Plan B

I was reminded recently of the importance of always having a plan B. I was photographing a 3 month old and her mom. I had set up a one light shot right in the living room. I set up my stand and light, put up a soft dark blanket as the background and we put baby on stage!

As you can see -from one of the shots above-  it was a success. But not without a fair share of problems! First, I bounced my single light source in an umbrella. The problem was that the room was so small that the reflecting light off the walls was over-exposing my test shots. Add a 3 month old barely hanging on and I had no time to set up the shot, focus, adjust and try to keep baby engaged. One thing I ditched quick was the umbrella. I pulled it off, bounced the light off the ceiling and had much better control of the light. The lighting wasn't as dramatic, but I needed that one thing to go right (seeking control in an out of control situation). The trade off for getting the shots was well worth it.

I bring this up because when I saw how short a window there was of a happy baby, I quickly thought of a plan B so I would not lose the entire shoot and have to reschedule. Always think of a plan B, C, D etc. It has happened to me more times than I can count. It is always great to go into a situation with a general plan, but sometimes the situation you walk into isn't ideal. Tricky subjects, equipment malfunction, lighting problems, etc. BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING!