Borrowed some kit, advice please

Hey there,

I have in my possession, until Saturday, 2 Elinchrom 500 flash heads, two umbrellas and 2 stands.

I have very little knowledge of setting up flashes etc. I sort of know how they work but not sure how they should be positioned etc.

I also have a 14 day old daughter which i want to get some pictures of, can anyone recommend a setup in order to get some nice shots?

Thanks if anyone can help me.

To tell you the truth, for a newborn, 500 watt flash is kind of overkill. You either have to have the baby in a support or bassinet or held by someone. You would need a very long lens to keep out of the way of the lights. Most likely you wold have to put them at a low powersetting--I'm not familiar with them, so I assume there is power control.

If it were me, I'd set mom and baby by a window with some sheers for curtains, put one of those lights as far away as possible at a 45 degree angle to the subjects, even bounce the light off the ceiling and shoot several shots at varying powers and camera settings until I had the look I wanted, then shoot more for effect.

thanks, 45 degree angle behind the baby i take it?

Haven't really got a plan, but i like shots like

sancho1983 wrote in post #8356209
thanks, 45 degree angle behind the baby i take it?

Haven't really got a plan, but i like shots like

Is that a lot of Photoshop?

If window is at left by baby, light would be on a line with my right shoulder, not behind baby. But I would be thinking of exposing whole baby--not portions. If that's what you are going for, then we have a whole other approach. Darkened room, use a penlight with sharply focused beam, set camera on tripod, use cable release, mirror lockup, B setting, then expose the pen light selectively while checking the lcd afterward until you have something like you want--or expose the whole baby and use photoshop to isolate things.

ok cool, will have a go later and see what happens.

those came out great! cute kid. the baby even looks at the camera.

in 3, i would have pulled the basket away from the wall a bit so you get some separation to avoid those shadows. but it seems the wall was a prop for the head? be careful of your horizon line as there seems to be a slight tilt.