Portraits puerile
Last year, just before John turned 1, I took a free evening to try David Hobby's method for using a sunset as a portrait backdrop.
The results were positive:
This is my favorite of the set; I get a kick out of the I'm-running-for-president look on John's face.
I wanted to do something similar while we were visiting my folks for a long vacation a couple weeks later, but it never came off. For John's second birthday, I was determined to try again. John goes to bed earlier than he did last year at this time, so the sun tends to set after his bedtime; nonetheless, we doggedly pursued our course and came out with a few pictures.
To start, I set up my lights and tested exposure:
We had to pay the ball handsomely for the test; I didn't realize it had joined the union. With lights mostly in position, we had to coax John between them, and all the running on a humid evening made him sweat a bit. (Given our wardrobe choice, that might have been a good thing.) Eventually, he was bribed with a sippy-cup:
There was a picnic table near where I was shooting, and John decided he wanted to sit on it. Going with the flow is important in this business, and John decided to hang out with a prop:
With usable shots in the can, we called it a night and adjourned to Custard Cup for some refreshments. John really must have enjoyed himself because he did not protest going to bed; in fact, he zonked out within 5 minutes of lying down.
All in a day's work for the family photographer.
The results were positive:
This is my favorite of the set; I get a kick out of the I'm-running-for-president look on John's face.
I wanted to do something similar while we were visiting my folks for a long vacation a couple weeks later, but it never came off. For John's second birthday, I was determined to try again. John goes to bed earlier than he did last year at this time, so the sun tends to set after his bedtime; nonetheless, we doggedly pursued our course and came out with a few pictures.
To start, I set up my lights and tested exposure:
We had to pay the ball handsomely for the test; I didn't realize it had joined the union. With lights mostly in position, we had to coax John between them, and all the running on a humid evening made him sweat a bit. (Given our wardrobe choice, that might have been a good thing.) Eventually, he was bribed with a sippy-cup:
There was a picnic table near where I was shooting, and John decided he wanted to sit on it. Going with the flow is important in this business, and John decided to hang out with a prop:
With usable shots in the can, we called it a night and adjourned to Custard Cup for some refreshments. John really must have enjoyed himself because he did not protest going to bed; in fact, he zonked out within 5 minutes of lying down.
All in a day's work for the family photographer.