Setting My Camera For A Pregnancy Shot

[divine_diva]

<p>I have a project tomorrow to do a pregnanct shot. I need to know the best setting to be used and how to set it. I'm looking at darker image with the belly showing beautifully.(Maybe be with a childs head resting on the belly, How can I achieve this look without the picture looking fully lite up? I will post results on here if anyone can help. I'm open to other opinions also. I have a nikon d40x.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Sounds like a fairly simple lighting problem.  The easiest solution is to get as much control over the lighting as possible.  You might try a single light source, whether soft light from a window, or a single small lamp in a darkened room.</p>

<p>You don't have much time to prepare.  The best thing you can do tonight is to gather a few small objects, something like a small sculpture, figurine or a couple of rounded objects such as a basketball and baseball.  These will help you visualize the effects of a single light source.</p>

<p>Next, get a single lamp, preferably one that's fairly directional such as a gooseneck desk lamp, clip-on lamp or other type with a reflector that surrounds the bulb.  An open type desk or floor lamp will be more difficult to control.</p>

<p>Place the objects you've gathered on a desk or other handy surface.  Be sure you have plenty of room to manuver around the objects.  Place the light source at different angles and heights around the objects.  Observe the patterns of light and shadow.  Take several test photos and study the results.</p>

<p>I'll attach one photo of a similar exercise I set up for myself years ago, using a single light source.  I'll try to upload other examples to a photo.net folder and provide a link later tonight.  Hope this helps.</p><div></div>

[divine_diva]

<p>Thats good information, but would you know what my camera should be set to.</p>

[richard_cochran]

<p>It's not a question of camera settings, it's a question of lighting.  But since you seem most interested in camera settings, I'll note that if I were doing the shoot, I know I'd set the camera on flash white balance, manual exposure, ISO 100, <em>f</em> /8, 1/125, or pretty close to that.  Then I'd adjust the lights to suit those exposure settings.</p>

<p>But that's because I'd use a monolight in a softbox, so I'd have plenty of light.  I'd start at around 1/4 power, and adjust from there, based on a light meter or histogram.</p>

<p>And the crucial thing is to set up the background a bit far from the light, and use a flag or grid to keep the light off the background. </p>

<p>If you're using continuous lights, your camera settings will be very different.  You'll probably need a longer shutter speed and/or a wider aperture.  Still, manual exposure will always work well when you've got a vast expanse of black background and a controlled light situation.</p>

[divine_diva]

<p>Thats great inforamtion thank you so much, well written.<br>

I have another question in this forum that hasnt been answered yet.  Would you know why or any sugestions why my camera will not trigger my strobe light. I have a hotshoe on my camera with a sync cord running from the hotshoe to the light. It will not trigger it at all when hotshoe is attatched. The camera will though trigger the stobe when my camera flash goes off. Is here a certain setting to be used when using sync cords connected to flashes? I wanted to to try using without my cameras flash. Any suggestions? Again I have a Nikon d40x</p>

[marc_b__montreal_]

<p>Eric Boutelier-Brown, a Canadian photographer does some pregnancy images.  If you'd like some inspiration (he has a very particular style), you can see his work here:  http://evolvingbeauty.com/ .  Be sure to visit his photo blog too!</p>

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