All I Want For February Is My Two Front Teeth

Well, the time has finally come. Quintin is getting his first teeth. His two bottom front teeth will make their appearance any day now. You can see them just under the surface of the gums, the layer is tissue paper thin. This is big news for Quin I suppose, as it has completely turned his life upside down. His mouth hurts all the time, he loves to bite really hard on anything put in his mouth (including poor Elizabeth), and he's not sleeping so well. For us this is bad news of course, because his mouth hurts all the time, he loves to bite really hard on anything put in his mouth (including poor Elizabeth), and he's not sleeping so well. More to come as those pearly whites make their debut. You're sure to see pictures when that happens.

For now though, the picture taking continues. I've been reading up a lot lately on portraiture and lighting techniques. We've gotten quite a collection of great pictures of Quin over these last six months (six months on Saturday!), but we really want to take our photos to a new level, something that really makes you go wow. If I've learned anything about photography, I've learned that practice is the only way to get better at making a good composition and seeing the light in the right way. Our pictures have come a long way in the last few years in this regard.

Last night was a portrait session focused on one single technique. Only one light was used instead of two to create lots of shadows and contrast in the images.


These were what is known as "low key" images, in that they were predominantly dark. No background was used this time. Instead we took these in the middle of the living room, and a chair blocked the strobe light from reaching the wall behind Quin so that it would remain unlit. We did these at night with no lights on in the house so that everything would be totally black except for Quin.


All pictures were taken very close-up, no full body shots here. Ultra close-up pictures have a tendency to create a lot of impact, especially when combined with the dark shadows. Another great reason to go in close is to show off those big deep blue eyes of Quin's.


Finally, to keep those deep shadows from being completely black, a reflector was added to Quin's left side. Since we haven't shelled out the cash for a real reflector panel, I just grabbed some aluminum foil and placed it so that it would bounce some of the light from the strobe back into the shadowy parts of Quin's face. If you look closely enough at the full size picture of Quin below, you can see the main light in his right eye, the piece of foil in his left eye, and me taking the picture in the middle of both eyes.

To date, I think the photo below is my favorite ever taken of Quin. There is also a black and white version on Quin's Picasa album. In fact, I think the series of pictures we took last night are my favorite overall yet. I would definitely call last night's session a successful lesson in photography. We learned a lot last night, and future pictures will benefit from it. I think there will be more great pictures to come as we try out and combine new techniques.


To see all the new portraits taken of Quin last night, check them out in his Picasa Portrait Album. There are ten new photos at the bottom.