FAMILY BUSINESS

Professional family portrait photographer Taylor Brady shows enthusiast Jonathan how to take enagaging pictures of babies

- Taylor Brady

PRO TAYLOR BRADY CAMERA:

CANON EOS 7D MARK II

Taylor has been working as photographer for around nine years. She’s explored lots of different genres, but portraiture was always her main interest, and after completing her degree she set herself up as a freelance photographer, specialising in newborn and family photo shoots at her home studio.

APPRENTICE JONATHAN CROOK CAMERA:

CANON EOS 760D

Jonathan is a keen camera enthusiast who’s looking to improve his portraiture and lighting skills. His teenage son is an aspiring actor, so Joanthan would also like some guidance on posing subjects, so that he can shoot professional-looking portraits for his son’s portfolio.

TECHNIQUE ASSESSMENT

Taylor started out by showing Jonathan how to set up his camera to help him capture perfect portraits

SHOOT IN MANUAL

The portraits in the morning session were all going to be lit with natural light coming through the large window in Taylor’s living room – this would give the images a soft, gentle feel, especially as the lighting was very overcast on the day. Thanks to the total cloud coverage the lighting was consistent throughout the shoot, so Taylor set both her camera and Jonathan’s to Manual mode and dialed in settings of 1/160 sec, f/2.8 and ISO800.