Lessons

Lesson Info

Twin Photo Session

What we're gonna do first is a setup on the beanbag. We're gonna position them together side-by-side. To me, it's a fairly sort of simple way of positioning them. It's not too complex. And then we're gonna put them into a prop together on the backdrop. So here we go. Because they're boy / girl, I'm gonna pick something that's really neutral for them. I'm gonna pick a soft gray, and then I'm actually gonna put a little headband on our little girl Audrey, 'cause I think that'll just be really delicate. And gray is also a great fabric that looks good in black and white images. I have a lot of clients that love black and white, so I think it's really good to have colors that you convert in Photoshop as backdrops into beautiful black and white images. Obviously, dark browns and grays and things like that are really good, but reds and oranges can be a little tricky to get a beautiful black and white out of. But I just wanted to keep this nice and neutral because we have opposite sex. So, I a...

m gonna have a helper in a minute come out from my online audience. Push that back a bit. Clamp it down. I can't believe how fast this day has gone. Okay. So again with my bag, I'm gonna put a well in the middle, and this is where I want them to go. So I'm just gonna push down gently, and I'm gonna position one baby perfectly. I'm gonna do the little boy. Is he bigger? Who's bigger? Little boy. Little boy's bigger? So I'm gonna position him on his tummy in that sort of nice side pose, and then I'm gonna position the little girl behind and have her come up above so their faces are nice and close together. I think it's one of the softest, prettiest twin setups to do when they're together on the bag. So I'm gonna take him first. He is sound asleep. (crying) Oh, he was. Hi. Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. So I'm just gonna take his nappy off first. I'll slide my little chair across so I can sit down. So when I'm working with props on the floor, I will sit on the floor 'cause it's comfortable, like we were talking about before. But because they're up higher in the bag, I like to sit on something that's at about the same height so I can move them carefully and safely from my lap across to the bag. Oh, isn't he divine? So were they born early? 37 and 1/2 weeks. 37 and 1/2 weeks. And they are two weeks old, so they're not even meant to be here. So that's the thing when photographing multiples is that you don't get a lot of multiple bookings because a majority of multiples are born early, and by the time they get out of the hospital and if the parents have other children, their lives are full-on. They're busy. They're not even thinking about booking a newborn session. Or they... Or they, yeah, they just don't think to do it, so to get a multiple session is actually really great. It's good to work with them. So I'm gonna place him down onto his tummy again into my nice little well. His head's gonna be here and his bottom's gonna be here. And then I'm gonna bring Audrey in and put her on top. So I'll lift his hands up first before I go putting him down. So I'm just going slowly. He's pushing against my hand there, you can see, but I'm gonna pull him back in. If I was to move him too quickly and pick him up and put him down, I'm gonna upset him, I'm gonna startle him. So the trick is to go nice and slow and make sure they're kept nice and sound and asleep. I'm just tucking his legs up with my hand there at the bottom to put him down. And there we go. And their natural instinct is to be in that tight curly position, so he's just brought himself down perfectly into place all on his own. Just by having my hands in the right position underneath him and under his legs, I guided him into something that was quite natural and easy for him. So because it's a little boy, I'm just gonna make sure he's nice and comfortable under there. And tucked him up. So because he could quite easily just push his legs out, what I'm gonna do is put a cloth nappy in and just push it against here just so it's there as a support. I'll adjust it a bit later once we've got both babies down together. So down to the very bottom. I don't need to slide my hand in underneath him 'cause I'm not lifting him. I'm just putting it here as a support for his legs and his bum, and it's also gonna act as a support for when I bring his sister in as well. Wow, how cute is that? Okay, so we have Tammy. Can you come help me? Okay, yeah if you can just sit down here on the floor. Are you comfortable kneeling? Yes. Is that alright? And I just want you to just sit beside the bag. He's not fussing, he's not squirming or moving. He's quite happy there. If he does start to