Sylvia's Maturnity photoshoot {30 Photoshoot Speedlight Challenge #6}

5' softbox is positioned directly behind her. Wouldn't a fill light have been perfect?

I am really starting to learn the business of photography. I met with Sylvia, a woman who had no aspiration of being a model and is in no way trying to use the photographs to leverage her career or find a job. Sylvia wanted to document a time sensitive moment in her life. Sylvia is 8 months pregnant, but this is the same type of hallmarking situation that is right in the professional photographers wheelhouse, right along with weddings and graduations. Should I ever want to start selling my newly found capability, this is the kind of thing I should be able to do without blinking.

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I blinked a little. Sylvia wasn't totally into taking pictures, if you know what I mean. By that I mean she wasn't one of those rare model breeds that would walk around naked if she could and does this whole photography shtick for the fawning and all the direct eye contact. She wasn't so concerned that I may be the worst photographer on the planet but rather that she looks pretty picture perfect.

One of my better photos.

On top of learning how to direct a real live person, I think I also learned a little bit more about my lighting setup. I used my umbrellas in the beginning and while they helped me throw light all over the room, there was a hotspot right on her face. This effect is beautiful for portrait shots, by my goodness you couldn't even tell that she was pregnant. The best photos came from the big broad soft lighting from my 5' softbox. I am quite relieved that the softbox produces better photos in some instances because I was starting to get discouraged.

The umbrella focused a lot of light in one position, in this case her face. It was not ideal for a maturnity photoshoot. Does not help that she melts into the background.

The shoot started with a signing of the model release. Yes, I remembered this time! We then went over to the pinterest board I put together during the prep. These are normally very informative and inspirational during the shoot. She unfortunately did not seem partial to any of the looks and body poses I had in mind. To mention she didn't feel comfortable with the full on nudity idea. One of these days...

But she did like the idea of taking photos with her other children, and those photos turned out to be my best. I didn't get permission to post photos of her children, so I will not reproduce them here.

The shoot took 1.5 hours with an outfit change and I took 250 photos yielding 23 deliverable ones. I think 1.5 hours is the most a customer can really take without getting antsy. I also think that 23 deliverable photos is just about right. I haven't heard back from Sylvia about how she felt about the whole experience, but I have nothing but warm fuzzy feelings.

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The 30 Photoshoot speedlight challenge is a Self Challenge where I attempt to learn as much as I can about single source lighting before I graduate to adding a second source to my kit! The reward of course is a second speedlight. I do my best to be reflective about my experiences to make them as instructive as possible. Read more about the 30 photoshoot challenge and follow my journey by clicking on the links below.