Lessons

Lesson Info

Shooting for Composites with Siblings and Parents

in this segment we're going to shoot the composite images and this is what I like to do with toddlers who has happy to lay down on my posing bag and you know that it might be for many reasons but when they're a little bit younger under two years of age trying to communicate with toddlers what you want them to do can be a little bit hard and you have to remember that you know if they're coming into your home studio they coming into a new environment they really don't fully understand why they're there and then you've got other factors you know they've got this brand new baby they've been told for the past nine months that there's a baby in the tummy and they're gonna have this new brother or sister and then all of a sudden the babies here and there's less attention from them so the whole world has changed and such a short period of time so they're going to be sort of a little bit out of sorts and we need to be considerate off that so trying to make a total of lay down on my bean bag whi...

ch is my ideal way to photograph siblings together doesn't necessarily work all of the time so using props to you to do a composite image with a toddler and a baby is so much easier because I can photograph the baby on their own and then we could bring the toddler in once the baby's out of the problem and we can play a little bit of a game like hiding a toy or something inside the problem and it gets them you know it makes it all about them not so much about the baby and that's what they're craving attention if I was a total or I'd be craving attention I don't know so for me when I'm shooting for composites you know I'm I'm looking for props that is suitable to put a baby in like I've mentioned a few times you know making sure that the proper stable so we're putting something in the bottom of it to weigh it down so it doesn't topple over or anything like that and keeping out parents really nice and close while we're doing that and this is one that I've put together so the baby was photographed and then the total was photographed when I'm shooting these I'm shooting them from the same place I'll come in I'll make note of where I am in front of that problem and I'll keep that prop in the same place I'm not actually going to move it and then we bring in thie thie toddler and sit him down next to the props so it's it's easy to put those images together in photo shop and then we've got one with a couple of siblings we during this particular session I was actually able to get a really nice picture of the three is these children together on my posing bag but you know they go a little bit excited with each other and usually when there's more than one sibling they like to play and muck around and they started to get a little bit restless on my bag so I got the shot one shot and then I thought no we'll do another one in a bit because um they were just getting a little bit too excited on my posing bag so we did this one as well and it worked out really nice um and you know don't get me wrong parents love those ones were there mucking around having a great time but when it comes to the safety of the baby positioned in between them or you know around kids that are quite aware of how strong they are and things like that you know it's just best to sort of cut it there and and move on to something that was just a little bit safer and then there's another one and it's a little boy and then his little sister and I wouldn't normally put a girl in blue but it just kind of worked really well and I happen to have like a little headband with those same tones and the parents some you know picked those colors which was really really good and then using a crate so we had a parent standing just off to the other side well sitting sorry because it's on the ground and they had their hands on either side of the crate and I did three images actually to put this one together because I also had to get rid of a support hand on the other side so I had a parent at either end and yeah it was really kind of cute but we we did something just a bit different with that one but I did also manage to photograph here on the beanbag as well but I listened to what my clients wanted and there was so adamant about getting photographs of their children together so I did a couple of sit ups which was great sam we have this gorgeous little little girl called hazel she's twenty two months old so just under two which means that you know she doesn't fully understand what I'm asking here to do and I want to make her as comfortable as possible plus we've got hate the things going on in this room so she's looking at everything and she's wondering what it all is and then we have little finley and he's eight days old so we're gonna bring him over and we're gonna set him up first inside out prop which I've already got in position I've had a think about what I wanted to do I've picked color tones that of feeling natural and when I'm photographing like a boy and a girl together I want to pick neutral tones that I can I can dress up a little bit a swell so I wouldn't go for you know blue unless it was a color that my client's picked and inside my prop we've actually got it filled with some some whites to make sure that it's nice and sturdy and we're gonna line that with some cloth nappies and my gonna drape it with some fabric so I'll do that really quickly before we start I picked my my backdrop to use from a friend of mine called connie has started she's an incredible artist who paints a beautiful portrait of people and she does amazing sculptures and she we were talking one day and I said I would love for you to make a backdrop for me and we created this beautiful backdrop and now she is selling them and sending them all around the world which is incredible so she's doing really really well and she's got them in three different sizes so her name is connie but her company her business is