Portraits By Mike

Food Collage

When we travel, I like to come home and upload the photos and print a photo book.  My favorite size is the 12×12 book.  Apple, Shutterfly and Snapfish all offer nice books from soft covers to hard covers.  If you register an account with them, they will send you periodic email specials.  My favorite special is buy one get two free.  I usually make one book and get three copies of it to share with the grandparents.

On our last trip, I decided to add a new twist to the usual line up of photos.  I  started a little project where I took photos of every sign of every place that we visited.  In addition, I periodically took photos of the food we ordered in restaurants.  That is what I am going to talk about today.

There are a number of fancy ways to take food photos, but for my purposes I just look for the right lighting.  When possible, I like to be seated by the window so I have some natural light.  I generally do not use flash.  Just about any camera will work.  The photos above were taken with both an iPhone and my Sony A700.  The Sony was sporting a 50 mm f/1.4 lens.  This lens give you a very shallow depth of field so that the whole photo is not sharp.  You will notice that the near part of the picture is in focus but it quickly blurs towards the back.  That is the result of the large aperture of 1.4 to 2.8 on the 50 mm lens.

I try to position the food with some side lighting if I can.  The plate with the Mahi sandwich is positioned so that the light was coming in from left rear side.  The pizza, garlic knots and salad photos were shot with just the light from the overhead lamp shining on them.  When doing these photos, I try to get the flavor of the food and I am not that concerned that the photos are technically perfect.  I am on vacation not a photo assignment.  The next time you go to your local restaurant, ask for a window table and experiment with your smartphone or camera.  Try a number of different angles and a number of different arrangements of your food.  Remember, taking digital photos is free so give it a try and spice up your scrapbook.

While this blog is about portraits, this photo of the US Capital in Washington, DC shares a very important attribute with photographing children – Timing.  While in DC on business for the day in late October a couple of years ago, I started out early in the morning – around 7am.  I took a number of photos of the Capital from all angles but the lighting was just not right.  After lunch, I made my way back to the Capitol again to take some very unimpressive photos.  But persistence would pay off. After my meeting was over for the day, I made my way back to the Capital for some last photos.  To my delight, the clouds had moved in, the light had softened a bit and the Capital shone in the mid afternoon sun.  I took numerous photos from all angles but the one I liked the most is the one posted here.  It just took persistence to get the right photo.

So what does this have to do with photographing children.  Children are so much fun to photograph.  You never know what mood they will be in or how cooperative they will be.  Sometimes they just grimace and frown during the entire session and others they are so animated you can barely get focus hold on them.  With my own children I have learned to go with the flow.  When they are in the mood to take photos, we take alot and have as much fun as possible.  When they are not, we put the camera away and do something else.

Some of my favorite photos are when we have put the camera away for the day only to later have the kids ask if they can set up the studio and pose for pictures.  I have learned the hard way that with your own children, do not force the issue of the taking photos.  They usually are ones that you would not want to keep anyways.  Let them decide when they are ready and then shoot as many as you can in the limited time that they allow us to photograph them.  They will be the photos that you want to display!

Sony A700. 18-200mm @ 40mm, 1/60 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400, Manual Exposure, Sony 58 Flash

A friend of my son recently celebrated his 5th birthday.  Afterwards we went to the firehouse for a tour.  The kids took a tour of the firehouse, sat in the fire engines and walked through the ambulance.  What a great afternoon.  I took along my camera and a speedlight.  Like most parents, I took alot of snapshots – those photos good enough for your scrapbook but not award winning.  Above is an example of taking a snapshot and being creative in Photoshop, Lightroom, Apeture, Elements or whatever your choice of editing program may be.  Many times I have a look in mind when I take the photo, but for snapshots, sometimes I try different things just to see what happens.  With this photos I wanted a darker and more mysterious photo as you see above.  The next time you are looking through your photos, stop and try to add something different to the photos.

