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9 month old

Lesson 30 from: Bellies & Babies

Sandy Puc

9 month old

Lesson 30 from: Bellies & Babies

Sandy Puc

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Lesson Info

30. 9 month old

Next Lesson: Audience Q&A

Lesson Info

9 month old

Once again, we're going to do. We're going to work with studio lights, studio strobes, photogenic strobes, and west got continuous light. We're gonna go back and forth. We have a nine months old today, so with a nine month old it's, a very fast age, um, and again, typically in my baby program, we don't even do a nine month old because it's, not something that we feel makes a huge difference in our sales. However it's a fun age, the milestone at nine months is the baby should be able to stand up and hold on to something. Now. We told you yesterday, the little girl that we had, I think it was nadia nadia, she when I asked if she could hold on to a chair, and mom said, yes, I was thinking that is an amazing six month old. She was actually our other nine month old. And so that's why she was very true to form toe what you're probably going to see today so just keep that in mind um and its deck lind correct declan that's cool um so declan is right at that stage where he should be able to hol...

d on to things if you want some babies choose not to then I want to use their legs they love being held but the goal is really to capture the expression to capture the size and to see what he's gonna do so we've got a we've got a big boss here today bring him in yeah way could do that all right so let's just bring him in now safety of course is the primary here we just want to make sure you're going to stay right close to him right here if you stay kind on this little line here just so that you're out of that light and so that we can capture him I'm gonna get set up first before you put him down let's see and I'm gonna have you take that out for second so whatever I'm working with this age this age definitely does not I love hats and we have millions of them but at this age they definitely don't want to wear them and you're going to see that if I put what on him he's probably gonna rip it right back off so let me test my lights first real quick um I do want a shout out to thank you too, man photo for providing us these great tripods um we've talked a lot about them yesterday that looks a little dark when I get my meter real quick you pop that off I think are we good to go? All right, good let's start all right, so I'm a light is at f ate and our background light is at five six and this is really I'm sorry not a background let it's our kicker or separator like is that five six so we're gonna give him a little separation off the black know what this is is we've actually used the west got background that we were using yesterday but we flipped it over so we could have a black side now black is black tends to be something that people struggle with a lot and getting a true black a good solid black now obviously today we have some extra light coming through the strobes should overpower those leads so that's not my primary concern the real concern when working with black is how close you are to the black background if you really want to true black you have to get your subject away from the background any of this light spilling onto this background is going to give it if there's any texture or anything here it's going to pick it up so in a perfect world you have a big long studio and you put the baby way out there this is more realistic to what most of us deal with so couple options we could use a controlled light source like a strip light coming in at the baby that would of course make it more darker, but it would also make more contrast there'd be more shadows and were deeper darker shadows which I don't want with a baby I want to keep it light and fluffy um there are fabrics out there you can buy that do not that that subtract light so that nothing reflects off them so they naturally go darker so you could look at those there used a lot in movie productions so you can look for them they're very expensive though frankly, the main goal is to keep the light off the background in fact, I can kind of show you if I were a kid in here, I'll pop off a shot that way all that texture and all those wrinkles were going to show so you see how I tend to shoot my lights to the side more like a window even though it's a strobe we treat it like a window so that's where we're at now one last thing I'm so sorry but I don't ever wear shoes ever ever, ever so that's just not gonna happen so apologies for the feet they're clean I swear alright so my dear let's get mr declan in here we're gonna have him sit right here for to start and you're going to stay right there keep your eyes on him obviously that's a big fall if we don't want anyone to fall now this age group that's a great thing that just happened because the number one thing when working with babies and this he's pretty young for this this is more of a thing we teach it eighteen months at that age they become very attached to mom actually in the whole stage but by the time they're a year to eighteen months there very clean e um one of the things