Photographing Children

I first photographed Jayden two days before he was born. Actually, I did some maternity shots, for his mother, on a Friday, and Jayden was born on Sunday, a month early. Since them, I've had birthday party cake, taken family photos at the beach, made a Baptism album, and watched him grow. Yesterday, we just sort of hung out. We took a few pictures, in the house, then went to a little park where I got to answer "why" a thousand times :-)

Throughout the day, I was reminded of how old we both are getting -- I mean, Jayden will be 3 in May and I'll be 64 in July. Another thing I was reminded of is how easy it is to forget to get down on the child's level -- How often do we see pictures of kids from the adult's point-of-view. The best images come from when you get down into their 'world'.

This example was taken with a D700, and a 24-120mm lens. Lighting was with two Nikon Speedlights, on small light stands, with Gary Fong Lightsphers, for diffusion. Camera was on Manual and both flash units where on TTL. The aperture range for this lens in 3.5 to 5.6. I set the lens at it's widest -- 24mm, and the f-stop to 3.5. If you do this, the lens will automatically adjust to keep the aperture at it's widest available, as you zoom through the focal length range of the lens. In this case, I was at about 48mm and the aperture was 4.5. Shutter speed was 1/60 and ISO was 200. Both of us where on our tummy.

Answwers to Viewer Questions

This is a quick web cam video that I made to answer questions from viewers of a video that I posted in a Classroom, inside the [b] school. The video was called, "I might not be the photographer for you ... and I don't work for you."

You can see the trailer for the video, and get [b] school info here: http://thebschoolblog.com/index.cfm?postID=276

Sometimes It Doesn't Suck to Live in Southern California

I think that's Mt. San Gorgonio. The Camera is at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, in Huntington Beach. D700, 200mm, f2.8. 1/3200, ISO 200, on a tripod, timer.






... and across the street(Pacific Coast Highway), looking toward the Huntington Beach Pier. That spec in the upper left-hand corner is a helicopter -- not dust on the sensor!!

Nishi

On Tuesday, I had an opportunity to do some portfolio work for a Southern California model named Nishi. While I'm a Lakers fan, I sort of like this image.

The image is straight out of the camera - D700, 50mm, 1.8, 1/30, auto WB, ISO 200. Light is from two Nikon Speedlights - an SB-800 camera left, with a Gary Fong Lightsphere and an SB-900 to camera right, using the pull-up white bounce card into a large gold/white herringbone reflector.

It's a Six Pack!

Need I say more:-)

I do believe in the magic of the Terrible Towel, but in a tight game, I put my faith in Poncho Power!

GO STEELERS!