side side show backdrops and yeah she's based in australia in brisbane so I'm just gonna put one cloth nephew down the bottom and I'm gonna layer it up and then I'm gonna create a shelf at the front so it's a support for the baby to go on to now he is really little isn't it how much does how much did he weigh seven pounds ten so that's fairly average in size it's filling normal but he was so killed up in his capture when I just saw him before he actually looked smaller now that I've got it nice and soft there I'm gonna create my shelf of the front and we're gonna tuck his little legs up when it goes in so he's nice and comfortable the whole time and we get to keep his net beyond so we wear and end up with any accidents when I pushed down I don't want I don't want it to be below the edge there because I wanted to come over the top so we can actually um prevent the baby from touching the side they're near some of my war but I'll put one layer in first like this down so it's nice and firm and bring that around the front like that and fold it back over the top off the cloth nappies so that you can't see it and then once that little boy is in there we'll be able to tuck it in around him so he's really nice and secure so we've got a shelf at the front and then we're protecting him from the bacchus well in case he comes back for all the ages and now covered and it's really soft on the inside we've got a firm shelf at the front for him to rest on and now we can start to sort of drapes and fabrics and I've just pulled out a few different things that are in that similar color palette to kind of get it um looking all neutral put finlay on this side and we'll sit his sister over here on this side that way this is quite a toll profits probably not something um that you know I would use a lot for this type of shop but I've traveled all the way you know from the outside world I didn't get to bring all of my props with me so someone has loaned this to us but I think when hazel in here sitting next to it it's going to be quite a nice height for both of their faces so it's gonna work really well but if it was a baby in here on their own um for me that's just a little bit too high off the ground when I was looking at it once we've finished photographing these two images were actually going tio todo over to my computer and we're going to pop them together in photo shop so I'll show you how I do that okay one of our parents to come over in a minute are you already thinking about how you're going to be editing this yet and you're are you setting this up so that you're minimizing the time when your kids are in there yes so as I mentioned before you know when I'm when I'm shooting a shot like this I'm going to keep my bucket or whatever proper I'm using in the same place so I'm gonna photograph the baby food and then I'm going to move back and take that shot and then I'm going to come back take the baby out and then bring the total orin and then I'm going to move back to that same place so I'm always going to be aware of where I'm actually sitting and the focal length that amusing as well I wouldn't change my aperture for either of the images and I wouldn't change my focal length so I wouldn't shoot one say fifty male or thirty five mil and then one at seventeen now so I want to make sure that the images go together really well and look as natural as possible already are now how are you it's sitting on the ground if I give you a box to sit on with that be easier yeah so just stay there for a minute I'm just going to bring this over because when I take this photograph I want you to sit as close as possible with your hand on the back so what I'll do is I'll get you to sit back here and then this way by sitting back here he's actually not gonna be blocking any of that light coming in onto the baby and his hand is going to be right here and supporting all the time and when I'm ready to take that shot it's just a matter of lifting your hand up one two three and back down again and the baby's supported and attended at all times that's the way so ladies blanket on at the moment I keep you nice and smooth eyes actually got really long eyelashes I didn't see that before yeah if you want to come over and have a seat she will what do you mean me like he's got my brother get it just spins around just so you can see she's putting engine here you can use little hats and things like that but um oh look at him so when I'm crossing up their feet to come underneath them and if he didn't have a nappy on I'd have to be very careful when I am folding their legs up to make sure I'm not sort of pinching anything down in that area so that when all of his white comes down onto his legs nothing's gonna get squished down there will make him uncomfortable any point but with an epi on that a little bit of padding around so they're nice and um and supported in that area but here folding their legs up in either this position or the same as what we do at the back and like that bum up pose when we cross those feet up and they come out the back and before I place him in I want to make sure that his arms are upright sowing in a position his hands and arms in a way that I can place him in there so I don't have to do too much actually actual maneuvering once he's inside the problem I'm just bringing his little elbow up there in the other one local boy wanted to stretch wait guess now his hands crossed over where we want them to bay and I can bring him forward and bring those fingers out and bring him forward so this is how he's potentially going to be a position inside the problem and now with my other hand back here can bring his legs out the back oh my god get you to grab that blanket thank you okay just yeah he's right I'll do it I love the dead they want help so what I'm doing is just gradually living his little feet for tau were there naturally comfortable down inside there keeping one hand on the front under his hands and one at the back and just gentle rocking now we can spin him around a bit just bring your hand in mine actually but that across his back just place your hand on his back for me every day any time you are moving a prop from any position with your lifting it or just turning it always have an extra hand there because you could just never tell at any point when they're going to startle okay so the first thing I'm gonna do is just talking some of this fabric here and by doing that I'm kind of securing him in here a swell and at the back this one we can now bring them in and tuck it around him which is actually going to keep him in that position as well and we're always gonna have a hand that way can't see any what you got that nice texture so hands up the arms up where we want them and now we just need to bring his chin around so he's like this so we want to bring him around like that and position his hands underneath his chin so I'm using my hand quite flat underneath the side to these heads where it's really nice and strong and I'm just lifting gently taking the weight of his head off his hands so I can position them bring that over forward I've got one finger just on the other side of the risk there and then we're gonna bring the other he's pulled it back in and we're gonna pull the other wrist out as well yeah so we want these hands to sit quite flat we're gonna make sure that the thumb underneath is not sitting like that because then it would kind of look a bit awkward in the hands off have you no fingers will move in different directions you can see just hear his thumb is up underneath that palm I'm gonna push my index finger through to make sure that that thumb is out the other side he's got lovely soft hands here we go so we got one flat hand one hand under there that's a little bit curled up so what you see how it goes I'll keep my arm up vacancy pull it out and there we go to get the film out from underneath so again pushing that thumb through with my finger and now as I lift gently I'm gonna place this hand over the top of the other hand what a good baby okay get ready to take a shot it sounds a bit like snoring so if you bring your hand in here the back for me and just rested town net way now we've gotta support hand and if you just keep your eyes on him the whole time so I'm not watching me because I found actually in the past you know like I've got to remind my parents that I'm like they're they're they're so in love with their baby they're watching every single second but almost back to take a shot and they start watching may like no no no no don't take your eyes off that baby because when I left my camera you know I'm not aware of peripherals or anything like that and if there's total is in the room you got to be careful because they can come running up any time hoping stretch I'm just getting that hand out there because he has a good stretcher I was really drawn those in and what happens when they draw that his hands in the head falls forward they were gonna bring their hands back out underneath the chin so I'm gonna bring my finger in here and just give those wrists from the other side a little push this way while I take the weight of his head off um so I'm not pushing at the moment but I can feel him tensing with his hand so I'm just waiting for his hands to relax and as they relax it's a tiny little bit of pressure from behind to push them forward no I want to stay like that will come from underneath this time and see if we can bring it back cap here we go and as I've sort of mentioned a few times you know babies have that comfy place and if they come for you like that again they want to go back into that so it's just waiting for them to relax and bringing them back out so we can see their face and when their hands cross over too far means that the elbows have come too far in so it's pulling that elbow back I just poured him here I'm not moving him I'm just putting my hands around him wiley wiley wriggles on white firm to relax again would you care to do me a favor and just in the back there with your hand just pat gently and by doing that you really gently nice rhythmic movements it sometimes just takes that attention and that focus off the hands as well with what I'm doing and it's bizarre because I went to the dentist um a while ago and when they were giving me the anesthetic in my mouth with the needle the dental nurse started to pat my shoulder I'm thinking that's really bizarre never been patted before but it actually took my focus and attention off the needle that was going into my mouth and it and it made me relax say yeah things like that um really actually work so I'm just bringing that elbow back out so their hands are on top of one another now as opposed to you know up here and down here and did he just have a little faith I often find that being upright like this for some babies is more comfortable after a feed so when you come off like the posing bag in a session and you go into a prop if they've had a feed and they've got a little bit of wind putting them upright like this is a little bit more soothing to this stomachs as well so now I've got those hands where we want them we just give them a little tiny push back under that chin perfect what I'm gonna do I need to do is bring your hand now just gently up to the back of his head and then that way he's not going to throw himself back so I'm going to come back I'm going to take my image and then we're gonna do his little sister hazel you're ok that you're comfortable oh god he's so cute so I'm just gonna make a note of where I'm gonna sit and I'm going to shoot this is a portrait image does he have a record so he's just tilted his head forward there which means I'm going to get a great shot of he's for it I just want my hands up again for I touch him my camera's cold I'm gonna go the other way he's got lovely soft fingers when you move them but he's pulling them into a ball and I don't want to put the weight of his