Portrait lighting of a couple with baby and dog

[Jack_Maegli]

I did free portrait shots of the all the high school hockey team players and

coaches this year from our city and the resulting poster board was impressive

and resulted in one of the coaches asking me to shoot him and his wife and 6

month old baby and family dog for a Christmas photo. Adding a dog and baby is

logrithmically above the skill level of doing single portraits of which I am

used to. Given no advise I was going to shoot them with a honeycombed

backlight in a close overhead postion to light up the dog and baby which will

be postioned in front, if the baby is old enough I would like it to be in

sitting postion beside the dog with the parents behind in full kneel.

Modeling flash 40 degrees off subjects (left of camera) and fill flash 20

degrees to the (camera's) right. I will be taking shots at 12 feet at 70mm to

flatten with my Canon 20D and EF70-200. The backdrop is flat black and the

rug they will be sitting on is dark blue. So after making a attempt to sound

smart, I actually dont have a clue how to compose or light this shot, and any

suggestions would be highly appreciated.

[picturesque]

Don't know what you mean by a close overhead position, but generally, my reaction to your description of lighting is that you are complicating things and not addressing several basic factors, namely, the baby and dog. First, the dog and/or baby can be excitable and both will probably not take direction well. I could be wrong--it could be a well trained older dog--but you can't assume these things. Also, you should find out how old the baby is. Tiny babies can't do anything but lie in Mom's arms. If the baby is older, you can try to get the subjects to do your bidding, but good luck. If the baby can crawl, it will be all you can do to keep it from running off. Same with the dog.

 

Keeping these things in mind, the lighting should be big and broad, soft and low contrast so you don't have to fiddle with precise placements on a spot where you plan to put the dog, for instance, but where the dog isn't when you press the shutter button. One large white umbrella, softbox, or even bouncing a flash off a back wall (if it is white or light colored), will save you from grief in these instances. Also the same for the fill light. Personally, I would forget a backdrop and use the family's own living room, by the Christmas tree, etc.

 

If you did use a backdrop, black is not a good color. Neither is the dark blue rug. If, for instance, the family decides to wear white clothes, you will have a hard time getting detail in both. Go for medium tones if possible, both in clothing and surroundings. What color and size is the dog? Might be a bit of a problem if the dog is black. Also, if next to the tree, dark green pine needles go dark pretty quick.

 

It would be the best if you have a helper to coordinate getting the baby to look at the camera (or anywhere near) and the dog, too. He or she would hold noise makers or whatever, to get both to perk up and look at the camera. Be ready to shoot, and don't have that person crouch down (unless you are shooting from a low angle too) or start with the attention getter until you are ready to shoot. With babies and dogs, you will have maybe 2-3 frames and it's done. Instruct parents to not look at either baby or dog--they have to be perfect in all of those 2-3 frames you get.

 

I would be prepared to use a slightly wider lens. 70mm on a 20D is like a 112mm on a non crop camera. A little too long, I think, and you may not have enough space to back up. Might be OK for a very tight shot of faces only, but then, how are you going to get the dog's face that close unless the dog is very small?

[timcorridan]

i know you didn't ask for a example, but i thought i'd show what nadine said about pine tree needles going dark on ya. its bounce flash. certainly not pro, but for a freind it worked just fine. what nadine said about making sure the parents don't try to help you get the attention of the baby and dog is soooo true. they will see you struggle for their attention and think that by helping, that they are, well, helping. when in fact, the baby and dog get in the perfect look, but now the parents are not ready. its a one second look your after.<div></div>

[Jack_Maegli]

Thanks for your contributions, the shoot came out real good tonight, about 10 shots out of 120 worked. Used a white felt backdrop and black felt per the subjects request. They were wearing dark clothes, so I had to throw a backlight on them against the black felt for seperation. I had a wind up music toy clock that I waved around the camera lens to hold the baby and dog. They wanted a portrait shot, not a Christmas shot..my mistake. Switched to a Sigma 17 - 70mm per your advice, needed that latitude. I would post one of the results, but cant figure out how to paste a .jpg into a response.<div></div>

[Jack_Maegli]

Here is a picture without the link

[Jack_Maegli]

Here is the white back drop...if you are curious...<div></div>

[lloyd_l._revier]

I am now going back into photography with more passion. Sold all the Nikon film equipment and will use a Canon Rebel 300D digital. All I can afford at this time. ANYWAY. Nadine I would like to thank you for the excellant answer you gave here. Must have come from experience. I had thought of opening a small studio and doing children, etc. Afraid I don't have the patience for that when I read about the problems that can come up. Thank you for taking the time to help out budding photographers.