Studio on a Shoestring&#187; children&#8217;s photography

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

My 7 Most Embarrassing Moments In Photography

deborahwolfe — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:14:50 +0000

Or, Uh Oh Say It Ain’t So!

I know I’ve said this a few thousand times, but it really IS true I’ve had a camera in my hand since I was nine years old. I celebrated my 50th birthday last May (yeah I know, hard to believe huh?) So, I’ve had a few years to rack up some doozies.

Here are some of my favorites.

1. EMBARRASSMENT COMES EARLY

My very first moment of embarrassment came right along with my first camera, which was a gift from my parents on my 9th birthday. It was a Brownie box camera, which you had to open up completely to load with roll film. We’re talking way old school here. In my excitement, I ran next door to share with our neighbors, a married couple with no children of their own at the moment. The husband, who had befriended me, marveled over it, ooh’ing and aah’ing. With a wicked gleam in his eye, he said, “betcha there’s no film in that camera.” And I’m all “uh huh, there is too film in my camera” and he’s all “nah, couldn’t be” and I’m all “well just look then!” Quick as a wink, before you could say ‘bad idea’, I ripped open the camera, exposing the film. Of course, I didn’t understand that at the time. I just knew he GASPED, looked SHOCKED, then burst out laughing. I did what any reasonable 9 year old would do and ran home crying. I was mortally embarrassed and vowed to never leave the house again. I still see him almost every time I go home for a visit, and he has NEVER let me live that one down.

2. OOPS, MY BAD

Early on in my photography career, I had a brand new portrait customer in with her two children for a shoot. So, I’m all wedged between my tripod and the back wall (where I was ALWAYS wishing I could back up 3 giant steps), just shooting away. Oh yeah. It was good. It was happening. Great stuff going on and I’m getting it all down on film. I was just shooting away. Shooting……and shooting……..and still shooting…..and gosh this is a really long roll of film and ….WHY AM I STILL SHOOTING?????? Why haven’t I had to change the roll of film????? WHY? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO FILM IN THE CAMERA!!! Oh yes. I had been shooting for almost 20 minutes with absolutely no film in the camera. When I realized this, I audibly gasped. Mom looked up.

Her: “What’s wrong?”
Me: “I don’t want to tell you.”

My mind was racing. Here she was, thinking we were winding down and the session was almost finished. Good thing too, as her son was nearing his personal meltdown point. Yet, not one single picture had been taken. I had no idea how she would react. I took a deep breath.

Me: “I know I’m supposed to be the professional here, but there’s no film in the camera. We have to keep shooting.”

She looked at me for a nanosecond…..then threw her head back and GUFFAWED. Literally laughed until tears were streaming down her face.

Conclusion? I loaded the camera, we kept shooting and I actually got even BETTER images, because her children had relaxed by that point and it got REAL. She became a repeat customer for many years after that, adding baby number 3 and occasionally hubby into the mix.

3. OPEN BOX, INSERT FOOT

And then there was the time I fogged an entire box of unexposed photographic paper. Yep, all 100 sheets. How, and why was it embarrassing? Because it was at my local rental darkroom in the middle of the mad dash to the Christmas deadline aka The Christmas Crazies, when I, like many of my fellow photographers, was chained to my enlarger. I had some sort of brain fart either coming or going to the feeding room with a light tight paper safe.

The facility manager was trying to figure out when everyone would be finished feeding prints, so he would know when he could start shutting equipment down for the night. I had already been there for 8 hours and was exhausted. Without thinking, I said “well let me see how many prints I have left to feed.” And I opened my paper safe. In the light. The manager, a personal friend btw, merely cocked at eyebrow at me, while I stood there twitching like Daffy Duck in a bad cartoon skit. Trust me, he had seen it ALL. I, however, was mortified. So were my darkroom buddies. No one said a word. Not one.

4. CAN I GET A WARM TOWEL WITH THAT, PLEASE?

My ‘dream’ studio was housed on the ground floor of my home. I went to the gym every morning and usually scheduled my first shoot of the day at 10:00 am. This gave me time to rush home, shower, dress and head downstairs. The studio itself was always in a state of readiness for the day’s shoots.

Piece of cake if everything went according to plan. Until the morning a family of five showed up 20 minutes early and I was still in the shower. I kid you not. The doorbell actually had the audacity to ring and I had a decision to make. What to do???

Well, I greeted them at the door, in my robe with a towel wrapped around my head. Dad looked a bit uncomfortable. I invited them in, tried to act far more glib about it than I felt, gave them some reading material and went back upstairs. I returned 15 minutes later, slightly more presentable. They did not become repeat customers. Was it something I said?

5. ANATOMY 101

One of my favorite ‘poses’ for infants who can sit alone, but not yet crawl, is the ‘Shoot the Moon’ pose. Basically, you place a naked baby on your backdrop, facing away from the camera. Then you have mom call their name and they usually look back over their shoulders at her, often with a little index finger raised. It’s so cute. You get gorgeous eyes, curious looks and sweet little baby ‘cheeks’.

Worked like a charm, until I had a customer with a little boy who had clearly never sat around much naked. He ‘discovered’ his, um ‘little friend’. Oh my goodness. He tugged on it, pulled on it, bent double staring at it and would not leave it alone. Would not. He was EARNEST. And mom was sooooooo embarrassed. We kept trying to distract him with other props and toys, but nothing was nearly so interesting as stubby. Mom was crimson. She kept saying “Oh my goodness. Oh my. Oh dear. Oh he’s just never done that before.” And I kept trying to reassure her it was ‘normal’ and nothing to be embarrassed by, while secretly feeling like an inappropriate voyeur. But the little guy just wouldn’t let up and ultimately, even I had to concede defeat. We dressed him. He was not happy. They didn’t become repeat customers either.

6. FEEL THE LOVE

When you work with families as much as I have, you begin to develop a sixth sense about a lot of things. You can feel when something interesting is about to happen and you develop your instincts and hone your reflexes on the shutter.

You also learn to read family dynamics and anticipate trouble. Usually.

I was photographing a set of three siblings, two boys (ages 3 and 4) and a girl, aged 6. The boys were wild. Screaming, jumping and creating utter chaos. The girl was a bit rough and tumble, but basically a good kid, sitting on her mark waiting for her two young brothers to be wrestled into submission by Dad. We were twenty minutes into an unbelievably difficult shoot and Dad was starting to lose it. His patience was frayed like an old rope.

I can usually tell when things are about to ‘pop’ in a family and will do or say something to distract and diffuse. Not this time. The little girl starting trying to ‘help’ Dad, who blew a gasket so fast it was unbelieveable. He whipped his head around, yelled “YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER!!!!!” And started spanking her on the legs.

I was embarrassed for EVERYONE. First of all, it was o.v.e.r. I sat there with all these emotions rolling around inside me, wanting to say ”Hey Dad, do you really think I’m gonna get good pics of your kids now????” His daughter was crying and so very embarrassed to be spanked in front of me. Her little face was red and swollen and snot was flying. For good measure, the boys started wailing because…well, just because. Mom looked like she wanted to melt into the floor. Dad had that ‘deer caught in the headlights of a car’ look in his eyes. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

I just sat down and sighed audibly. I said I thought it might be best if we concluded the session. I didn’t charge them a sitting fee and I never saw them again. I still cringe every time I think of them.

7. WHEN IN DOUBT, DROP KICK IT

After several successful years in business, I was finally able to afford to step up to a medium format camera. I purchased two Bronica bodies, and all the accessories and gear to complete them.

I had several NFL players and their families on my list of customers. I was in the middle of a session with one such family, with the action moving fast and furious. I was photographing mom, dad and their two very young, active children. My studio was completely set up to deal with this type of situation, with the lights suspended on an overhead track system, I used a radio release so I wasn’t tethered to sync cords and my tripod was mounted on a dolly with wheels, so I could zoom up and down. I went to flip my camera from horizontal to vertical as fast as possible so as not to miss any of the action. I must have forgotten to lock my camera to the tripod head. My beautiful Bronica went crashing to the CONCRETE floor, where it broke into all its separate pieces-parts. I was looking at a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment scattered all over the floor. Defensive lineman Dad’s eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped open. My heart sank, right before it stopped completely. But of course, I couldn’t let this show, because uncomfortable customers don’t make good photographs. So I came back to life and simply said “Don’t worry, I have another one,” and my assistant grabbed the extra body from the workroom and we continued shooting, like nothing had happened.

