shootin kids

so i got the chance to shoot some kids down the street the other day. our neighbors have these two ridiculously cute kids, cedar and griffin (cedar is the girl, and griffin is the boy with the awesome mullet). i haven't really had much chance to shoot kids before.... it's not really an area i'm focused on, but i figured i could take a couple of risks and try going in some new directions.

so i put together two setups. the first is pretty straightforward portrait stuff. a softbox (with grid) for key, and a cto gelled flash behind the subject for a bit of golden sun-going-down-back-there light. i set up in the shade near our apartment, a row of bushes for background.

the second setup was in front of a old weathered wooden fence that was conveniently about ten feet away. for this concept i wanted to go in some new direction, so i set up a five light rig. i had a gridded 16" beauty dish for key, my ring flash with moon unit + big ring for fill, two hard back lights for rim, one on either side of the subjects, and one on the ground putting a dramatic gradient on the fence behind them.

it's amazing how one light can turn a boring old fence into some crazy dynamic background, y'know?

so yeah, two setups, one simple, one complex. it got a bit dicey, i didn't have the five light setup ready to go when they arrived, so i had to adjust my ratios on the fly..... never an ideal situation. but i guess that's part of the fun, making people wait while you troubleshoot and get things just perfect.

i'm pleased with how everything came out. nice to shoot outside of the living room, and i think the five light setup really went well. that picture up there of them making faces, especially. i guarantee you, five years from now, that's going to be their parent's favorite picture in the world. 

bonus shots: