 Danial Gordon |
Shooting Maternity Portraits I have a close friend who is pregnant and who does not feel comfortable taking pictures at a studio. She would like for me to take them. I have had my Canon EOS Rebel G for some years now but have never ventured into the manual settings. What would be a good place to start, settings wise, for these type of pics? We will be doing this in a room with large windows to use natural lighting in the late afternoon using cloth backdrops.
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Kimberly J. Whipps |
I have done a number of maternity shoots, and I have always shot them in the portrait mode. One piece of advice I wish I would have known for my first maternity shoot (which I did for a friend), is to shoot from slightly above her. Shooting straight on makes things in her "southern region" look bigger than they really are. Not good. Have fun!
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Danial Gordon |
She wants these in black and white. Is it better to shoot in color and print in B/W or use B/W film? Also, did you use any special lenses or filters while using the portrait mode? I was worried that using portrait mode would prompt the flash to pop and the end result would be too bright.
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Kimberly J. Whipps |
I shoot in color so that I have the option of either, even if I know we want B/W. I only have a UV filter on mine, more for lens protection than anything else. As for the flash, I too shoot in front of a large picture window, and my flash has yet to rear its head unwanted. Hope this helps.
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Andrew Laverghetta |
I have a Canon Rebel GII, which is just the new version of the Rebel G. When I just carry my camera around, I leave it in P mode. When I have something specific that I'm shooting, I will switch to AV mode for low-light photos or TV when I need a shutter speed over a certain value like for sports. I'll use M if I have time and can't get what I want in the other settings. If you shoot in AV and have pretty low light you'll have to be sure of where you focus. Take a few different speeds of film to make sure you have the right one for the job. Using color film would probably be your best bet. I like Kodak Portra 160VC because I like vivid color but many others, possibly most others, will use NC for natural colors. Again, be sure to watch when using large apertures because focus may look good in the viewfinder but prints are less sharp. This is obviously more pronounced when I'm using my 50mm lens at f/1.8 but it may occur at 5.6 as well. If you know you're going to make a print in black and white, you could also use different artificial lighting to add to the natural light. Maybe make two exposures? I haven't done anything like this but I would love to do something like this with dramatic lighting. Like a profile shot with hard light at the front and no lighting or reflecting at the back. Maybe just a little to show definition along the back. But I love a lot of contrast in portraits myself.
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Norbert Maile |
I would recommend shooting a whole roll of black and white in addition to your color shots. Use a flash on low power in a darkened room and watch the effects!
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