After they left, I cried. I took it to a camera repair shop to see what the extent of the damage was. Surprisingly, other than a few dings, the camera was still functional. I used it without incident for several more years. The lens survived too. Without a scratch. The film back, on the other hand, never did close right again and would sometimes fly off the camera unexpectedly.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

deborahwolfe — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:00:24 +0000

One of the questions most often asked on various photography forums is how to photograph infants and young children well. People are always looking for the best poses, props and so forth. I have been photographing babies and young children for almost 20 years.

The single most effective tool in your arsenal is knowledge.

There is a world of difference between a newborn and a 3 month old. Quantum leaps in development occur between 3 and 6 months of age. A 9 month old does not resemble a 3 month old in any way. And the one-year old is the reigning sovereign of infanthood.

The Newborn–Newborns sleep. A lot. They are pure instinct. If they’re cold, they cry. If they’re hungry, they cry. If they’re wet, they cry. If they feel ‘abandoned’, they cry. If you understand this, you can effectively work with a newborn. Make sure they are warm, dry, fed and swaddled. Accept that they sleep and keep on photographing. We’ve come a long way with our attitudes in America around sleeping baby photography. I have always been slightly ahead of the curve in many ways, photographically speaking. When I first start photographing babies sleeping, most of the parents recoiled from those images. They felt the babies looked dead and consequently, hardly ever placed orders for those particular images. Yep. Then Anne Geddes came along and voila’! sleeping baby photos were all the rage.

If you are planning to photograph a sleeping newborn, understand that your perfect window of opportunity is from birth to 5 weeks. After that point, most babies are more alert and may be physically too large to put in certain situations.

The photograph above, of the sleeping baby on a stack of towels, is a case in point. The mother was a regular client of mine and this was her third and last child. She wanted something very special to mark this passage and was determined to have a sleeping baby shot. However, our schedules had not meshed well and by the time she came in with baby ‘W’, he was almost 8 weeks old. Fortunately I did not have anyone scheduled after her. It took almost 3 hours to get him to sleep. By the time he finally collapsed into an exhausted sleep, mom and I were pretty much toast. Because he was more alert, every time we thought he had finally dosed off and placed him on the towels, he felt abandoned, panicked and woke up. Much crying ensued.

What do I mean when I say ‘abandoned’? Somehow babies instinctively know when something is not ‘right’. I’m guessing the only time infants were ever placed naked upon the ground and taken from the warmth of their mother’s body was when they were being put out to die of exposure. Once they become more alert, they are more aware.

How do you make a newborn feel more secure? Two ways. Mom holds baby or you swaddle baby. I don’t mean you literally have to swaddle, as in that ancient and biblical method of wrapping securely into a little package or bundle that even UPS would be proud to handle. Although I did swaddle my first born until she was five months old, as she was a preemie and startled herself awake constantly. I learned the art from my Persian mother-in-law. For the purposes of photography you can just wrap them up in a soft blanket, or even snug their back up against a soft pillow or stuffed toy, like this:

The Three and Four-Month Old—Alert, engaging and not able to sit alone yet. Very responsive to the human face. An important thing to understand about this age range is, continually asking a baby to ‘focus’ is hard work for them. When we talk baby-talk in an effort to engage infants of this age, at first they will respond positively. They will make direct eye contact and smile, often making rapid, jerky movements with the arms and legs. However, if you continue to ask them to focus on you, they become agitated and will want mom to pick them up. They will engage in several different behaviors to make this happen.

They will begin to turn away from your face and avert their gaze. If you continue in your attempts to re-direct their focus to you, the following will happen.

They will start to ‘fuss’.
If that doesn’t work, they will start to spit up. If this only serves to have mom wipe their mouth and chin but not pick them up, then,
They will begin to cry HARD in earnest and the session is OVER.

Very occasionally the situation can be salvaged with a bit of nursing or feeding, but I have personally found that nine times out of ten, it really is over. Sometimes, if it hasn’t already been done, removing clothing helps, and a previously cranky baby can become very happy naked.

What can you do? Be prepared and work FAST. You get 15 to 20 minutes TOPS with this age range. You can put them in something, like the flowerpot above, or you can put them on their tummies (if they like that position) then get down on their level to snap. Or you can work with nature and make them very comfortable and snap away. If they cry without their ‘binky’, let them have it and keep shooting.

If all else fails, have mom hold baby and photograph them looking over her shoulder.

The Five Month Old—The five-month old is my FAVORITE infant age to work with. Typically, they can sit alone but not crawl. What a dream come true. They are full of alert, engaging energy. They are often little performers. There are so many possibilities for this age. One of my favorite poses, of which I do not have a single example readily available, is what I call the ‘Shoot the Moon’ shot. Sit them down naked, with their back towards the camera. Make sure you’re ready behind the camera, then call their name. They will look back over their shoulder at you, often with a little index finger raised ever so sweetly and there you’ve got it. Sweet little baby cheeks.

You can put them in things, like this tiny inflatable swimming pool filled with warm water. Pardon the markings on these images, but they were scanned from my original contact sheets and show my darkroom notes. Yep, these are old school folks, all the way down to an actual darkroom. These shots were done for a children’s magazine and the editor wanted the background to be bright and colorful. The little girl was 5 months and a joy to work with. This is a great age for hats and glasses, but you have to work fast. You really need an assistant, and if that is mom, then all the better. When you’re absolutely sure you’re ready to shoot, have mom drop a hat on their head or put some glasses on their face, then move away fast. You get a few tries with this before they either lose their patience or get too quick for you.

Toilet paper or flowers (just make sure you’ve removed any thorns) can be fun too, as well as getting to sit up like a big boy by mom. Just remember, EVERYTHING goes in their mouth at this stage. Make sure any flowers or plants are non-toxic.

The Six to Ten-Month Old—Lots of crawling happens at this stage as well as pulling up and standing. You can have mom pick baby up and place towards the back of a backdrop while you lay down and shoot like crazy as they crawl towards you. You can also stand and shoot down towards them while they pull up on you. In general, a high viewpoint is very effective in photographing babies. It forces those big eyes to look right at you.

The Eleven to Twelve-Month Old—Most children in this age range are usually at least attempting to take their first few steps. Some may be walking like old pros. They LOVE to climb on things at this point, so give in to the natural course of events. Just make sure whatever they are climbing on is sturdy enough to hold them and an adult is standing nearby to catch any mishaps. It also helps to know what to expect.

This image of two fraternal twins was taken at the end of a session. Mom and I had pre-planned for the sisters to be wearing nothing more than diapers and covers with a ruffled bottom. I knew the instant mom and dad placed both girls in a standing position in front of the settee, they would start to climb. Mom and dad were each holding a child on either side of the background. I cautioned them NOT to put the girls down until I said ‘GO’. When I said ‘go’, they put the girls down quickly at the same time and backed away FAST. As I had expected, both girls started to climb immediately. The only thing I didn’t know was how perfectly symmetrical and synchronized they would be. This was the first shot. It was perfect. We didn’t get a ‘do over’.

Photographing infants can be very rewarding, as long as you understand the stages of development and come prepared.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Portrait Lighting – Tutorial

Low Key Portrait Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Outdoor Portraiture – Overcoming Challenges

Outdoor Portraiture – Photographing Families in Natural Light

deborahwolfe — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:57:46 +0000

Natural Light Photography – Part 2

Fall is approaching and this might be a good time to talk about how to handle an outdoor family session. This is a good tutorial for those with a limited amount of equipment. All you really need is a fairly good camera. It would also be nice if you have a couple of different, fast lenses at your disposal. Depending on where you live, you might even be able to rent those lenses at a surprisingly low day rate.

I’ll be adding a resource page soon, so keep an eye out.

I’ll be using a single family session I did last fall to illustrate some of my ideas.

A family is a complex and shifting dynamic. You’re dealing with individuals and the ‘group mind’ at the same time. Photographing families requires several key components on the part of the photographer:

Patience
Keen observational skills
Flexibility
Patience
Tact
Diplomacy
Fast reflexes
Patience
Creativity
Good people skills
Patience

Did I mention it takes patience?

The bigger the family, the more of all the above will be required of you. Why bother? Because it’s fun, you’ll get some GREAT shots for your portfolio, you’ll meet some wonderful people and get to hang out with some super duper kids.

