Hi there, I am new to photography, I have only taken a few basic classes but I would love to capture the beauty of my sister's last pregnancy. So....I am looking for some advice. Since I have not gotten a lighting package yet, I was planning to use available light coming in from a second floor living room window, with sheer curtains. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for me? This is the first time I've shot with B & W film. I am using TriX Pan 400. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Nancy

-- Nancy Carlson (nancyproductions@yahoo.com), April 23, 2001

Answers

Hi Nancy, this question was asked a while ago - if you will e-mail me, I will give you the e-mail address of the person who asked the question. I think she has done the photos by now, and probably has some good pointers.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), April 23, 2001.

Hi Nancy,

Have a look at these discussion threads for a variety of creative ideas (you may have already found the ones on this site):

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0046nj

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0047WU

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl? msg_id=0018wB&topic_id=23&topic=photo%2enet

I'll be happy to give you more info if you email me personally. All the best! Janice.

-- Janice Mackay (jmackay64@hotmail.com), April 29, 2001.

Sorry, that last one should be:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0018wB

-- Janice Mackay (jmackay64@hotmail.com), April 29, 2001.

If I may suggest please use a tripod. Sometimes when you use a 400 ASA film there can be a tendancy for the film to be a little grainy, especally if you want to blow the negatives up to 8x10 or larger. As for your light source a fairly large living room window with a sheer can be a god source of light, because the sheer and the sunlight can act like a soft box which is what is used in most good photo studios. I have been taking photograhs for over 15 years and I have just resently been taking a fine art photography class at our local College. One more thing if you can use film that is 100 ASA you can get better enlargements from your negatives. My wife used this type of lighting some years ago and found the results quite pleasing to say the least. She took a photograph of me holding my saxaphone from just above my left hand and just below my right hand including the bell of my saxaphone. We had our own black and white darkroom set up then, and the negative was the most perfectly exposed and easiest to print. You can probably get similar results of your sister but be careful not to over expose the frames. Take a meter reading from just in front of your subject, then go back to your tripod and take your best shoot. You may want to bracket one stop up and one stop down after you take your first shoot. I hope this is helpful to you and if you would like to learn more get as many books and magazines a you can afford about photography.

-- Dave Donatelli (fvdond9n@ucfv.bc.ca), May 09, 2001.

If your are using your camera's meter use a grey card and bracket.

-- will olsson (theolssons@hotmail.com), May 17, 2001.