Sony A700, Sony 18-200 mm @ 70mm, 125sec, f8.0, ISO 200, Manual Exposure, 69 Elinchrom Octabox, Elinchrom 500BXri Strobe

What I enjoy most about photographing children is the fun that we all have.  I get to act silly. They get to act silly.  Sometimes it is like a three ring circus.  Through all of this, I manage to get both candid and posed shots.  This photo is actually composite of two different photos.  I just told the children to have fun but stay on the white background.  They jumped, they tumbled, they posed, they made funny faces.  As they were playing around making funny faces, I put the camera down and made the same face that you see here.  I asked each of them if they could do the same thing.  They each glady obliged.  I couldn’t hear after they were finished.  What you should remember is that kids like to be kids and sometimes we get our best shots when they are having as much fun as we are taking the photos.  This was clearly the case.

The setup for this shot was a 69 inch Elinchrom Octabox on an Elinchrom 500BXRi.  The Octabox was on camera right at about a 45 degree angle.  This large light modifier did not require a fill light or reflector.

Sony A700, Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm, 125/sec. f/11, ISO 200, Manual Exposure, Elinchrom 69" Octobox and 3'x4' softbox

Photo Christmas cards have become very popular.  You can have them done professionaly or upload your own photos to places like Snapfish.com, Shutterfly.com, Ritz Camera, etc.  My favorite part is the creative process.

This past year, the kids wore red shirts that said “I’ve been soooo good” along with their favorite Christmas hat.  I took a number of different photos of the kids both singly and together.  The card contained both of them but we had some fun shooting the individual photos as well.

This photo is one of my favorite single photos that I shot.  This photo will be used a framed series of 4 photos as she puts the letter in the mailbox to Santa.  She really hammed it up and we all had fun.  The photo was shot in the studio with a white background and props.  The main lighting was from a 69″ Elinchrom Octobox/Elinchrom 500BXRi strobe.  The fill light was a 3′ x 4′ softbox/Elinchrom 500BXRi strobe.  The photo was processed in Lightroom to saturate the reds and brighten the whites.

Happy Holidays.

Sony A700, Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 lens, 50 mm, 1/125 sec @ f/5.0, ISO 200 Manual Exposure, Alien Bees B1600 w/ 32" x 40" softbox and reflector

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Alicia, a newborn, and Sophia, a 6 month old baby.  I used a one light setup for Alicia with a reflector and a three light setup for Sophia.

I was very excited to photograph Alicia. Newborns are so small and delicate and when they sleep, you can get wonderful poses.  Alicia on the other hand was wide awake for our session which took place at the parents’ home.  It was early evening so I setup in the living room using a background stand and a 10 x 20 white cloth backdrop.  As you can see from diagram 1, I used a 32″x 40″ inch softbox mounted on an Alien Bees 1600 strobe.  I used a a wireless trigger to set off the flash.  I had Mom hold a 36″ x 60″ white reflector just out of camera range.  

Little Alicia was not in the least bit tired. She moved constantly throughout our session bringing her hands up to her face every chance she could.  She was adorable and I was still able to get some cute photos.

Sony A700, Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 @ 50mm, 1/125 sec @ f/13, ISO 200, Manual exposure

Baby Sophia was also very much awake and attentive. I used an assistant, my wife.  She is wonderful in getting kids to pose and do funny things.

To see how I got Sophia’s picture, see diagram 2.  I used three lights.  A 32″ x 40″ softbox for the background light.  A 69″ octa-box for the main light and a 3′ x 4′ softbox for the fill light.  Little Sophia was very cooperative and with a little help from Sophia’s mom, we got the picture she wanted.  

Sony A100, 18-200mm lens@ 75 mm, f/6.3, 1/640 sec, ISO 200, Aperture Priority Mode, Matrix Metering

When we think of sports photos, we think of expensive cameras capable of stopping the action.  Some of my favorite sports photos do not involve action at all.  This photo of two opposing players standing on first base has an innocence about it.  The kids are still young enough to enjoy hitting the ball and running the bases just for the fun of it.  When taking photos of young kids playing sports, I look for shots just like this one.  When they are standing on the bases or in the outfield, they are just being themselves.  Just look for the right light and snap the photo. This photo was taken by my wife and shows that great photos can be had by anyone with a little effort.  The photo was cropped and the edges were darkened.