we always tell moms is never say no these are the rules that we talked about never say no and if your baby jumps off or wants to be held I want you to grab them, give a big big hug and tell him good job good job and then put them back I don't care if he does that fifty two times the more he does that what he's doing is he's looking for reassert reassurance he knows you're out there he can see you he knows I'm a photographer and he doesn't know me so what he's doing is he's saying hey, wait a minute my mom never does this to me what's going on here and he's saying, hey take me back and then as soon as she does that, she'll probably go down again after he doesn't five or six times, huh? I eventually he's going to feel very comfortable and stop doing it because he knows he's in control. The worst thing that could happen is if mom grabs him and says, no, no, sit down because when she does that that's very startling to a baby all of sudden there feeling like they're being forced to stay away and they don't understand it. So big hugs we call it big hugs, we say just give big hugs, big hugs, let him do whatever he wants, he is literally the boss right now. Uh, I need the tickler and we need a little for his mouth if you can and mom, whatever you d'oh, I'm gonna be running around I want you to keep your eye on that reflect their way around a lot, huh? Do not take your eyes off who's noise. I'm going over this stuff a little bit more because it's pretty dark again. The reason I'm doing this room is so big it's just eating everything and I don't want a super contrast going move that in a whole lot closer if we can so I apologize you, you're fine, you can actually move back that way keep that background lighting a little bit more to now you're fine I'm just gonna move it around a bit all right let me see how that looks all right so also at this age speed is imperative because he's the boss he's gonna I mean I am my time that twenty minute window is absolutely what we're getting today e o I just with those little handout hang just reach up and grab it ah and teething is the big issue here which is of course not a problem he's reaching back to his back molars because they're probably what's bothering him now what's this declan to just keep your hand right there for a second I don't believe forward to grab it so keep a hand on him huh teo what is that now you can wiggle it out get it tio hi uh thank you thank you teo hand back uh hey good job, buddy one teo what's this what is that on and he's got a little drool on his face so let's go ahead and take care of that again uh hey dougie what is it dougie say fixes little sleeve if you can't see kitty state yeah oh oh no where to go there he goes we're going to go for serious there good job, buddy we're still a little hot there all right hang on I couldn't stand him up for major just hold onto a moment turn the chair we talked about the rules go ahead actually take him off for a second we talked about the rules tell me away knows towards that does not work with babies typically I have to turn them in because if they're going to be moving I at least want the light to maybe be in the right place there you go I watch him keep your eyes and his hair he's got one little hair up by the top of his head just it's kind of on the wrong way right there you got it what you could do jacqueline hi you so handsome? Uh okay good save mom you can jump in and grab him anytime you want there you go beauty by uh I know you're a mighty easy today yo, where you going? All right, you've got that for sure so you can actually lift him off? We're gonna take him down below way we grab this chair from the back there so I wouldn't say this is a magical chair by no means but you'd be surprised you could make chairs look cool s o we're just playing around with a little bit because this is actually one true to my style a simple fund antique chair and oh, I'm sorry I forgot all about that thank you. You know what? I apologize we're gonna put him back up on the chair because we're gonna go with a hat we're not gonna want him to get too far, so we're going to shoot for ah, little siri's now at nine months. Another thing I should say is we always use chairs with nine month old if I tried to sit him on the floor, he'd be out of there so fast, it would just be an ongoing battle, so we're going to try the hat, and that was what I skipped because you'll see he most likely is not goingto it I'm going to get ready before we put it on his head so that you don't have any issues. Oh no, all right, let's, go ahead and get him up there. I'm ready now I need the chicken real quick something whenever you're trying to get a hat on, you have to do with some sort of distraction. Okay, there you go. My mom's got a good idea. You can go ahead. We'll use the phone first. We'll hold out on the chicken as long as I can lift him up again I'm gonna put little pants down. Oh, there you go. Now go and sit down. Okay. All right. Let's. See, if we get this on your head and he may or may not like it, hopes he doesn't even mind he didn't notice it at all, baby you are cute so now I'm going to do what's called making faces so he's a little young for this but we're gonna try to get a lot of