Portrait Project: Photographing my son

A couple of weeks back, my son was just learning to take the first few steps on his own, and I tried to capture some of the moods he was showing. It was very trying on the patience, as the moment you thought you were having a good composition, he would change it, before you could focus on him. He has also become very camera concious lately, and would wonder what his "Daddy" is up to, when I would point the camera at him. In the end I got a few shots, and I will post them here, for you to figure out, how I have fared.

TIP BTW, One of the key virtues for a good photographers is patience. You need to have patience in order to get the perfect shot!!!
Photog

The shot was done in two parts, during the day, it was a wee bit of ambient light and most of the lighting is through my in-camera flash. In the evening, I used my wireless flash bounced off a white ceiling.


The first shot: In photographic grammer, this shot has a big mistake. My wife's legs are visible which is cluttering the frame. I like this shot very much though and decided to keep it in the post. I hope my readers will excuse me for the mistake.

From Mar08-09

Technical Data: ISO: 100, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 45mm Flash Used: In-camera

The second shot: Against the door

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 100, Exposure: 1/100 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 60mm Flash Used: In-camera

The third shot: Papa, see my acrobatics

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 100, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 35mm Flash Used: In-camera

The fourth shot: Smile Please!!!

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 100, Exposure: 1/125 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 70mm Flash Used: In-camera

The fifth shot: Cupboard is sooo good!!!

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 100, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5 Focal Length: 28mm Flash Used: In-camera

The second set was shot during his dinner, using an off-camera wireless flash bounced of a white ceiling.

The sixth shot: Making faces

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 28mm Flash Used: Off-camera, diffused using ceiling-bounce

The seventh shot: Why do I have to eat, mama?

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 60mm Flash Used: Off-camera, diffused using ceiling-bounce

The eighth shot: I guess dinner is over!!!

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 40mm Flash Used: Off-camera, diffused using ceiling-bounce

The ninth shot: Oh no!!! More food

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 70mm Flash Used: Off-camera, diffused using ceiling-bounce

The tenth shot: I hate eating!!!

From Mar08-09

Technical data: ISO: 400, Exposure: 1/60 sec Aperture: 5.6 Focal Length: 70mm Flash Used: Off-camera, diffused using ceiling-bounce

All shots taken with my Sony Alpha300. Let me know what do you think!!!

My experiements (And probably Failures) with Portrait Lighting: Portrait 151

Use of lighting can make your portraits very interesting. Now, if you are a portrait photographer who shoots outside, then you don't have a problem. Sun is a brilliant light source for portrait photography and you get to work with a big field, so you can control your depth of field to blur your background suitably.
If you are a professional and have access to a studio, you are also good to go. Studio's offer you a lot of lighting to be creative.

Now what happens to amateur photo enthusiasts like us, who need to shoot within cramped furnishings of our house? This is a big challenge, specifically so, you are probably under a strict budget, and lack of access to a studio means that you are shooting against a clutter.

Recently I have bought a set of Vivitar wireless flashes (See below) for my portrait work within the cramped spaces of my house.



These flashes provide lighting of a wonderful color temperature (5500K) and light the subjects very well. However I am still finding it a little difficult to control these flashes with my Sony Alpha300.

The first two pictures I am going to show is perfectly balanced lighting, bounced of the ceiling. I have used 1 flash for the photo of my son, and two flashes for the photo of my wife. The flashes are bounced of the ceiling and the color of the walls have set a color cast.

From Blog From Blog

Both of the above images have light which is diffused and is well balanced. Now lets see what happens, when I tried to use a light which is more directional. In the following photo, my wife was busy doing some chores, when I put two directional flashes on her face from a distance. The face is a bit washed out (the flashes are manual and have a very high intensity), but it gives a bit of a mood to the photo. (Judge it for yourselves)

From Blog

Another interesting thing I have found out originating from a mistake. When I am bouncing a flash from the sky, sometimes it gets deflected out of the ceiling fan if I have not positioned the flash correctly. Now this gives rise to some photo effects which I found interesting ... apparently very few others did, but I have included one such example here anyway: afterall the mistakes should also be published.

The last photo I would like to publish in todays article when I was shooting my sister-in-law. I was using multiple directional flashes, and my mistake in balancing the intensity and direction produced some interesting shadows. One such example posted below:

From Blog

If you have read this upto here, you might be wondering what is it I am trying to say through this post. Well, I believe photography is a creative pursuit, and if you dare to digress from what everyone does, while still keeping in mind the basic rules of good photography, you will bring out something which will be cherished by you. This post is titled lighting, as lighting is one aspect which can generate a lot of interest in the photo.
Do let me know what do you think. If you have suggestions, please post them as comments.