fuss while I go over and get his sister, just place your hand gently on his back. Okay. Oh, she's pretty. Ah, the faces they pull crack me up every time. Oh, they pull the best faces. So the trick when photographing multiples and trying to get these setups of them together is to do it when they're both sound asleep. So this is perfect. If one was awake, and I was in my studio at home, I would just go on and photograph that one baby that was asleep. And leave the other baby to either comfort or settle or feed with mum. So I'm not wasting time during a session and sitting around and waiting for them to go to sleep. I would just move right along with that one baby. And at the end, you know I really try to get equal amount of shots of both babies. But I don't make my sessions any longer than what they already are, because a twin mum feels exactly the same way as a single mum. If not worse, 'cause she has two babies to look after. So I don't want her to be in my studio longer than necessary. I want to get that session over as quickly as possible. And if I bombard her with 40 images, for a twin session, she's still not gonna know how to choose. So I'm still only going to fill that gallery with 20 of my best images. My session fee also stays the same. Someone asked me that the other day, if my session fee changes for a multiples session, but it doesn't. 'Cause the time is the same, and the images are the same. So what I'm gonna do is, basically put her into the same position. But I'm gonna put her bottom in behind and I'm actually going to rest her on top of her brother. So I'm just sliding my hand in underneath her shins, and I'm gonna bring her back here, and place her down. She's arching her back. Okay so if you can just-- Are your hands nice and warm? They're pretty warm. Put your one hand at the back there, just so she doesn't fall backward. That's it. So I'm gonna bring a support prop in with one of my cloth nappies. And underneath, and behind her there. Can you do me a favor? In that basket behind you, the little brown one, there's some little girls headbands. Just pick out something that will go with the gray. Something kind of girly and little, 'cause she's little. So I'm just gonna come in behind here. I've got hands on the babies which is great. And I'm just gonna slide in a prop underneath. And this is gonna support this back arm, and stop her from rolling backwards. I'm not lifting her, so I'm just pushing it up against her body so that it's there just to support. Ah, that would be pretty. It's nice and long too. So we have a cute little headband that we're gonna put on her as well. Okay. So now I'm just gonna fine tune and position her here. I'm gonna put her bottom down just a little bit. And I'm gonna put this hand up underneath her face as well. And then we're going to lift him from underneath. I would always position the babies first into that pose, and then use my props to lift and fine tune it. So I'm just opening her fingers first, she's having and stretch. I'm gonna bend her elbow back, and then lift her head gently. He's like, "Get off, you're too heavy." (giggles) He's just pushing his hand down and underneath himself there. I'm just gonna bring it out a bit so we can see it. Shh. Shh. Okay, so I'll pop this headband on first before I go positioning any more. It's kinda long, so we're gonna have to hang the back of it towards the back. I'm gonna hold the ends up so they don't tickle her and wake her up. Okay, just bring your hand back in there. Gently. Okay, now I'm gonna get down on the floor so I'm at their level to just adjust. And I am nice and comfortable. I'm gonna use one of their nappies to lift up under here. Because I may need a very small prop to lift his face up. Just so it's not hidden down there underneath those blankets. I am concentrating a bit more, so I'm talking less, I'm sorry. So that you can see what I'm doing. Okay, so I've got my bottom layer just here, and I'm gonna slide my hand in. And I'm just gotta push my hand in. Oh I need, I need, I need. Yeah I'm gonna use it (laughs). I got someone taking the nappies away. I am just sliding my hand in underneath, and I'm lifting him with my hand. So just don't put too much pressure on top of her 'cause that will push her down further onto him. So now I'm gonna slide this cloth nappy in underneath his little head. Just to give him a little bit of height. There we go. And he's moved, so I'm just gonna sneak that in underneath while he's adjusting himself and moving. And she is sliding back there, but that's alright, 'cause I'll reposition her again in a second. Don't you love the name Audrey? It is such a beautiful name. Okay. So it's always just a little bit of adjusting. But what we're gonna do is come all the way up underneath here where I have this back cloth nappy. And I'm just gonna slide it in underneath her arm at the back here which will support her and stop her from going backwards. So having that hand right up and underneath that chin that's what makes the face visible. So now that we've got that positioned we can push her just a little bit more in under here. God, look at her face, she is out cold. There we go. Okay, now I'm gonna use the nappy like I used before because it's a nice, small firm prop. Just to give his little face here. Is she okay without me? You can put your hand at the back of her head if you like. Okay, so we could even use Tammy's finger here like we did in the prop. And she can bring her hand up like this. Yup, and just let that support Audrey's head at the back there. And I'll smooth that blanket out. And we can get a safe shot with that, and we can continue to fine tune that. So we're losing light because it's sort of becoming towards the end of the day. So I'm just gonna check my exposure, and make sure. Just gonna bring this down a little bit so it's not covering his face. So I'm just putting that pressure on the beanbag to move some of those beans to the side. So I'm shooting twins, and instead of shooting at 2.8, I'm gonna come up to about 4.5. (takes photo) And what I'm gonna do, this is my expose shot. What I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna focus on this eye here. Because they're not on a level focal point. He's actually closer to me, she's further away. I focus on her eye, his eye line is gonna be blurry. What you can do, stay in the same position if you really wanted to nail that focus on both of them. It's just an idea, you could get a shot of his eye line. Change the focal point, get a shot of her eye line. And you could take his face, and do a little composite with that if you needed to. So now I've got my safe shot. I'm just gonna make a slight adjustment here because I would like to bring her around just a little bit more. So if you can just keep your hand at the back of her head there. I'm just gonna bring her legs out. I wanna bring that chin down towards his shoulder. And what I'm gonna do is just bring this arm here out by lifting her head out, and just bring that hand up visible so it's not too far back. There we go. Actually I'm gonna lift her a bit more from behind. She's so sleepy. By the way Kelly Brown, just want to let you know that Miss Sue Brice is in the chat room and cheering you on (laughs). Hey Sue. Thanks for joining us. _ [Kelly] Hey Sue! Ley us know if you have any questions Sue. That's pretty awesome, don't you think? So my story with Sue is, is that my business was not doing well a few years ago, and the only photographer that I knew that lived in my country that was gonna give me the kick up the bottom that I needed was Sue Brice. So I said, "You need to come into my studio "and you need to help me." And she did. And that's how we met. So everybody, needs a kick up the bum. So it's safe to say I would not be doing this well without her help. Okay, I think that's a little bit better. She's a little bit more supported. She feels more secure. And we can see both of their little faces. They look so cute. So I'm gonna come back to take my shot. And, is her head moving when you move your hand? Not really. Well what I'm gonna do, is because they're not moving anywhere, I'm just gonna get Tammy to lift her hand up so it's always gonna be there. But I won't have to clone it out from their head in Photoshop. You ready? (takes photos) Alright. That's the thing, when you are working with babies, the time just disappears from you. 'Cause it's when they're asleep and settled it's so relaxing. Whoa. Now I am gonna set a prop up, and I'm gonna put them in a prop. And I'm gonna bring them both forward like this in the prop, which I think is gonna be really beautiful. But they are pretty comfortable here. I might just bring the weight of her off him while I set this prop up. And I'm gonna leave them on the beanbag while I set this up because they are so steady. But I'm gonna leave Tammy here to support them. He's like, "Oh thank God, she's off me." Okay, so you can just keep an eye on them there for me. What I'll do is I will take this down so you can see another great way to move on from this particular pose. Is to roll them both onto their backs and have their arms around them. Should we do that? Should we do another one on here? You want me to? Okay. I don't need convincing. [Woman At Computer] The internet is blown away by the fact that we have twins. And, that you are photographing them and teaching us how to photograph with multiples. You would be