My First "real" Gig..baby inside...

Here are some shots from my first "real" gig....they are quite compressed....
Anyway I was pleased...... I used the ABR and the EX 580II for these shots. Assitant holding ABR for most and 580 EXII as the trigger... I had never used the ABR yet other than around the house. This was also my first "2 light" go at photography...ANYWAY ENOUGH EXCUSES!!!!

Just thought I would share a few...

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some more...

oh yea....I went thinking I was just shooting the baby and then when I got there mom and g'ma wanted in on the action....the backdrop is a black silky thing we used push pins to stick in the wall.....I had no backdrop with me.... and it was quite small....

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more

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1 more....

some of the crops I am not nuts about.... I must admit I was a little shaken up with a bad case of nerves lol I have only been invovled in photography for 2 years... I am sure I will build some confidence.....those of you that know me know I am primarily a bug and flower guy....so posing is not my strong point..... oh yea I NEED a light/flash meter.... LOL

regards

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Last comment.....these were shot in raw....set to portrait mode...WB on Flash... with the only thing being done, and only to some of them, a bit of a bump up or down on exposure and then compressed....

Nice shots... some exposure adjustments could help...

Thanks....
I am really new to this type of thing...
I think I could really work on the crop of the image and as you stated the exposure....
I think that with some practice in the next few days I will get the light more to my liking.... Flash is a tricky beast....

My main goal though is the parents....if she and the g'ma are happy then it buys me another day to improve...



Regards
jayak

Nice, but you need to get rid of the fold lines on your backdrop. It will help the photo a lot. The last photo is my favorite.

I think I have said this a million times on this site, o.k maybe not a million but anyway ball the backdrops up in a ball so they will be wrinkled completely and pull the subject away from the backdrop about 4 feet.

Lighting isn't too bad, the subjects are lit, no shadows or light fall off.
THe BG is probably the biggest issue right now, I'd like to see you increase the contrast in the BG a bit more in #1 to darken it some more, that will make a more pleasing shot I think, those wrinkles are distracting (I know I've been there myself and I hated it!).
I think the shot with grandma is pretty cute, both of them are smiling and are content from the looks of it.
I really like the lighting and angle of #4 (second individual baby shot). Try to stay away from cushiony materials when shooting baby's they'll sink in and get lost. Made that mistake myself.
The last two of mom and baby are cute too. I'd work a bit on the conversion, make it more B&W than grey scaled...play with levels right and left sliders and see what you get. I'd show ya what I'd do but you don't have Image Editing turned on.
Keep it up!

I need to get a backdrop.....I am just thankful that they had that otherwise you would be looking at white walls.....what would you all do in the case of tiny rooms in a college apartment??? I had my back to the wall and had them about 3ish feet from the "backdrop" .... PS It was storming out..

I will try wadding the whole backdrop up for the next time THANKS for that tip!

Yes the baby sank in everything I sat him on..... he is still too little to sit up...this was a new challenge for me...

Where are the levels sliders....I do not have Photoshop.... I use canons software...I know I know :P..... but is there a better way in my software to do BW or no???

thanks!! everyone for the great ideas and comments this helps a lot...

I love this site

jayak wrote in post #4431972
Last comment.....these were shot in raw....set to portrait mode...WB on Flash... with the only thing being done, and only to some of them, a bit of a bump up or down on exposure and then compressed....

It's my understanding that once you set the camera to raw, then the picture styles (potrait, etc.) won't apply. If shooting in raw + jpeg, the picture style will only apply to the jpeg image. If someone here knows differently, then please let me know!

I thought this as well.... BUT when shooting in raw I can set it to say black and white...and then the raw image comes out in B&W....if you use the canon software provided with the 40D you can then change it to any setting...back to color, portrait, landscape, etc.....just like changing WB.... so you are not stuck with just one picture style.... basically the same way you can play with the WB you can play with picture styles....

regards