head on there is because like the head is so much heavier than any other part of their bodies they're just making sure that the fingers a comfortable under there I'm just gonna hold those hands where I want them and bring them ear back over to this side perfect okay yeah trying to put any any pressure at the back of the head there for me and we'll quickly take this shot so I've noticed there's a little black mark on the floor here so it's where I'm gonna go to when I shoot when I photographing hazel and I'm gonna shoot it about three point five we might get one is a landscape as well just to see how they go together and we can look at them on the computer and I'm shooting them at fifty mil focal length because I don't want to go too far back because then I've got a like for seventy focal length and have to move a fair way back so want to be nice and close and keep my exposure the same so I've got my black mark on the floor I've got my focal length of my settings hopefully we I don't have any clouds that come over and change our exposure but while I am actually here on the count ofthree there can I get you to lift your your hand just above a couple inches above his head yet bring it down there okay one two three and down again from a perfect when I am going to do is quickly get a close up of his face because it's gorgeous I know my settings and just one two three and up and dan egan I was I'm in of a bit of a habit of taking two shots because bringing back to fifty mil I want to know on my focus every time okay we can get him out of here now so I'm gonna leave my prop exactly where it is trying to leave my tassels and all of that kind of stuff I'm gonna bring you bring his elbows back dan supporting his head the whole time and my fingers aren't holding him they're just gently around his head I'm not putting any pressure but if he moves they're there to support him okay so I'm gonna slide this hand in here underneath getting them out is sometimes a little bit more of a mission and getting the men actually but I'm gonna pass him straight over to you make sure I've got both hands in my hand you know I'm sorry little man you were comfy I'm just getting that hand down a fair way under him so that he's nice and supported from underneath a white frame to start wriggling and one two three seconds push that back down and so who does hazel respond to more you or mom it's been switching back a little bit back and forth um since this guy's come uh um sometimes make her smile more but she clings to mom would she be more comfortable if you like if you were sitting there do you think or mom was probably you can switch out thank you very much that was great help see how easy it is when you give them direction just telling them what to do because they don't know they don't know where you're going to put your hands they don't know how you're going to position the baby and the more you tell them what to do and and sometimes dads like you know you want to help a lot so you've gotta tell them like no don't touch here don't do that and they think that I'm right what I'm gonna do is I'm going to do this and they think that when you say that that you've actually got to do it because the way that men and women think so differently um they programmed to kind of like just jump in and do it so we've gotto give them lots of guidance and re insurance that they're doing a great job and you know what I love if you've got a dad who's not terribly excited about coming for a newborn shooting only sees dollar signs and things like that getting them actually involved in the session you know when they see their images that I call oh yeah I was helping I did that my hand was in there you know I love that about that and and because because they they coming across is you know unexcited and all that because they don't know why they're there or what to expect so um showing them and everything I love it when they just about to leave and they're like oh thank you so much like that was incredible had no idea what was actually involved with a shoot like this so yeah it's exciting to see the change the transformation in all the dads they relax and get comfortable and and really enjoy it right here come whenever hazel would you like to come and sit here for a photo would you like to sit down here wastes a little blanket oh you gotta be like that what do you want to put it in here we put it in here you ever hear me good girl good girl can you get down here I'll move back and give her a little bit of space and then because we've been talking about what we're doing mom it's going to be able to sort of convince it heart fully to sit down you can get it found it must sit down next to you right here ready for a photo okay town wasn't soft I can feel it if you're lying did you bring any little toys or anything in with wade maybe not snacks way have a pony that matches this background if you wanna do you wanna sit down and I'll take your photo or can you put your what does she call her little it's a bird cloth for like a very cute a pony upstairs piney brown and white maybe uh really much that's finley who is it they say so and money you want to sit down for me you sit down and I'll take your photo good guy if I have a marshmallow show a marshmallow it was named one of the main reasons that I don't use food uring during the shoot they get it at the end so we won't give her any food now but that there is a reason why and it's because they get very sticky around the mouth and it's quite hard to photoshopped that out any type of food is actually really hard teo you know removed in post in photo shop hey sit down and then you could have waken put them inside sit down first and then you could have done can we see your tolls here's a sit down over here and then I get your baby okay just like your brother okay that's good hey would you like to sit here and have a photo so you can have that one okay here we go look at her she looks beautiful maybe