able to undo that clamp for me please Tammy? So now I'm gonna bring out the props that are underneath 'cause I'm gonna start fresh and I'm gonna turn them onto their backs and put their little arms around them. I'm gonna use a wrap to put around them to keep them nice and tight, and secure as well. So she's gonna sink a fair bit here, so just put your hand on her head just in case she starts. There we go. So I'm holding the top layers quite firmly with my hand. So that as I pull that out, I can just lower it slowly. So I'm not sort of just yanking out that prop from underneath and startling him. Now I don't want to, my lighting situation here is obviously coming from this direction. If I turn them from there, the light is gonna be hitting them up under their nose, which is not the best way to do it. So what I'm gonna do is position them, and then I'm gonna turn my bag so it suits my lighting conditions. Yeah? We might turn Audrey first. Because she's at the back. So this little arm here, we need to go up and underneath her. So I'm just gonna... So what I might get you to do this time, is come around to this side so you can hold their feet while I position their arms. Come in behind me here, and just put your hand there on his little legs. He's gonna push against you, so just make sure you're nice and firm. So I've come in just above. And what I'm gonna do, is I'm going to put Audrey in his arms. So you need to lift her up. He's gone back to sleep, there that's lovely. She's down lower, so we need to bring her up here. So I'm just lifting her up. And I want to bring his hand out. And this little arm is gonna go underneath here. Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. (crying) And you can have your arm back (giggles). I'm just gonna put a cloth nappy here just because he is squirming. Just to add some support. (crying) Shh, shh, shh. (crying) Shh, shh. That's a good thing to do. Just hit me in the face (laughs). Shh, shh, shh. And I picked him up because, he was gonna wake his sister up. We want one baby that's still sleeping. Okay, so I'm gonna come around now to put him back down in here. (crying) Shh, shh, shh. Do you have use dummies at all? Do you use dummies? Pacifiers? (crying) Shh. Shh. You are strong for a little man. Shh. Now, I am not gonna push forward with that image of them together on thing because we're gonna run out of time. But what I am gonna do is give him back to his mummy for a cuddle while I set up the next prop. Because we are gonna continue to do it, and this is what I would do. I would leave Audrey sound asleep there 'cause she's happy. And I set this prop up as quickly as possible. I give him back to his mum and she can settle him. I'll keep going. But I do need to set this prop up. So I am gonna hand him back to mum because I do need to set this prop up, so. Shh, shh, shh. (crying) Do you want a throw over him? Put that on your lap (laughs). So what mum is gonna do here, she's just gonna quickly give him a little feed while I set up. 'Cause that's kinda what he's looking for. So I'm just gonna give her some privacy while I set up. So I have a large basket here. I'm gonna put both of them up here towards the end. Do we want to get rid of the backdrop stand? Is that alright if we can get rid of that? Can I get two girls to come and grab either end of the backdrop and take it off? Just so everyone can see what I'm doing here. Just lift it from the base there. Just go down to the bottom. Go down to the bottom (laughs). Be careful there of the legs. Okay, you can sit on that stool Tammy if you like. But because this particular prop hasn't got a secure sturdy base, but we want to use it because of the size, I do want to put something heavy in the back of it here. Because we're gonna put them up here at the front of it and I don't want it to topple forward with the weight of two babies at one end. So I will, no circumstances, I will definitely do that. As far as weights go, 'cause I actually don't have any here for once. So these are gonna be at the back. They're not too heavy, but they are pretty heavy. I might just get one more if that's possible. Please, one. And we can cover those with towels, and the babies aren't actually gonna be on them 'cause they're all the way at the back here. And in the middle of the prop there's a bar across there and there so they're not gonna roll forward into that first half of the prop. So I'm gonna line it with these blankets so it's nice and soft. And then I'm gonna use this beautiful giant knit rug from Brand New Babe. I got this just before I came away. So I've been really excited to use it. So I'm gonna put this here at the front. Put it this way. Okay, use some towels as well. Pretty