From: Larry Colen
I did a family photo shoot the other night for a friend. It was only
my second photo shoot involving small children, and we ran into the
issue of the very short sell-by date for children's attention spans.
I had expected something like this, so I used the adults to set up
and dial in the lighting. Thinking about the issue, I was wondering
if anyone who photographs children a lot has a large doll, or stuffed
animal that they use as a stunt double for the kid, for setting up
the lighting, background etc.? Has anyone tried this and found that
it doesn't work?
I was also thinking that it might be handy to try and find a manikin
to use in setting up photo sessions of adults. I'd be tempted to
paint it with hotrod primer to get something approximating 18% grey.
Best thing for shooting kids is tranquilizer darts. Next best thing is
find a grandmotherly type middle-age female and hire her to be your baby
wrangler.
I guess you could Google "Giant Teddy Bear", and use it not only as a
stand-in, but as a prop.
What you really want is to get so familiar with your lights that you
know where to place them to give you the lighting plan and ratio you
want without needing anyone to sit there while you figure it out.
Forget reflected metering and get yourself a hand-held meter that will
handle flash and incident light.
Manikins are EXPENSIVE; $200 plus even for used ones.
If you get one, don't paint it gray; you don't want it to be gray.
You want it to have the same skin tone values as a person. You don't
really need a whole manikin, just the top half. Make sure you get it a
wig & shirt so it will simulate a person when you're photographing it to
test your set up.
We used a half manikin at school for our initial lens testing to find
the best combination of lights (plan & ratio), aperture & shutter speed,
but once you have the values, write them down - memorize them.
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