kap

Shooting indoors can be a bit tricky. Using flash, and trying to

make it look better than a snap shot or wedding photo can be

even more tricky. If you have the money and willingness to learn

about lighting; by all means buy some. If you're just looking to

take some beautiful indoors portraits, save your money.

In your situation, I'd use the 100mm macro. It's best to use a

longer focal length lense for portraits. Now, shooting with a long

lense will give you better compression (giving you more of an

ability to blur your backround), which gives the photo more focus

on the subject. Now I'm not sure how fast your lense is (fast

refering to how wide your lenses aperture goes), but I find it

better to use faster lenses that your average speed macro lence.

But I'm sure your 100mm lense will do wonderfully.

The work that I do is Enviromental Portraits. This type of portrait

work sends me into a bunch of different lighting situations. One

thing I've learned is higher speed films today have such a fine

grain in comparison to the film of yesteryear. T-max and Tri-x are

great BxW films to use as well as Fuji 800 HG and 1600 HG are

for color. Faster films will give you a greater range of exposures

for available light. Oh, and before I forget; A good photo lab is

worth its weight in gold. You can use slower speed films if that is

what you prefer; but unless you have ALOT of window light or you

know how to use artificial light, you'll be better off with a faster

film.

Getting into detail. Composure is very important. The subject can

be dominant with other objects in the shot. Don't be afraid to

have something between you and your subject. It can add a

candid feel, and or, a voyeuristic look. Hence, the "NATURAL"

look.

Well, I've type enough. I hope I've helped answer your question or

had given you some ideas.

Good luck and keep shooting.

Kevin Alex<div></div>

Not knowing what photo equipment you use; the best advise I

can give is, buy allot of film. If you're not using a throw away

camera, I would suggest buying some high speed film. Such as;

Fuji 800 asa for color and Kodak Tmax 400 or Tmax 3200 asa for

BxW. These speed films should let you take a good exposure

with whatever light situation you encounter. With a child, always

have the camera with you. You KNOW what I mean. When you

least expect it, they do the cutest things or make the cutest face.

Always be ready to capture it because you never know when they

will do it again. if you have a camera that has auto focus and

auto exposure , you'll be set with these types of film. If not, just

remember, when it comes to photographing that special look,

you can never take to many pictures. Film is cheap.

Good Luck,

Kevin Alex