2016 PHOTOCHALLENGE, WEEK 19 : PORTRAIT OF A MOTHER

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms. Most of us are celebrating Mother’s Day today and here at the 2016 PhotoChallenge, we’re celebrating MOMS all week long by honoring them with our very own portrait.
The B&W portrait of Mom and her newborn is a classic that holds true to the bond between mother and child. Usually performed in the privacy of a studio in controlled lighting conditions.

As we grow older, captured moments with our mom will one day become priceless memories. Outdoor images come to life and look more natural. Remember not to have your subjects directly looking into the sunlight. It’s often best to use a reflector or a little burst of fill flash to open up shadows in harsher lighting.

For this special assignment you may just want to focus on mom without any distractions… It can be your own mother or any other Special Mom you want to honor.

I myself always prefer B&W Portraits but it’s up to you to choose that special look for the final image you submit to the 2016 PhotoChallenge.

A selfie with Mom is just as good 🙂

Basic guidelines for portraits are 50mm to 85mm on a crop body and 85mm to 105mm on a full frame. Those are just guidelines, you should freely experiment as we’ve even had great looking portraits with a fisheye. Usually wider lenses distort facial features while longer lenses tend to flatten features.

You may choose to use controlled lighting in a studio-like environment. If you go outdoors you may want to bring a reflector or flash to open up shadows. I tend to prefer natural light balanced with a reflector.

Pay attention to distracting items in the background. Keeping a distance between mom and objects in the background will minimize shadows from flash and make it easier to isolate your subject.

The rules are pretty simple:

Post one original photograph (Your Image) shot each week per theme posted on this blog to Google+, Facebook, or Flickr (or all three). Tag the photo #photochallenge.org or #photochallenge2016.
The shot should be a new shot you took for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
The posted image should be a photograph, not a video.
Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2016 PhotoChallenge is fun and easy.