I would love nothing more to have a giant studio with lots of room to let my imagination run wild but the fact of the matter is like most of us, I am limited in space and gear so I have learned to make the most of it! I love clean, simple artistic images and I have learned over the years how to make my small space and limited ‘stuff’ work for me. I also work on a budget…never spending more than I need to for props and accessories. You do not need to break the bank to create beautiful images! (I do wish someone would have told me this when I started out) Admittedly investing in a good camera and lens is well worth the money, but the rest of the stuff can be added bit by bit and it doesn’t have to be fancy. I work in a 10×12 shooting space with one Alien Bee 400 and a giant umbrella-turned-soft box. I also have a beautiful sliding glass door window that I will sometimes use to my advantage. I generally use one lens in studio, my 24-70 mm 2.8 Nikon lens. Have a look through the following images and I will walk you through how I make my space and simple stuff work for me.
The following image was created with nothing more than the beautiful light coming in through the sliding doors in my studio and some simple white fabrics. In fact, the same sheer curtains that are on the window were layered casually around a rolled up ‘donut shape’ towel under the baby for a soft and flowy effect. Cameras these days are usually pretty good with higher ISOs so don’t be afraid to raise your ISO to expose for the baby’s skin and get that gorgeous soft backlighting.
As with the image above the following image was created by simply changing up the angle. Same soft and flowy (and inexpensive 😉 ) sheer curtains were used for layering. This was done with natural light flowing from the left but can also be easily achieved with a large soft box and strobe.
I really love finding multiple used items for in the studio. So once again, those sheer curtains come into play with maternity images. I sometimes use them for wraps or in this case as actual curtains by hanging them on my background stands and placing my strobe and 86” PLM umbrella behind the mama to back light her. In my studio I do not need a reflector in front, however if you feel there is not enough light in front of her just add a reflector or white surface board in front of her to add light!
Keeping with super simple set ups like this next image can be created with your strobe/softbox or natural light. Baby is laying on a very inexpensive black fleece black blanket with the light flowing from top to bottom. I just had dad kneel on the floor and place his hands on baby in this position and I shot from a bird’s eye view above dad/baby. Baby is actually never even raised off the beanbag/blanket, keeping him safe and secure at all times. Then I just used a little Photoshop and Lightroom magic to create the final piece.
Keeping with the same simple black blanket I placed it on the floor for my maternity mama in the next image. (I also hung a black blanket on the wall) I positioned my light/softbox umbrella behind her slightly raised to give her that beautiful rim lighting and polished it off during the post processing by playing with the lights and shadows and filling in the black background where the umbrella was.
I am not a big user of props.However, I sometimes like to add a little something to create a little extra interest while keeping with my simple style. This grey raw wool works great for this. As with the white images above I just made a little ‘donut nest’ out of a towel or blanket or a bean filled tube and layered this awesome grey fluff on it! Just position the baby for some gorgeous backlighting (natural or strobe) and voila, simple beautiful art!
One of my favourite images to create are very simple and classic images. Just some great light, one white blanket, one white wrap and some negative space for visual interest you can create beautiful images that parents will love! There is seriously nothing any easier to create than this! The beauty is in its simplicity. The negative pace is easily created with a combination of in camera composition and a little background filling in using Photoshop.
Recently I have been attracted to a more natural lifestyle kind of imagery. With my limited small studio space I had to get creative if I wanted to do this kind of image in my studio. So I pulled out our inflatable bed (I have the kind that has a metal base that makes it look like a real bed). I added those same versatile white sheers, hung them from a track on the ceiling, pulled down a white seamless backdrop for the wall (or just use a white wall), added a white duvet and pillows to create a series of very natural lifestyle like images right in my studio. It then takes all of 60 seconds to deflate the bed and move it out of the way to continue on with other style of images in the same space.
I generally use 3 backdrops in my studio: bone, black and white. Because my space is limited I don’t want to have any more seamless backdrops to deal with so once again with a little creative imagination it is fairly simple to created different looks with lighting and a white backdrop. This following image was shot on a seamless white backdrop with my softbox/umbrella placed behind my model (who is wrapped in a simple grey fabric from my local fabric store!) and to the (camera) left. Between light positioning, changing up the exposure in camera and a little creative editing I can get a completely different look out of my plain white background.
And let’s not forget one of the most awesome types of newborn images that require only light, a blanket, a wrap and patience! If you hang out and wait long enough these sweet little newborns will look straight at you! There is nothing sweeter than getting that gorgeous direct eye contact from a wee little baby. This takes no space at all and hardly any gear. The results are always worth the patience it takes while waiting for them to look at you! Don’t forget to keep the baby snuggly swaddled – this helps calm them. As well, it keeps their hands/arms from flailing around and blocking their face for the shot.
My name is Shelly Ferguson. I am a newborn and maternity photographer located right outside of Toronto, Ontario. Always drawn to the ‘less is more’ concept my absolute passion is for creating simple, classic and artistic images of all my newborn and maternity clients. In addition to addition to working with wonderful families from the Toronto and Durham Region I also now offer 1:1 workshops and online editing lessons to photographers from all over! Find Shelly Ferguson Photography on the Web: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | FLICKR | BLOG | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | GOOGLE+
