Please help - What lighting do i use for portraits of my baby ??

Natalie_B

Natalie_B

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I took up photography witht he sole intention of taking some photos of my little boy - born Xmas Day. He's now 4 months old and although i have lots of snapshots, i have no really good photos of him and this is where i need your help.

My dad gave me his old flash that fits my Nikkon but when i had a play with it, the photos came out rather too bright - heres an example ....

3428757933_5d2ef08fc1.jpg


He looks washed out and obviously too bright - I can also see the creases in the sheet !! This was thebest of the bunch and the properties were

Exposure: 0.2 sec (1/5)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 48 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Please could someone give me some idea on how to get good photos of my little boy WITHOUT the problems you can see !!??
Do i need a diffuser for my flash or something else ?

Thanks in advance
 
I've not done much portrait photography at all, but the little bit I did at home had the same results as yours, so i got a cheap diffuser off ebay to fit over the flash and also experimented by bouncing the flash off the walls and ceilings (you'll need to have a flash with an adjustable head for this). The results improved dramatically. I intend to get a reflector or two in the near future to give me a bit more flexibility, although I guess I'll end up buying a home lighting kit before long for doing family shoots and what have you :thumbs:
 
Also just noticed your your settings, try lowering the ISO and using a faster shutter speed, making a note of the settings for each one and see the difference it makes :)
 
to get rid of the creases in the background, you need to either have no creases in it, or light the background seperately so that you can blow it completely. this will mean you will need space between subject and background. have you thought of buying a fluffy throw and use that as a background, or a sheepskin rug. it wont be a plain white background but the creases wont matter so much as there is detail in it to hide it. as for the overall brightness on the baby(cute little boy btw) increase the f stop(make the apperture smaller)or decrease iso(as ROFL suggested) or turn the flash down if possible.

the faster shutter wont help much, as the flash only lasts a fraction of a second and it is that which is blowing the image.
 
You could try a making a diffuser, some tissue paper or similar will do at a push and, as ROFL says, try bouncing the flash if it has an adjustable head. You could also try closing the aperture down a stop or two and see if that helps.
 
Just wondering, you say the flash is an old one? Does it have manual controls? If it's old, it may not be adjusting the brightness automatically, and if it's on full power it'll just nuke the subject. Have a play with it, and see if you can turn the power down! Or if you post the model number I'm sure someone on here will be able to tell you what it can do!

Chris
 
fletch5 said:
the faster shutter wont help much, as the flash only lasts a fraction of a second and it is that which is blowing the image.
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhh, never thought about that. At least I've learned something new from this thread :thumbs:
 
ROFL2K9 said:
Ahhhhhh, never thought about that. At least I've learned something new from this thread :thumbs:
Click to expand...

it would help getsharper images as i would assume there may be some movement(think of nightclub shots) but overal exposure would be the same, if you do raise the shutterspeed, dont set it too high as you will end up with half black picture as the mirror will be half closed when the flash goes off.
 
thans guys
The flash is an adjuistable one and this was with it bounced off then ceiling :thinking:

I do have a sheepskin throw i could try, that might look better but i do think the white looks a bit more professional (even though i'm very novice.)

I will have a play and try your tips - thanks so mcu
Also, just read in one of my mag's a way of making a difuser out of the bottom of a milk carton ..... that may be worth a go :thinking:
 
I'm no expert but looking at your settings i would do 3 things:

Lower your ISO. ISO400 makes your sensor more sensitive to light so you could reduce 2 stops of light on that setting alone by going to ISO100.
Stop down your aperture to f/10 or smaller. This will reduce the amount of flash light entering the lens. Your shooting on a close background so shallow depth of field isn't really an issue.
Increase shutter speed. As already mentioned this won't affect the amount of flash but it will help you get a sharper photo.
 
Natalie_B said:
My dad gave me his old flash that fits my Nikkon but when i had a play with it, the photos came out rather too bright - heres an example ....
Click to expand...

which flash are you using, IIRC old flashes have much higher voltages than your D60 and can fry the camera, check the voltage is OK before you use it again
 
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