Camera settings: ISO 200 56mm f/4 1/640 sec
This photo is one of my absolute favorite pictures taken of my son and I just so happened to take it! So I am so excited to share with you all how I achieved this look!
Lets jump right into it....
My house does not have very good lighting, so picking the perfect indoor spot can be challenging. The kitchen is one of those decent lighting areas, so we went to it first thing in the morning. Our kitchen faces the east so it's the first place to get light. The light was harsh coming through the window but that's what you need to achieve a shadow look. I told my son to just look around normally, my son naturally has a tough intense normal face so it worked perfect for the look I was going for. I put up my tripod so I could hold up the fern with my left hand and snapped the picture with my right. I do it this way because I like to have the extra control but you can tape it to the window if you prefer. You also don't have to use a fern or even a plant for this. Pick up anything that you think will have pretty shadows, a piece of cloth, strainer, paper cut out, ect.
After taking a few shots I went into post editing. One thing you want to make sure when working with young kids is if you have a creative shot in mind, make sure all that is needed is ready to go before asking your child to sit still for a long period of time. (Click HERE to read more tips on photographing young children.)
While post editing, I turned down the saturation, adjusted the highlights and shadows until I was happy with the stand out of the shadows. I then blacked out the background to make him stand out more and achieve that dark moody look I was going for.
I hope this helps and please feel free to shoot me any questions you may have.
Happy shooting!
Camera settings: ISO 400 70mm f/3.2 1/200 sec