Sony A700, Sony 18-200mm @120mm, f/11, 1/125 sec, ISO 200, Manual Mode, Alien Bee B1600 strobe

This young girl has such captivating eyes that I wanted to keep the portrait simple and classic.  She loved to have her photo taken but always said “cheese” when I put the camera to my eye. What I needed to do was try to get her to relax in front of the camera.  I asked her to just stand there and relax. She began to relax and this beautiful expression settled over her.  It was at this point that I took the photo.  At

times I do silly things like tell a silly joke or put a stuffed animal on my head. What I am looking for is a natural smile, laugh or a look.  Whether you use a fancy digital SLR , film camera or point and shoot, sometimes we just need to let the kids be kids and wait for the right moment.  When I am shooting in a controlled environment, I set everything up and wait for the right look or moment to click the shutter.  By setting the scenario, slowing down and waiting for the right moment, you can also get wonderful, insightful pictures of your kids as well.

This shot was done with an Alien Bee B1600 strobe with a 32×40 inch softbox set up on camera left.  It was above the child and aimed at a 45 degree angle.  I wanted very soft light so I placed the softbox very close to the little girl – just out of the camera frame.  On camera right I had my assistant hold a 60 inch rectangular reflector (white side towards the girl) right to the edge of the frame.  This reflected light back to the side of her face to help fill in any shadows. See the diagram below.

Lighting Diagram

The portrait was processed in Photoshop Lightroom 3 and then in lightly processed in Portrait Professional version 10.

Some of my first attempts at using off camera lighting involved two speedlights (flashes) each mounted on a lightstand and shooting through a David Ziser Zumbrella.  A Zumbrella is a collapsable white stain umbrella in which the light of the flash can pass through. It provides a soft light with a smooth transition between the lights and the darks.  In this case, I had each light at each end of the background pointed 45 degrees towards my model. Both lights were at the same power.  This created an almost shadow free portrait and provided enough light on the background to ensure that it stayed very bright.  I like this look for children.

As I have experimented with other light types and placements, I believe that there is place for this type of portrait – especially for children that won’t sit still.  Another option would have been to power down one of the flashes by one or two stops of light (about half the power that I used).  This would have created some shadows on one side but the transition between the highlights and the shadows would have been smooth.  This creates more texture on the subject.  This little boy was so cooperative, he would have done almost anything you asked of him.  He was a sweetheart.  The beauty of photography is that you can create many different looks and feelings with just minor lighting changes.

Sony A700, Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens @ 70mm f/11, ISO 200, 1/200 sec, Manual Mode

I had taken some available light photos of baby Tyler I  but wanted a more traditional baby portrait on a white background.  For this portrait I used an Elinchrom BXRi 500 studio monolight with an Elinchrom 24 inch square softbox on an light stand.

I didn’t have alot of time to set up. While baby Tyler was sleeping, I draped the sofa with a white backdrop and placed a large soft pillow under the white backdrop to lend support for Tyler.  I placed the light above the subject on camera right at about 45 degrees.  To prevent deep shadows on the far side of the face, I had the father hold a 36 inch round white reflector just out of the frame on Tyler’s right side.  For convenience sake, I sync’ed the camera with the a sync cord rather than attaching wireless triggers to the camera and the studio strobe.  I was working in a relatively close position to the subject so the sync cord was more than adequate and of course 100% reliable.

One note, I used a Sekonic hand held flash meter to nail the exposure before posing Tyler. Do this before you pose the baby and it helps to make things move smoothly. Otherwise you could spend a minute or two with the baby in front of you trying to nail done the correct exposure.  You never know when the little one will tire of your antics.

The final image consists of brightening the background.  This was much easier and faster than setting up additional lights.  While the goal is to get as much done correctly in the camera, if it is easier in Lightroom or Photoshop, I will save the time and correct it later. The file was processed in Lightroom 3 where the background was brightened and was finished off in Portrait Pro using the default settings . For those unfamiliar with Portrait Pro, it softens and removes blemishes from the skin.  For babies, I just smooth the skin slightly and remove minor blemishes.

This portrait was printed by ACI Labs on a canvas gallery wrap at 16×24 inches and looked spectacular.