Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Henry's 2nd Year Portraits






I have been photographing Henry since he was born. He probably thinks that my camera is a permanent fixture that drapes around my neck. We met his parents while attending a Bradley Method birthing class. They are both very cool, thus they have a very cool son. Both Henry and Jocelyn (my daughter) are the same age. In fact, Henry is exactly one day younger than Jocelyn. So it is really a joy to photograph this little one and it is great that I have seen him grow up right in front of my eyes (lens). What I also like about his shoots is that I know that afterwards we will hang out with his parents and have dinner and hang out. And just for the record: I love his red curly hair!

Prepping For The Shoot
I really wanted to bring out Henry's eye and hair color for this shoot. I also wanted to do an outdoor shoot since the previous portraits had been in the studio. So I used my trusty Alien Bee strobe with a medium softbox. I was able to power the strobe with a Vagabond portable battery pack, which allowed for quick recycling of the strobe. This is good thing since I knew I would need to fire a bunch of flashes in a row in order to capture any fleeting moments. The funny thing about plans is that they do not always go the way you want. Henry is a vivacious little dude that LOVES to run (he's 2!), so I had to be ready to capture him away from the strobes. The first couple of images are non-strobe images.

The Set-Up
- Nikon D700
- Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 lens
- Alien Bee 400 with a medium softbox
- Vagabond battery pack
- Pocket Wizards
- Lastolite grey card for white balancing
- LIghtroom for post-processing and exporting

4 comments:

  1. These are great! You're the third photographer who has mentioned Alien Bees-- I've been hearing some really good things about them! I do not currently have any sort of lighting set-up other than my SB-800. Do you know of any good sources for purchasing some used equipment? Thanks!

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  2. really nice! what a cute kid. parents should think about commercials for him. will pay for college. chicago has a lot of work for kids.

    if you are bored, stop by mr. puggle® for a contest. you can win a personalized dog bowl! :) it is his 200th Post Celebration Extravaganza! www.mrpuggle.blogspot.com

    try and get outside. dude, i am out on the desk with the mac enjoying the last few rays of the summer. not a cloud.

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  3. Love it! Super cute. Love how you captured her energy and hair color! -- Agnes.

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  4. He's so cute...I love the one with his little tongue hanging out! The lighting stuff you did is really neat too. Thanks for sharing (I'm behind the off camera lighting curve, haha)!!

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