Last week, I had the honor of doing a baby shoot with Tony and Stacy. Brian and I have a lot of great history with Tony and Stacy. Theirs was the second wedding we ever photographed. We were just starting out with wedding photography, and they gave us a chance. For that, Brian and I will always be thankful to these two!
When they had their first baby, I went to LA to photograph him. And now, they have baby number two. Boy, baby Lucas stole my heart!
Whenever I go to a client’s house, I like to do a few things before we even start the shoot. One of these things is getting a casual tour of the home. I like to look at all the rooms, the overall layout of the house, and find the best available light. You never know where the best light is going to be. Sometimes it’s in the bathroom! And yes, if that is where the best light is, that’s where I’ll do a majority of the shoot.
For Tony and Stacey, the best available light was in their kitchen.
I’m not sure they pictured me doing their portrait session in the kitchen. But they trusted me, and I LOVED the light in that part of the house. Since I did most of the images at a low fstop–to get that buttery, blurry background–it didn’t matter that we were in the kitchen. Yep, the stove was black. But in the end I knew I was going to blur the stove anyways, and a black blur didn’t distract from the image at all. At some points it even added more depth to the image!
But it wasn’t just the window light I loved. I also loved the cream colored kitchen counter tops. The counter top was a great surface to have baby Lucas stand or sit on. The light hit the counter top and casted this wonderful glow to mom’s face and baby’s eyes. Little did they know how PERFECT their kitchen was for photos!
This image is one of my FAVORITES!
When was the last time you took a casual tour through your home and found the BEST available light? Do you know how the light changes in your home from sunrise to sunset? Have you ever been asked to take pictures of someone’s kids and started by looking for the light? Just taking a couple moments to get acquainted with your location and the positioning of your available light can make all the difference.
For our home, the best available “morning/early afternoon” light is in the play room by the sliding glass door. As we get closer to sunset, the best light is our master bedroom. My kitchen often requires a higher ISO or a flash b/c the windows faces north. I can always pop a flash, but available light is so much more flattering.
I promise to show you more images from this shoot. Right now, I have to cut it off here because of how crazy busy our day and week is. But I wanted to take a moment to encourage all of you to walk through your house and look at the available light in every room and living space.
Watch how the available light changes throughout the day from sunrise to sunset. Find the BEST spot for taking photos, and then go for it and see what happens. With a blurred background (low fstop), you can make buttery, blurred magic happen in any setting. Hey, you don’t even have to have your dishes done! In fact, I love that Stacey had a handful of bottles sitting on the counter next to the sink, a pan that was used for breakfast, and a teapot on the stove. She didn’t have to move a thing b/c I was going to frame tight and blur the background. Can you imagine feeling that relaxed during a photo shoot-not feeling like you have to make your home spotless? Can you imagine how free our kids would feel in front of the camera if we weren’t changing the room around to take the “perfect” photo?
As a parent/photographer, my biggest challenge is capturing my kids in such a way that doesn’t feel fabricated to them or me. A big piece to being able to do this is knowing the light in my house and how it changes throughout the day. Take a walk around your place and tell me what you discover!
p.s. Glad you liked the family portraits of us from Monday. I know they were super silly, but I had to share! 
I have to tell you, your titles have made us crack up! We’ve been on the go the last few days, but we get your blog comments emailed to us, and they have been so fun to read! We’ll post the five finalists on Friday!
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Who would have thought a kitchen would make such a great setting! And if you hadn’t of mentioned it was a kitchen, I would have never known!
Thanks for the great tip. When I walk into a house, I always feel like I should do the session in their family room. Now I know I have options! =)
I absolutely LOVE that last image. Nothing makes me giggle like a chubby baby. =)
I love your instructional posts! Were these shots in full manual or aperture priority? I know you really want people to shot in full manual. I’m learning along the way (taking a photography course) and have gotten pretty comfortable in AV right now, but am working towards FULL MANUAL! I’m longing for the day when I can determine the aperture as soon as I walk into a room, etc. Right now I just experiment until I feel like I’ve got it right. It does feel awkward when you’re taking someone picture and you feel like you’re making them wait until you get the camera set! But I go outside with my grandson and just click away! Most of the time he doesn’t even know I’m taking his picture.