we're going to take a photo can I have a pure first way well done where is hamza there she is the bait thing and I'll take a picture will put it on the board that is a beautiful baby you were ready white wearing the car's coming the carpet wait you want to sit with you teo baby sit next to him yeah yeah sit next to you monsieur so I would spend more time getting an image for the parents of the siblings together then I would on anything else because it's something that they are gonna love guru we're going we're going you wanna sit down and take a photo she's not sure who is this does he have a name pony and this thing this guy who's this guy that's her to make such a line look it's the same color same cola so sit down and I'll go get your socks you sit down sit down sit down come on get your socks down good okay good job done you're ready to animals always go where is she I'm right here with finlay murray is you see the picture on the screen I can see your lion way got the soft right here you got your sex I go get could tell already right over here look over here so I want to come in behind him behind me where is pedro she's not sure proper way do you think come down nice and love oh it's okay it's okay she's all right what would you like to sit on the box and you can both came down here where she feels comfortable I want you baby skin baby shot a size nine I can hold a point actually if we could get the lion out of the lion is such a broad from casting color and may where is the pony matter theo so you know like in a normal studio environment we've had time to meet these kids they've walked in the house they've got familiar with this surroundings before we've done this high and you know in here we've got you know how many people we've got a lot of people but all the students we've got you know camera guys all of that going on and we haven't had an opportunity to actually have a conversation and get to know each other we met briefly upstairs but she was she was getting changed so we didn't get to actually make and build that trust that it's important to do with toddlers so when she's ready she might not be but she doesn't I fully understand and like that said you know since since the babe finley's come along they've you know it's it's a massive change for her so she's kind of a swapping back and forth between mom and dad but she's just getting familiar now with this area we've taken the focus off her and she's just having a little quiet moment with her mom and getting used to that idea of sitting there which is is really great do we have any um questions while they possibly just take the attention off this for a minute so you say you don't change your focal point so when you were shooting the baby michael linc sorry ok yeah so when you're shooting the baby where is your focus and then when you're sitting to toddler by herself where's your focus we're focusing in here when I'm photographing the baby I'm focusing on the baby's eyes and norman I'm photographing the toddler I'm again focusing on the total his eyes so trying to get that connections and because I'm not changing my aperture or my distance my focal length you know it should go together is really well it's sure it'll have the same depth of field and it'll have that same sharpness that we want in the eyes way what if where is crystal hiding let's see if we can bring out another baby in and take her attention off off her toys being in because she might not like that so if we bring in my baby hi hazel look at my baby look this is crystal she's pretty do you see that yeah let's put her inside the box that you call the baby back in look my fault on legs up just like we did with finlay could be a bit rough with her though she can't feel it better in there she's fatter than me ah good girl crystal you know okay yes baby very good she looks beautiful let's play he's a mammal prey with dolls useful place with korean hazel's baby yeah can we bring her little innit boys christo that's cristo you know where's her eyes looking huh if you can sit back just a loser you're oh where is she look att eyelashes of mr I have actually had to take a photograph off a little one on my beanbag not only holding there baby brother or sister I can't quite remember I was a little while ago in one arm but they had crystal in the other because they loved my doll that much I couldn't get it off so in the end it was like a really quick take this take the dole without them sort of like I had to get their attention and I said to mama dead on the count of three I want you to take it out really quickly and then bring that arm over and I had to do it like a peekaboo just to get a photograph off off them without the bay the dole you do whatever it takes to get that photo okay she liked the dollars she looks beautiful you can't see her face can you uh she's happy sure baby weight yeah sit down go okay if you can get her to sit I'll get a really quick photo of him sitting down do you see that when she went to pick her up she's like all right I want a sit down sit down good job so so it's facing the wrong way do you use any bribery techniques tactics with her I don't think it really food yeah it doesn't really work at this this point so even though I don't do food we could possibly give her something small and if she she sits with that in her mouth we might be able to get one little click away so we can put some photos together okay I could get a city good when I am photographing total is at this age I always make sure to find out when their nap time as well and not pushing them beyond that nap time so if they're like it there parents telling me about you know that their child and how how old they are then I'll fight I'll find out what time do they go down for a nap and how long four and then what kind of schedule that session around them so is it possible to get her to sit a little differently only because she just had needs just look a little uncomfortable not that