"Making the decision to have a child... its momentous.. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." - Elizabeth Stone
There is nobody (ok, maybe not nobody.. but almost) that doesn't appreciate the deliciousness of a newborn! The scent of baby powder, the tiny little fingers and toes, the peaceful sleep (lets not talk about the crying here.. we're thinking all cherry and cream here. ok?). Newborns are so indescribably yummy but the stage passes by very fast! It is important to capture those moments right after birth. In fact, the first 12 days of birth is optimal for newborn portraits.
Regardless if you're taking your baby to a professional or taking pictures by yourself, don't miss those moments. You may think that pictures of a sleeping baby is boring - it may be boring for you right now, but in just a few months from now, even weeks that baby will be a lot bigger, and you'll have a great memory and image of him or her as a real newborn.
I've asked a few people about newborn pictures for their newborn. It seems that there is an old-fashioned idea still out there, to wait for their baby to sit up before they take portraits of them. As far as professional pictures go, that is certainly a personal choice - but the newborn stage is so precious. Those images would be treasured forever. Regardless if you would take newborn pics in a professional studio, definately start taking pictures on your own from the moment your child is born! Don't miss those tender moments.
Tip of the day: If you take pictures of your baby when he's naked, put the blanket you intend to use in the dryer for 5-10 minutes for warmth.
Thursday I spend all day at the "Beauty and the Beast Tour". Now one can speculate why is it called Beauty and the Beast, and I think I know.. I hope that isn't the reason. Ok, I'll explain it a bit.
So, not to take away from the fact that I really did enjoy it and learned alot, it was kind of "interesting" to say the list. Two photographers were giving the classes, Hanson Fong and John Woodward. While I am a member of NAPP, read ton of blogs, books, magazines etc. it was actually the first time I heard of those two. I had looked them up when I heard about this event, though. Hanson Fong, an asian guy who is a master at posing large groups tends to speak about himself in third person. That was easy to get used to. I realize thats a cultural thing. So, he was talking about posing - about "labeling" the people A and B. (obviously as a photographer, you do this in your heard, and don't verbalize it). A is the slim one, and B is the heavier one. An A can be a B next to a skinnier person, and a B can be an A, next to a heavier person. Get my drift? While I'm not so oversensitive to think it was rude to say out loud, ok, you're a B.. these "models" are adults, but he kept on picking on the other guy, John Woodward.. "hey, we need someone with a huge belly in here" or the like (can't remember the exact words).. While this may be the banter they're used to, I think it was a bit overdone. Once, twice, fine. But every single time.. and of course the opposite.. to crack a little joke, he asked "now, whats wrong with this picture?" The audience is quiet, and the picture seems fine to everyone. He says "John, get out, and insert a good-looking Asian guy".. Ok thats funny, but again at the the other guys expense.. lots of those jokes. oh, well. I guess it works for them.
So I'm thinking that he named it Beauty and the Beast - Beauty for himself and John Woodward is the beast - not nice, not nice...
The big difference I found between this event and events from NAPP is also there is clearly stuff being sold. I learned to keep my radar on, and not bite at every "recommendation" that is made. They definitely make a commission and they are definitely there to sell their stuff. It is up to me, the participant to weed out the stuff that I don't need and do my own research to what stuff I do need. You can take the lessons, and ignore the sale pitches. Works for me.
John Woodward had a lesson about Self assessment, which was interesting, and I'm not sure who spoke about the curves of the mouth, and what side to light the face. Mmm.. Is that true, that everybody's mouth has a bigger down curve on one side? Oh, well.. I will definitely be more conscious of that if a person has a mouth thats slanty.. (yeah, and they openly look for someone with a distorted mouth, how nice...)
Overall, the event was great. Hanson's personality gave the audience a laugh, and poor poor John.. he's the underdog.. :). The top picture was a quote he put on the screen. I guess its something like "If you don't take Nissen, you don't know what you're missin''" haha..
P.S. I played around with blue gel today, and this is what I got.. What I did was, I put these glasses on a black poser thingy, in front of my reflector, put the speedlight with blue gel facing the reflector and tada! This is what you do when the kids don't want to cooperate.
...Let's start at the very beginning A very good place to start....
Well, this is the start of my photography career.. I am hopeful and excited, and driven to succeed. That is, I am hoping that someday soon the decision of where to set my aperture, shutter speed and ISO comes naturally and flawlessly. I am hopeful that one day, composition will come effortlessly... but until then, I have to practice, practice, practice....
The part that is driving me crazy now, is lighting.. I'm using wireless flash from Nikon, which is amazing... which was proven when I am being taught. I get the rules, when I think what I want to do, I know which way to turn the dial, but the problem is when you have a kid sitting there, and I'm rushing to get the picture instead of thinking how I want my picture to look. I played around a bit today.. I'm not entirely happy with the results. Although, I probably have to replace my SB-600 flash batteries, it seemed to be weaker than it was on Wednesday at my lesson with JC (I guess I should really stock up on batteries... which that is the con of using the wireless flash..) , and I have to change my setup.. I didnt have enough place to shoot.. I was squeezing myself to the wall, and still couldnt get the entire picture.. ridiculous, huh?
My two big boys are sick and tired of having their own personal papparazzi, and the little bebe is getting quite active. I hope to change the "studio" setup tomorrow night, so I can really practice some more.
