Shooting Unseen Location

[terri33inne]

I have my first newborn shoot tomorrow, and all week it was planned to be here... which I was so excited about b/c I get amazing light in my living room at the time of day they were coming. I spent awhile this afternoon playing w/ my settings in preparation, etc. Well, now it's been moved to their house which I've never seen...

My question is... how do you handle this? I had set up a backdrop in my living room, and was all set. Do you test several locations in the home? I'll have to figure out something w/ the backdrop when I get there. I'll be shooting w/ my 50mm 1.4 lens... maybe my zoom too if the lighting will work it's a 70-300mm 4.0. I only have my on camera flash... I do have a mirror that will bounce light off of ceilings, and close walls.

Any advice is appreciated... I'm nervous & excited at the same time.

(Not sure if this is the right thread for this or not...please move if not).

[SusanH1970]

I shoot on location all the time without seeing the house first. Every newborn I've done has had teeny, tiny spaces to work in.

Before I go, I ask the client how large a space they have, and warn them that I may need them to help me move furniture to create space and (if I'm using natural light) get the best light. People are very understanding about this, I've found, especially when they see the sheer amount of backdrop/lighting equipment/props that I haul into their homes, lol. I always bring along my AB and softbox just in case the natural light isn't just right. The last newborn session I had, they pretty much lived in a dark cave of a house and to boot it was early evening, so I was losing light as well.

So...give them a call, find out how much space they have, and tell them you will probably need to move furniture.

Then post the photos here!

ETA: Whoops, just realized you already had the session. Hope it went well! I'll leave my answer up in case it can help someone else.

[terri33inne]

Susan... thank you so much for the reply... great tips for next time... The room did have terrific lighting but it was tight & it didn't occur to me to move the furniture... this did make for some interesting angles.

Your work is just beautiful... I so long to get to the next level... working, and reading a ton to do it.

Just a quick question... what is "AB"?

I did post a photo in the critique section w/ a link to the flikr feed

First Newborn Shoot

Also, photos on my blog...

[SusanH1970]

You're welcome, Terri Anne. And thank you so much for the compliment!

Sorry 'bout that..."AB" is short for Alien Bee, the type of strobe I use when shooting studio rather than natural light.

I've got a crazy day today, but later if I have time I'll head of to the critique section and check it out.