high-key lighting with maternity photo session
Part of what makes wedding photography so rewarding, is keeping contact with clients over the years as life continues past the wedding date. Maternity photo sessions .. babies .. kiddos .. it’s all part of how couples’ lives unfold. If we’re fortunate as photographers, we remain part of it.
So it was with great pleasure that I had a maternity photo session with Renee and David. As usual with a photo session, I like to mix things up in terms of the lighting … all with the intent of getting more diversity in the selection of images:
Here is a comparison photo where I disabled the flash.
For the photograph at the top, I had a speedlight on the floor behind their bed, bouncing straight up to the ceiling. This flooded the room with light … and the reflected light spilling around David and Renee, wrapped around to create soft light from the camera’s point of view.
The curtains and everything behind them were blown out by the flash over-exposing everything there. That was the intention though … the couple is my subject, not the out-of-focus areas behind them. I wanted that high-key lighting.
The speedlight behind them on the floor was the only additional light that I used here. The flash was controlled by an on-camera PocketWizard FlexTT5 which controlled the FlexTT5 on the Slaved flash. The slave was controlled as a TTL flash.
TTL flash is fairly unpredictable in how it would behave with a back-lit shot like this. Rim-lighting is best controlled as a manual flash, since the camera can’t really meter for rim-lighting. But with this scenario, where there are large areas that are bright, and large areas of mid to below-mid tone … the TTL flash did very well in giving me correct exposure.
camera settings: 1/250 @ f4 @ 800 ISO
That’s the technical aspect of the photograph. The artistic intent here was to capture a simple portrait of a dad-to-be, showing all the tenderness that exists. These things – the intent and the implementation – they go hand-in-hand to create a photograph that works. By simplifying my composition to only include David and his baby-daughter-to-be, the connection between them is highlighted. The lighting just supplements this.
equipment used (or alternatives)
- Nikon D3
- Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 AF-S VR II / Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
- Nikon SB-910 Speedlight controlled by PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver & AC3 Controller
- or alternately, the Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite controlled by Canon ST-E3 Transmitter
Thanks Neil, very evocative photo and great posting.
Really, really like this! I’m not much of a fan of pregnancy photos but this shot is beautiful.
I’d love to see more shots from the session, so that I can shamelessly cop — er, I mean so that I can see how Neil approaches that kind of subjects :).
Thanks for the tip. I would like to see some other photos from this session as well. We’re expecting as well and I have to take some maternity shots which I haven’t done before.
Neil,
To get the TTL working off camera, did you need a pc connection or can the Pocket Wizzards communicate ttl wirelessly? I don’t own the PW’s, I could only afford the less expensive Cactus system which I’m pretty sure can’t send the TTL information to the flash. I’d love to be able to use TTL off camera with my Pentax gear. Any suggestions? Great capture by the way. My wife is due in less then 2 weeks. I might try this shot when I get home.
Best,
K
Hi there Neil,
Were you testing the Sony and Canon cameras or have you incorporated them into your arsenal?
Just curious, but in order to prevent them from going into silhouette did you do the following steps:
1. expose for the father’s face properly
2. then adjust background flash until it was bright enough?
I only ask because the father’s face looks very underexposed in the photo where you disabled the flash — yet it is much much brighter when the flash is on (even though the flash never directly hits the camera side of his face)…
Thanks for any help!
also do you foresee a D7000 review in your future?
At first glance, thought he was kissing a ladies bottom. Was thinking “This is new direction for Neil”! :-O :-)
Good job I read the title!
David
I like this. While it might not be someone else’s idea of the “correct” exposure, it is one of several possible appropriate exposures. I think what you’ve done is create a very natural, believable moment — in an image where lighting isn’t obvious or distracting.
HI Neil,
When you use flash do you use rear curtain sync or first curtain sync, and do can you possibly do a Blog post on the difference on how it affect TTL and Manual.
It would really help me in clearing up some questions i have on flash photography.
Thanks.
Hi Neil,
Another quick question, how does my TTL flash know how much flash or how little flash to emit when it looks at a scene. what kind of impact does the ambient light have on the flash?
Thank you so much Neil!