Children's Portrait Photography Handbook

It shows good roundness in the face and is ideal for ren-
dering average-shaped faces.
Stronger ratios are more dramatic, but less appropri-
ate for kids. It should be noted that “corrective” lighting
ratios are rarely used with children. With adults who have
large or wide faces, a split lighting pattern and a 4:1 ratio
will noticeably narrow the face. With children, wide faces
are a happy fact of life—they make little subjects look
cherubic.

Some Favorite Setups.

Large Softboxes.Very large light sources—larger than
most children—are a popular choice for photographing
children. Photographer Brian Shindle uses a big 4x6-foot
softbox and a secondary 2x4-foot softbox to wash his
small clients in a soft directional light. Stacy Bratton also
uses soft large light—primarily a 72x54-inch Chimera
softbox with an extra baffle in the middle. She uses it
straight on and with the bottom edge parallel to the floor
so that the catchlights it produces are square—a unique
trademark of her lighting. When used at floor level from
the side, these large softboxes simulate the look of win-
dow light or light coming through an open doorway. It
is an excellent illusion, especially when used on location.

Softbox and Silver Reflector.

dren’s lighting setup is done with a softbox and silver re-
flector with the child in a profile pose. The softbox is
positioned close to and facing the child. This lights the
frontal planes of the face straight on—but because the
face is then photographed from the side, the light is ac-

tually skimming the skin’s surface. The light is feathered

toward the camera so that the edge of the light is em-

ployed. A silver reflector, positioned below camera level

between the child and the camera is adjusted until it pro-

duces the maximum amount of fill-in. (Note:It is impor-

tant to use a lens shade with this type of lighting, because

you are feathering the softbox toward the lens. You can,

of course, feather the light away from the lens, toward

the background, but the shot will be more difficult to fill

with the reflector.)

Fran Reisner’s Studio.

is the culmination of having many former studios that

were deficient in one way or another. Her other studios,

most of which were converted garages, had low ceiling

height and limited room size and depth. As Fran prefers

using long lenses for her children’s portraits, plenty of

room depth is preferred.

Her current camera room is approximately 20 x 32

feet, allowing her to shoot full-length portraits with long

lenses. Her 10-foot ceilings support a rail system for her

strobes, eliminating the clutter of light stands and greatly

improving her maneuverability.

The studio also has double glass doors and three large

windows that provide a wonderful variety of natural-light

situations. Since the room faces south, Fran designed the

structure with deep eight-foot patios in order to elimi-

nate direct light. When there is direct light, in early

mornings during the summer, she usually diffuses it. She

says, “I either ‘play’ with it or simply control it with dif-

fusion material.”

STUDIO LIGHTING 35

Fran Reisner’s studio is a separate structure she had built at the time she built her home outside Dallas. The camera room was designed
so that she could use predominantly soft window light, softened by sheers in the windows and double glass doors. Her lights are on tracks
mounted on the ceiling, but often she only uses the white reflective surfaces of the softboxes with the strobes extinguished for fill—the
wraparound quality of the window light is that effective.