There are all sorts of places to photograph people outdoors. For this particular session, we chose Piedmont Park, right here in the heart of Midtown, Atlanta. I advise going on a pre-shoot, scouting excursion to any location you’re considering. You can figure out where the best angles and lighting are, and make note of anything to be avoided. You can also start to formulate a ‘game plan’, which is never a bad idea for a busy family.

On an earlier scouting expedition, I made note of the beautiful, old stonework at Piedmont Park and decided that would be a good place to start, before moving on to a fantastic old playground.

Kids will always be kids, so I just follow them around as they do their thing. I talk to them and listen to what they have to say. At first, most kids are a tad stilted, often stopping to ‘pose’ for me. However, they usually put it together fairly fast that I’m not really about the pose. That’s not to say I never make suggestions or help people arrange themselves into comfortable groups. But for the most part, with kids, I just like to let them go.

I always make suggestions for clothing before a shoot. This wonderful family came prepared with loads of clothing, hats, hoodies and accessories galore. Before we even got started, I couldn’t resist getting a shot of one of the boys. We weren’t even out of the parking lot yet and there were cars in the background. Who cares? This is that flexibility, fast reflexes and creativity I was just talking about. I simply post processed it to look a little dirty and gritty and voila! I’ll talk more about post processing in another post.

This family included mom, dad, grandmom and three children. That’s a big dynamic to work with. Lots of relationships going every which way. I always ask what the highest priority is, then shoot that first. If it’s a family shot, that’s usually a little more structured. Afterward, you can loosen it up and start breaking the family out into smaller groups and individuals. It’s much harder to rein everybody back in, than it is to start more formal and loosen it up as you go. When you’re dealing with multiple generations, remember to be sensitive to the physical limitations of those who are older.

Cooler weather is great to shoot in. All those great layered clothes and rosy cheeks.

Ask the kids if they have any ideas for the shoot. This often results in some of the most dynamic and funny shots in a session. All of the images below were suggestions of the children.

This family session was done on a bright, overcast day. I’ve stated before that it is really perfect lighting for skin tones.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

Depth of Field – Photography Tutorial

Photographing Young Children with Low-Key Lighting – Tutorial

deborahwolfe — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:44:37 +0000

Tips for Photographing Children – Part 1

There is no doubt that photographing young children can be a challenge, and never more so than when using a low-key lighting setup. So why bother? Because the drama and richness inherent in this type of lighting is SO worth it and because it’s unexpected for high energy children’s photography. For the purposes of this post, young and active will be defined as children between the ages of one and four (toddlers).

The good news about this type of lighting is the comfort and ease with which it can be set up. You only need one light and a dark background. Most of the time I use black seamless paper or dark gray seamless paper. To provide the widest possible latitude for movement on the child’s part, the light should be positioned as close to the center as possible. See diagram:

I prefer a soft box for this particular situation, as it provides a more directional, slightly ‘harder’ light than that bounced out of an umbrella. This does not mean you cannot use an umbrella. As a matter of fact, you could use a white, translucent shoot-through umbrella to great effect.

Okay, let’s say you’ve got your victim…er subject lined up. So now what? Well, just tell that two-year to go on out there to the ‘middle’ of the background and do something interesting while you photograph them. Sure thing Mz Photog, but…what’s a background and where’s the middle and what am I supposed to do out there all by my lonesome? I am about to introduce you to the very best friend you will ever have. Meet Mister Smiley Face:

Draw him on the ‘sweet spot’, your pre-determined perfect lighting zone. Might as well go ahead and draw him in with a sharpie marker, so toddlers can find it easily, and make him at least one inch in diameter.

This next step is very important. Make sure the child knows about Mister Smiley. Get down on their level and show them ‘their’ smiley face. Make a big deal out of it. If you have a fresh roll of paper, you might even wait until they are in the camera room and draw it in front of them. In any event, make a big production of Mister Smiley Face, emphasizing it is just for them. You now have a way to direct the toddler.

