Gear Isn't As Mobile As Kids

Little R had been nicely sitting on the couch and I had everything set up right where I wanted it for the shot I was going for.  The speedlight with softbox attached was mounted on the tripod aimed to light her face by partially aiming it at her and partially bouncing it off the couch cushion.  My wife was holding the reflecter off to the side to bounce a little of that light back onto the other side of her face.  

I was sitting on the couch in front of her.  Shot all lined up and ready to go and.... Little R got cranky.  She wanted her mommy.  Not that I blame her of course but another 10 seconds and I would have had a least a few shots captured.

Now of course the moment she is in her mother's arms, she is quite content.  No telling how long that fleeting peaceful moment will last but I was willing to bet that it wouldn't last long enough for me to move all the gear which was now aimed directly at me instead of her to a more suitable angle.

Now being as stubborn as I am (and I think most photographers must be to a certain extent), I wasn't about to give up on the picture entirely.  Time to adjust quickly on the fly.

I grabbed the silver reflector and put it between me and the speedlight that was now aimed directly at the camera instead of Little R and her mom.  I angled it so the light would bounce from the speedlight (my trusty SB-900 that I'm very quickly growing quite fond of) away from the camera and up at them.

While not the shot I had originally set up for, I am still quite happy with the moment that I was able to capture.

Technical Details:

Nikon D700

85mm f/1.4D

f/5 ~ 1/60 sec ~ ISO400

Tripod mounted SB-900

LumiQuest Softbox III

Cloudy WB

Silver Reflector

The camera and reflector were handheld

The setup:

Catching Up... Pictures of Little R

Catching up by posting some of the pictures I've posted elsewhere over the last month.


"Pictures of Little R"

Nikon D700
50mm f/1.4D
SB-900

f/3.2 ~ 1/60 sec ~ ISO-400
Taken on January 10, 2010

Lighting Info:
SB-900 tripod mounted to camera-left.
I had a LumiQuest Softbox III attached to the SB-900 and angled down at 'R' from about 2 feet above her.  Overall EV compensation for the scene was 0 but the SB-900 was set to +0.7EV.  The SB-900 was positioned so it was throwing light from the same direction as the natural window light to the camera-left.

Nikon D700
85mm f/1.4D
SB-900
f/5 ~ 1/60 sec
ISO-400
Taken on January 23, 2010

Lighting:  SB-900 off camera left.  LumiQuest Softbox III attached to an SB-900 that was tripod mounted and aimed at the wall slight above and to her right.  This was to amplify the natural light coming from the door off to her right.  Both the camera overal EV and the speedlight EV was set to 0.

Nikon D700
50mm f/1.4D
SB-900
f/5 ~ 1/60 sec
ISO-400
Taken on January 23, 2010

Lighting:  SB-900 off camera left.  LumiQuest Softbox III attached to an SB-900  and aimed directly at her from her right.  This was to amplify the natural light coming from the window off to her right.  The camera overall EV was 0 and the speedlight was set to -0.3EV.

Nikon D700
35mm f/2D
SB-900
f/4 ~ 1/60 sec
ISO-400
Taken on January 24, 2010

Lighting:
I used an SB-900 with a TN-A1 filter through a LumiQuest Softbox III.  The SB-900 was handheld off camera attached via an SC-29 cord.  The speedlight and diffuser were angle off the yellow wall to camera-left all to add more warmth to the picture.  Exposure Comp was set to -0.3EV and the Flash Exposure Comp was also set to -0.3EV.

The Mission

I have enjoyed photography for many years. For me, photography is about capturing a moment and trying to convey through the lens what it that compelled me to take the picture. Although photography is currently a hobby for me, it is one of the main focuses of my life.

My intention for this blog is to keep a record of the things I learn about photography as I learn them.
I spend much of my time taking photos of my family (mostly my kids).  Kids constantly present new challenges as does photography.  Combine the two and there is always something new to learn and share.

Photography is all about light and although for years I stayed strictly with natural available light, lately I have been experimenting more and more with using speedlights to light the scenes.  Mostly I am just having lots of fun taking pictures and trying new approaches to improve my pictures.

I hope to be able to share photos here and some details on how I took each one.
This is partly to share with those that are interested and partly so that in the future I will remember my thought process on taking the picture and what I learned from it.