read or go to work or anything of the other normal activities the rest of us spend our time on, though.
Oh, there are also people who vacuum an entire house every day, including under the furniture, and also clean all the porcelain in the bathroom and dust horizontal surfaces elsewhere. I have an aunt on my mom's side like that.
Post a Comment