Tips for Better Photographs - Part 7

Eye Highlights

This is kind of random, but it's something I learned a few days ago, and since we've been on the subject all week, I thought I'd share.

When photographing portraits, it's important to make sure you capture highlights (you know, the shiny white spots) in the eyes to show life and vibrancy. The following photos are practice shots I did of the kids today...

This is the 8-year-old girl photographed indoors facing a window...

I was actually doing some test shots of her in preparation for setting up my newborn photography studio. Yes, this is a sudden urge of mine, but I find that I'm happier in life if I have some kind of weird goal to accomplish, and newborn photography is my newest obsession. I've got my first cute hat ordered (THIS ONE, to be exact), various cozy fabric folded neatly on the shelf, bowls and baskets ready to receive babies, and I even have a couple of clients lined up to practice on. If I can figure out how to say, "This session will probably take 2 to 3 hours, yes, my hands are clean, and it's so hot in here because the baby will be nakie" in Spanish, then I'll be set.

Anyway, back to the eye highlights. The following photo of the 3-month-old was taken in open shade at around noon. It was very difficult to get eye highlights because his fatness makes his eyes very squinty at all times, but after several tries, we finally did it...

I also tried to practice on Twin A, but he would never look into the light source (the sky), and eventually defiantly ran off...

These two final photos were taken during the "magic hour", about 20 minutes before sunset. In both photos, the twins were facing the sun, which was diffused by some trees. Twin A thought I was taking a picture of the flower he picked for me, (see this post on how I've trained the twins to model objects for me) so he cooperated this time...

And here's Twin B...

Yes, with pizza face and all. I figure I need to practice shooting their portraits before I fix their hair, clean their faces, dress them up and pose them for the real thing. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Thanks for listening!