Can someone help

2mo · November 24, 2011

Wife saw this pic on web and I have tried several things to achieve this look but by exposure is crap on subject - then lights - then table that the lights are on. I know im a newbie and should practice practice practice but if I dont get our adopted grand baby in a photo similar, my wife may chop me up in little pieces

Mod edit: "Please" do not post images without proper links or (preferably) attributions. This image is apparently copyright Amy Tripple Photography and seems to come from this page:

http://www.amytripplephotography.com/blog/2011/11/november-already-chicago-baby-photographer/

Thanks,

ziggy53

angevin1 · November 24, 2011

Please post one of your photos or give a link. With EXIF data would help!

jhefti · November 25, 2011

2mo, since we can't see your shots of a similarly lighted subject, it's hard to know how to advise. However, if you are shooting in auto exposure mode (which most newbies do) I can take a good guess as to what you're getting: over-exposed lights and underexposed baby. If this is the case, here are some suggestions:

1. Put the camera in manual mode: That means you'll need to set the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed all on your own. Don't worry though, you'll get some practice before taking on the baby! We do this to keep the exposure from jumping around due to the very high contrasts of this kind of lighting.

2. Enable the 'highlight alert' function on your camera's LCD display (assuming you have this feature). This will cause over-exposed areas of the shot to be highlighted somehow on your LCD. Mine blinks black and white. Also set your camera to display the histogram, as you'll need this information.

3. Next, set up a mock studio with the lights and something that has similar color as the baby--maybe a doll or something similar. This will give you a chance to figure out the settings.

4. In this mock studio, set your aperture wide open, your shutter speed somewhere in the range of 150-200th of a second, and then go to the ISO setting and put it pretty high. Take a shot and see what areas are blown out (either by the highlight alert function, or large parts of the histogram right-shifted, both of which will show you over-exposed regions). Bring down the ISO until the baby surrogate is more-or-less properly exposed, meaning that no parts are blown out or totally black. Play around with the ISO until you have a sense for the range of proper exposure. This is what you will use when you do the actual shoot on the real baby. Note that the lights will still be over-exposed, which is fine. Unless they are very dim lights, there is little you can do about this, and no one but us pixel-peepers will notice. The important thing to do is to get the baby properly exposed.

During the shoot, keep the camera in manual exposure mode and play around a bit with the ISO, but not too much. Unless you have a very wide aperture lens, your depth of field won't be too small (such as the tip of the baby's nose being in focus, but nothing else) and you should be able to keep the aperture wide open. Moving the ISO around will give you a range of exposures from which to choose the final prints.

Lastly, when you process the shots, play around with the contrasts and exposures in whatever software you use to edit the shots. This will enhance the photos and give you something to be proud of. Of course, it won't look quite as good as a professional's work, but you won't be cut into little pieces at least.

Good luck!!

jhefti · November 25, 2011

I just went back to the link Ziggy put in, and I will bet that the original photographer had some additional lighting out of frame that was pointed at the baby. This is worth thinking about, as it will soften the contrasts on the baby and overall make it easier to get a good exposure. Maybe one of those clamp-on lamps one uses in the home shop.

...but this is just a guess from someone (me) who does not do studio portraiture...hell, I don't even own a flash or any lighting equipment.

2mo · November 26, 2011

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. Im sorry so long to respond I was dragged to black Friday shopping out of town and just returned. I deleted my attempts from earlier so I cannot upload-I learned from that mistake - will keep in future for self education.
Angevin1 1st I would like to say "love your work" I followed your link.....awesome.
JHEFTI I am going to try your suggestions this evening, thank u very much for the advice

Sorry about the post without link. I saw image in iphone app pinterest and wasn't a member yet and had to just take screen shot

2mo · December 25, 2011

Getting there
Sorry about the text. Trying out some digital juice fonts for print and saved to jpeg without removing. All comments welcome.

Islandcrow · December 26, 2011

Great shot! I think that turned out very well.

2mo · December 26, 2011

Thank you Islandcrow.

Can someone help

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