When shooting with low f-stop and having to use a low shutter speed–how do you insure that your images will be crisp? do you use a tripod? Thanks.
I don’t know where else to post this comment…
I just finished watching your “Beyond The Green Box” DVD. I can’t thank you enough for putting this video together. A few months ago I went to a Nikon class in Seattle. I feel as though I learned more from your DVD than from the class. You spoke to me and not above me. Thank you for that.
I am at the point where people are beginning to ask me to take photos of their kids and families. I had hit my “glass ceiling” and now I feel more confident to take more chances.
I wish I could fly to DC for the upcoming workshop. I also look forward to watching more of your DVD’s.
So, again, THANK YOU!
i’m sitting here at my desk and i’m in awe at how i never really appreciated the importance of family photographs for most of my life. but i see these images and i think, wow, these images will shape the memories of this time period for this family forever. and now, when people say, “oh yeah, i’m not that into pictures….they don’t mean much to me”, i think….you just don’t get it. i don’t know why this hit me today….
as always, great job you two. you’re the best!
Thank you Mera. You have just given me the confidence to select the best light – even if it is the bathroom. I never thought about the kitchen… No more dark family rooms or nurseries. Thank you.
LOVE today’s post. I know exactly where the best light is in our house. In our master bedroom. All most all of our windows face east and so we get great morning light in our bedroom. And to be honest I never thought about taking pictures there…lol crazy git.
But thanks for reminding me to look for perfect light, slow down and take some time before just shooting away. I need to channel Rick more often too.
Thank you! I’m doing my second baby shoot on Saturday, and you’re tip couldn’t have comee at a better time. After checking your blog during a tea break at work, (I was having the most horrible of mornings), I was able to find a moment to focus on what I really am passionate about and not let other ‘stuff’ get so much in the way. Thank you , for being such a gift to me, and others. Bless, Nic
[...] I love your feedback on yesterday’s post: Finding the BEST Light in Your Setting! I’m going to reconnect with the kiddos and then try to post some answers/thoughts to your [...]
I wanted to get back here and answer some of your questions! They are such great questions.
Dawn, I shot the whole session in Manuel, but you could achieve the same buttery background in Aperture Priority Mode (the little A icon). You would just need to roll you aperture as low as you could. Most of these images were shot below a 2.8.
Hi Amanda, When you open your Aperture that wide, it allows you to have much more light come in. This usually creates a faster Shutter Speed. I was using the fixed 85mm lens. You’ll hear photographers refer to the fixed lenses as “fast” lenses. It’s because they can open up in aperture so much more than a zoom, so it speeds up the Shutter Speed. And that’s how you can still get those crisp, sharp shots.
Linnea, thanks for your great feedback on our DVDs! I would suggest getting our Portrait 101 Kit. We’ve had hundreds of people tell us it gave them ALL they needed to get a Portrait Business up and going, from pricing to marketing to contracts and legal photo release waivers, to every thing in between! I hope we get to meet at a workshop someday! So excited for you!
And to everyone reading, give yourself FREEDOM to choose whatever room has the BEST light! Freedom to do the shoot in the bathroom, the kitchen, the messy master bedroom. You know you need good light to get the images you want. And you know a lot more than you give yourself credit for! Practice at home, and you’ll be great when your in the shoot itself!
xoxox, Me Ra
Oh my gosh! I completely forgot that you had other products besides the Refuse to Say Cheese and Beyond the Green Box! Thank you for coming back and answering all these great questions – and for mentioning your Portrait 101 Kit.
[...] To see some rockin’ photos and to read about Me Ra looking for and finding the best lighting on a recent baby photo session, click here. [...]
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