This may seem overly simple, but trust me. I have been photographing toddlers for almost 20 years. They don’t know from backgrounds and lighting zones, nor do they care to learn. They have other things to do. Like moving around. A lot. All over the place. You will save yourself and the child an enormous amount of unnecessary stress if you have a non-combative, non-confrontational way to direct them. It allows you to remain in position to shoot and allows them a certain amount of freedom and distance from you. If you’re very clever, you can get some killer shots of them looking for ‘their’ smiley face.

Mister Smiley Face works well for slightly older children, in the four, five and six year old range, as they love having a ‘mark’ to hit. It’s a wonderful, stress free device that can easily be erased via Photoshop. Another great device for keeping busy toddlers in place is anything they can climb into, such as THE BOX.

I found this box at Pier One and knew immediately it was a great prop. It’s heavy, well made and has a lid that will stay open and won’t fall and chop off little fingers. The great thing about the box is, if they won’t get inside it, they’ll get on top of it. Either way, they’re in your lighting sweet spot and all’s right in the world.

If you don’t have a box, try a simple stool, like this one I purchased at IKEA for under $20. The plain, simple lines and blond wood make it an unobtrusive prop. Don’t assume the possibilities are limited with this type of prop either. I’ve had kids turn it over and sit in between the ‘legs’ or even try to crawl through it, which affords a great opportunity to photograph them peaking out. Just make sure you and your light source are closer to the ground when photographing this way.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

High Key Studio Lighting – Tutorial

Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Babies, Birth to One Year – Tips and Techniques

Using Bold Color in Portraiture – Tips and Techniques

High Key Portrait Lighting Tutorial

deborahwolfe — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:41:31 +0000

Studio Lighting for Small Spaces – Part 1

This is the first in a series of lighting tutorials. I think it’s a good idea to understand the basics of a thing. Learn the rules first and then break them with impunity later.

I offer this lesson freely from the bottom of my heart to the world at large, because frankly, bad lighting makes me cranky.

I have been setting up functioning, working studios in sometimes surprisingly small spaces over the span of two decades. My last camera room measured approximately 12’x16’. This lighting ‘recipe’ worked great there:

What is high key lighting? Wikipedia and I basically agree on the concept. High key lighting produces relatively shadowless images with a “blown” bright white background.

At this juncture, perhaps it is prudent to bend an old adage by saying, “another picture is worth a thousand words”.

Basically, high key is shot on a white background, typically seamless paper or a cyc (cyclorama) wall, but can also be against a simple white wall or other similar white background. The focus of this tutorial is on lighting small spaces, so a cyc wall would not be part of the equation.

First the set up. See the illustration below.

For the purposes of this tutorial, I’ll assume you are using 9 foot white seamless background paper and a four light setup. You can, if you wish, do this with a 3 light setup, and I’ll discuss that at the end of this lesson.

You need two lights to illuminate your background. Place them approximately 2-3 ft away from the background and aim them at 45-degree angles toward the background, as shown in the diagram.

Place your key light, which is the light providing the overall lighting on your subject, to one side of your subject, approximately 5 ft away, also at a 45 degree angle to them.

Place the fill light opposite the key light, at the same distance away from the subject and at the same angle.

In order to achieve a truly blown, white background, you should set your background lights at least one f-stop over your subject lighting. For example, I prefer to photograph my subjects at f/11; therefore, I set my background lighting at f/16. In larger spaces where your subject can be further away from the background, you can go 2 or even 3 stops over your subject lighting. In smaller spaces there is always the danger of strobe flare degrading the edges of your subject. There are ways around this problem, such as gobos etc, but these are often hard to use in a smaller space.

I personally meter the lighting for my subject to produce an overall setting of f/11, which usually means my key light is set at f/8-8.5 and my fill light is set at f/5.6, respectively. Of course, all these settings depend on the type of lights you have and the degree of control you have over their output. This is where a really good light meter comes in. I’ve used one like this Minolta Auto Meter for years and have been very pleased with it’s reliability and accuracy. Sekonic light meters are another good option.

That’s it. You’re ready. Fire away!

For a three light setup, you will still use two lights for the background, but you will not use a fill light on your subject. The modifier for the key light should be as large as possible and positioned closer to the front of the subject.

If you would like to read more, check out these articles:

Low Key Lighting – Tutorial

Photographing Young Children With Low Key Lighting

How to Set up a Photo Booth in Your Home