she's uncomfortable in a photo oh good girl watch your toes oh good cap and cross their little legs and can they can they cross up like mine at all did she do that I just use it like that because I don't want them to be blurry in the photo hey ho hazel hazel she's ignoring me she's like harnden daddy daddy is a good thing for you yes come down above may change like they come down a little bit lower again to me where is the star can you show me your teeth for six star show me to your team oh pretty baby oh she's so the baby and the others in the picture I've got a serious one yeah he's over here stink if isis fuck you you're a really good sneaker you want another marshmallow what is it uh you like food or something get her attention down low to me to the camera sinker phase of his face is a face to face yeah his fingerprints should show us your face sit in the booth length that we go to yes she can christen like that here I reckon I've got something there to put together but I got you okay here this isn't the way get it to go back just a little because she's in front of the box putting those two two photos together she's sitting in front of it would make it really difficult we'll try and get one more really quick one and then we're gonna put these two together in fellowship could be that give stinker face and you can have one more marshmallow you stink okay we're not going to get it and another one and I think we've got some images which we're going to put together and I'm going to show you how I would composite them so what we'll do is off turn my camera off I mean positivity somebody download and I think we've got a couple of questions is doing wait yeah thank you so much no no no that's fine I'm sure we've got something that we can put together and he was just perfect look at that that is just adorable not not the best pose in her but that is the curious little expression and is she a serious child a girl she's so yeah that's some come in who wouldn't love that face look at it that's just adorable so we have well I'll ask a question first and then we have one in our audience you had talked earlier that you were shooting both landscape and portrait can you do you have to use the same orientation for that composite or can you use one of the other you can use one of the other but if you're putting if you're putting the two together when you rotate like when you change that file you the perspectives going to be slightly different so yeah if I was shooting for a portrait image which like portrait style I would shoot both in portrait and landscape landscape just so it makes my job easier to put those because I don't want to be spending an awful amount of time in photo shop putting the two images together I want it to be really quick so both in landscape or both in portrait whatever the type of image that you're going for definitely with questioning okay so would you first attempt opposing the toddler with the baby or no not at all is there a certain age you would say under this age we're just definitely going to shoot it as a composite or would you first try to shoot the image together so I it depends on the child in the past like if I've got a really calm child that's very gentle things like that yes but I have had instances where the like you could see she was grabbing under the side of the bucket if it was to topple over that like a risk that I don't want to take and also have had one toddler hit hit the baby in the head and the baby has startled so you could see when he was when finley was in there you know he was he was wriggling around a little bit and if a total a sort of bumps the bucket or anything like that they can have that startle reflex so being able to do it as a composite means that when we're photographing the newborn all of the attention all of the focus is on them and when we're photographing a toddler all of the attention and focuses on them as well one more question over here when you're photographing the toddler do you prefer the eye contact are you tried different ones like the baby kind off the dollar looking towards the baby and looking to you and no different kind ofthe looks it depends on the interaction I think that you're getting with that toddler like if I can get great eye contact in a little smile it's going to be perfect and then having that eye contact in the image dis means that you're getting great connection if you're getting an image with the toddler is looking into the bucket in the direction of the baby it's gonna look really sweet as well so you can go for different options but I think at the it all depends on the time you know when you're taking the images and and what what is going on with that total a cz well because back in here she's she's really caught up in everything that's going on and she's kind of focusing more on on her parents at the moment but she is very aware of how much is is actually going on in here and that's why she's become quite shy and dad had actually said that she's quite shy around and serious around strangers so yeah this is a big deal for her now kelly if this were a real shoot I know one of the hardest things for me to learn in the beginning was when two sir stop that I would keep trying and keep trying after she calmed down if we weren't here filming would you then shoot again yeah I would definitely definitely sort of continue to try and get something but that last little expression I think and the fact that she's got her up there we should be able to put those two photos together and even though she's sitting a little bit differently I love the look on her face and the fact that her arm is up there and that's gonna have a great connection between her and her in the actual proper well so yeah but knowing when to stop that's a big call because sometimes you can just overshoot and you can push a toddler or a newborn for that matter too far and you know you're wasting so much time get the shot move on to something else