cool to be resourceful. And I suppose if you were in somebody's home, shooting, you know, and you didn't have everything that you needed for a particular shot, you can just use things that are nearby. I'm gonna make this as comfortable as possible for them, and as supportive as possible. With your other hand there Tammy, can you just pass me those cloth nappies please? Thank you. I'm just gonna put these down in here. So when you're lining props it's really important to make sure that they are firm but soft. And the babies aren't gonna topple to one side, or fall out, or anything like that. So having them in there with a bit of a ledge is a really good idea. And we're gonna use Helga in a minute to come over, and she's going to actually have her hands on this the entire time I'm taking a shot. So she's actually gonna hold the back and I'm gonna be able to clone that out in Photoshop. No, just you (laughs). How's it going? Good? So if he had continued to fall asleep in my arms I would've gone on to do that shot. But he was just about asleep, and he kinda started up again. So, it's safe to just give them back to their parent if they're not gonna settle. I think that's gonna be too big. Is there anymore cloth nappies there? Oh, excellent I can see them. Thank you. So now I'm gonna create the shelf at the front here for them to lie on. This is where they're gonna be. And then we're gonna bring this in over the top. I'm gonna push down now. And they're gonna be up there. So having a bar on top of something like this, it's not ideal when you're placing babies inside something. So we're gonna be careful sliding them in underneath that bar. But we'll make sure that they're nice and settled before we do that. Then I'll put them together. Wow, how amazing that we got a set of twins to come in. It's pretty cool. Okay, so I'm gonna position little Audrey first in here. I'm gonna use the dark background. Again, I'd probably prefer to work with darker backgrounds than I do lighter backgrounds. That just seems to be something I do a lot of (laughs). Okay, so I'll bring the basket next to me. I'm gonna bring Helga in first, and again, I'm gonna ask her to sit with her back to the wall and her legs out towards me. Excellent, but just come forward just a little bit. You come right to the edge of that. You okay like that? Yup. Excellent. Because she's gonna be on her stomach in this prop, I'm gonna try and keep her on her tummy in here. Here we go. Are you done with me? Yes, you can go and sit back down now, thank you. Okay. So when he's ready we're gonna bring him over, but take your time. I'm just gonna position her, and I'm gonna bring her over to this end. Helga's gonna keep her hand on the back of the prop. So it's not an ideal basket, but it just so happens to be the largest basket we have here suitable for twins. So, but this is how you would do it if you had a prop that you really wanted to use that was unstable. Shh, shh. So I'm gonna continually move her towards this end of the prop on me. But she just opened her eyes a bit there, so I'm just gonna settle her back down again before I move her again. And we have the time because we're waiting for her brother. So, I don't have to rush which is pretty cool. Ah, he's ready. I didn't even see her behind me. So I've got both of my fingers, you can't see it, but I have both of my fingers in under her hands, and I have my other hand across her back and her head is just resting in my palm. And I'm just gonna carefully lift her and bring her forward to this side. So in one movement I didn't have to move anything else but I moved all of her at once. Shh. So if you can just place this hand, just on top of her head for me. Just let it rest there in your hand so it's not gonna go forward. So this is an instance that we were talking about, it was a question on the chat before. Where they actually do do a poo and they soil whatever it is that they're lying on. She's sound asleep, I've just moved her out of it. So she's actually not sitting in it anymore. It wasn't a lot, it was just a very small amount. So I'm happy to continue with this because he's asleep, she's asleep, and we can get a great shot. Okay, how are going? Are you comfortable? You're okay. Okay, let me warm my hands up again. So I'm gonna try and put him down on his tummy. I'm sorry I've slightly turned my back to you. His little hand is inside there, so we'll just pull that out. So just lifted the hand and brought him forward into my hand, which I've done with every setup. And I'm gonna bring the other hand up. This wrap is really tight around his legs, I'm just trying to get it out without waking him up, sorry. (crying) Shh, shh, shh. Shh, shh, shh, shh. Shh, shh, shh. So I'm gonna come in nice and close here. I'm just gonna rock him just a little bit more. Gently. Okay, so I'm gonna place him on the other side here. And pull this arm down because I want him to be quite close to his sister. And we're gonna turn him this way. Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. Now what I might actually get Helga to do, is come and switch sides with me while I adjust him. Yeah. I've got both of them. Okay, so one hand just at the top of Audrey's head, and one hand at the back of the basket. Putting weight on the back of the basket. So this is the same direction that I would give a parent if they were helping me. Because they don't know what I'm gonna do next. We actually might leave him facing this way and we might turn her as well. And we might bring a reflector in. So now if you could just place your hand there under his head. It's a bit tricky when you're posing multiples. (laughs) And we're gonna turn Audrey's head. I'm sorry if you can't see that. I'm gonna pull this hand in. I'm just sliding my fingers underneath this arm of hers which is right in underneath her chin. We want to bring that out. And that'll prevent her chin from dropping down. So the beauty of having something like this as well is that we can put more props in underneath to lift them up higher as well. Okay, so you can bring your hand back there. Great. And now I'm just gonna bring him slightly forward just a little bit. So I just gradually tucked his legs up further and now I can bring his top half higher. I'm turning his head back this way so their little faces are side-by-side. He's very tight. Shh, shh. So you do have to have a lot of patience when posing babies, especially multiples. Because, you know some of them don't like to be touched and posed together. So it can wake the other baby up. But the majority of the time they pretty much like being together. So he's just wanting to bring that arm in. So I'm just stopping him from dragging that arm down and underneath his chin again. 'Cause I really want it to be there. Okay, so if you can just bring your hand around to the front and let both of their heads just rest against your fingers. Perfect. We are almost done. I'm just gonna bring his little leg out here 'cause I wanna see his toes. And that's tucked right up underneath. There we go. Perfect. So quiet in here (laughs). Okay, now I'm gonna start lifting them up a little bit. I'm gonna use this felt blanket here. Only because of it's size and that it's quite compact. And I'm just gonna gently lift them both up a little bit higher. So slide my hand in again underneath both babies. And I'm just gonna tuck this in underneath. He's just adjusted himself, so we'll bring him forward again once we get this in underneath Audrey. So I'm gonna bring my hand in under his leg and this hand up and underneath this hand, and his chin, and just bring him. My fingers are getting caught in the knit. There we go, bring him forward a little bit. Okay. So now what we're gonna do is Helga's going to use her finger like the other girls did. Yup. And just let her head rest against the finger. Just be careful your nail doesn't stick into her head there. So I always actually have short nails when I'm photographing babies because I would hate to scratch their delicate little skin. And now I just want to bring his little hand up and turn his little head, and we should be ready to take this shot. Don't wanna move your head. Shh, shh, shh. So great way when they are quite tense like that and they do not wanna move, I don't wanna move him much. I just wanna bring his chin probably around, a couple of centimeters towards the front so we can actually see his little face. But it's just to rock them gently. And I've got my other hand on top of his fingers because they're in the exact position that I want them to stay. So I don't want him to move when I move his head. There we go. So now we can see both of their little faces. And I am ready to take that shot. What I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna have to do a little bit of, when you lift your hand at the back there, what does the basket do? Okay. So I'm okay with that. But just put it there just for a minute while I move back to take the photo. And then when I'm ready. Wow, that looks so cute. They're adorable. So I'm just gonna get a quick exposure shot before I ask Helga to lift her hand at the back. (takes photo) Ah, that looks pretty good. Okay. (takes photo) Can you, oh no that's alright I'll do it. I'm just gonna bring his little fingers together there. I didn't notice it before, but when I took the shot I noticed the quite large space in between 'em. (takes photos) And we are done. Good babies.