Hannah and her shadows

[Brenda Ellis]

After struggling ethically and aesthetically with the previous photo, I finally went and got different photos. I took many many shots of this little girl. These two I like the best, but the light/shadow is very extreme. I think I can lessen the light/shadow contrast. I am not sure which is better. Both have deep shadows on her face, which I don't mind. I guess I'm really rebelling against the "happy pseudo-photograph" look.
Are either of these two worth working from?

[Mike McCarty]

Brenda,

As you stated, the lighting is very harsh and the compositions aren't complimentary, with the shoulder poof competing successfully with the little girls face.

Personally I don't think your efforts would be well spent on either of these images. I would definitely pass on the second. I love these compositional puzzles, and if someone held a gun to my head this would be the best design I could come up with for the first image. But, I think a little more digging would serve you well.

[Brenda Ellis]

Thank you, Mike. I will take a second look at the other photos or go take more photos. I appreciate and value your opinion. You just saved me probably a couple of weeks of struggle and anguish.

[Mike McCarty]

Brenda,

My advice is to find that one place where you can understand the light (to the extent that you can ever understand the effects of natural light). For me it was my dining room for many years. I must have taken thousands of pictures near this north facing window -- in the chairs, standing up, sitting on the table, lying on the table, lying on the rug.

This place I understood more than any other place. When I couldn't cajole a real person to pose I would set up still life's in the morning, in the afternoon, cloudy days, rainy days, trying to get a better handle on the lights effect.

For very small children it is even more important because your window of opportunity is so small, given their attention span. I would have all my gear set up and plop these little people down into my light and then just let them move (you can't stop them). I find that you can control the space around them, but you can only control them for brief spurts of time. So, you herd them, then you shoot away for as long as they will tolerate it.

But the key is the light which passes across them. If the light is good, and you are ready, you will find that they will at some point strike a pose. Shutter speed is very important as well for this kind of shoot, but that's another subject.

I once had to go out of town and photograph a little girl in an unfamiliar place. When I got there I looked for a place where the light looked familiar to that which I had created back home. This little girl photo is the direct result of the work that I had done in my own dining room. She was sitting on a coffee table for about one and a half minutes.

I would rather have a beautiful light than a beautiful model.

[Brenda Ellis]

I would rather have a beautiful light than a beautiful model.

I like that sentiment. I will keep it in mind.

I have learned some things about going to other people's homes when photographing a child.
1: Get the parents out of the room (they can interfere and make the child nervous and uncomfortable).
2: Don't be inhibited by the fact that you are in someone else's home; look around until you find good light.
3: No huge poofy sleeves.

And everything you said too.

I have a digital camera so my "shutter speed" option is limited to whatever the camera reads the light as. I can focus in a lighter area or darker area and then move to take the picture but then the distance may not be the same as that focal length. I am practicing finding good light and taking pictures of my boyfriend. Soon I will have many many photos of a man rolling his eyes and looking perturbed.

When I was getting ready to go to my friend's house to take pictures, I almost packed a clip light, but I decided not to, as I thought I would surely find decent light there. Next time I am taking my clip lights and a white board.

I have asked my friend to bring her granddaugher here for the next round of photos. I think I have a good spot in my living room in the afternoons. I will take what you said and apply it. Thank you.

[Michele Rushworth]

I would rather have a beautiful light than a beautiful model.

What exceptional words of wisdom!

Brenda, stay away from direct sunlight on the face whenever possible. The afternoon setup you described may mean the sun will be pouring in, which you want to avoid. A north facing window means the sunlight never shines directly in and you get soft, constant cool light, which is what artists have loved for centuries. If you don't have a north facing light, shoot near a west-facing window in the mornings or an east-facing window in the afternoons, for example, to get indirect light.

[Brenda Ellis]

Michele-
Would that I had sun pouring in any window in my house! It's like the black hole of calcutta here. But in the afternoons, this livingroom window which I think faces south, lets warm light into the room. It doesn't come directly in. I will keep your caution in mind.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

I would rather have a beautiful light than a beautiful model.

That is perfect Mike!

And Brenda, that's obvious that you cannot work from life with this beautiful little girl. Here are my two Cents, take at least 300 photographs, sometimes 500 are necessary, different lighting, position, expression, etc. I learned that from Nelson Shanks and I never regreted doing that.

This is his opinion about photos:

"Photographs and reality are just night and day. In reality, the information is all there. A photograph is just kind of a hint."

"...I can do more from life and get further in a hour than I can in 20 hours from photographs."

Hope it helps.

[Brenda Ellis]

Thank you Claudemir!
I will take as many photos as will fit on my memory stick!
--Brenda

[Michele Rushworth]

Claudemir, did you study with Nelson Shanks?