different expressions in taek shots watching mom move their radio we're going to get a lot of different expressions on a tight shot that'll probably be uses the square ready uh oh what's this now I'm gonna startle him a little bit oh no what isthe it own no what you said oh no they're is that the chicken I wanted that serious look I told you we used that to scare kids watching oh no what happened uh oh where did it go it's going to get you it's going to get your toes e t o get you now watch this should I get mommy uh teo go getting mommy is always the way to go at this age oh you're going to spit on me huh what is that can you say way to go you know you know I'm just turned his body far left what I need is just because at this age they can't do as many that's cute let his hand stay up one more time let's see if he'll do it again here we go good good q there baby good job oh love that x russian now swing his feet the other way all I'm trying to do is break it up so it's not a stagnant headshot on every time uh what were you going that was so cute oh my gosh ready where you going? Pull his little hat danny and get his attention grab uh watching raah I got it okay, we've got great shots that you could take him out of there done. All right? We're gonna go to the other side now so we're gonna switch over to um what's got and we do need to change his clothes so I can take some questions right now what? We give him an outfit change and I stepped on something with a glass or something who had sandy? People are wondering why barefoot one wondering what? Why barefoot I hate shoes and I grew up on a farm I never had shoes I was too poor don't know um I am not comfortable and choose ever you know honestly I think it's staying close to the earth I don't know what it is but I've never worn shoes when I shoot so I'm kind of the barefoot photographer but I love boots when I walk but I love shoot our love bare feet when I shoot so I don't know why and a question from sea sailor what what does sandy do when they play shy at the nine month age that tickle when I took up mom that's typically the technique I used to actually get mom are taking the baby to relax a little bit of ocean if I take that tickler and I go to a child and they pulled back and we'll talk about this later but if they pull back I can see they're afraid well usually tickle mom and eventually I could get them to come around just by playing with mom and playing games I'll do things like have mom threw a ball to me and then I throw it back and then she throws it back and we go back and forth and then give it to the baby and usually the baby will throw it so once we create that connection that we're a link we're a little triangle then all of a sudden they that the baby doesn't feel like I'm the bad guy we're just part of the family kind of thing the other day you did touch on temperature in the room are maybes for newborns especially you said you just crank up the heat really, really high what about nine months? Is there a church in babies at nine months? They're pretty mobile and they've been around and if they'd gone through acclamation when we had babies, we tend to keep the house really warm and protect everything and I think by the time of baby hits nine months old there pretty usedto whatever so in a typical suit like right now we didn't bring out the heaters we didn't do anything special babies don't don't really mind being cold when they're that age as much as when their newborns and that's actually not because that's the way it is it's because that's the way we treat them when babies they're newborns we keep him in these massive blankets in these massive bundling by the time that this age they're running around in bathtubs and it's not an issue good point ah question from sorenson studio uh do you ever wear gloves for touching babies? I have cold hands all the time and wondering on your thoughts so do I it's driving me nuts today but no I don't but if you saw that technique yesterday I spent a lot of time doing that and honestly if you just kind of rub your hands together within your right inside your eyes there they do want about pretty quick and once you get shooting usually your hands warm up because your blood's flowing but my hands seem to be really cold too so I don't wear gloves I think that would be kind of awkward if if I did wear gloves I would tell the parents why I just think it kind of creeper status I don't know yeah fingerless because I don't want to leave any fingerprints so yeah that's uh that's why we got to go I think I'm gonna go awesome all right so now we're gonna try nine months on the floor which is usually a totally different it's gonna be a race now so we're gonna put him just the same thing I needed it would be a great balance our color round your awesome let me just take it look real quick okay hold on we're just getting get me where I need to be cute hi little bug found the harley had that's awesome all right, you go ahead and set it back up in the middle of the rug let's take the hat off since he's good at wearing hats we're gonna take it off for a couple just so that I is his face really well oh and wipe his mouth can't let me up was tag team it now for a second what is that going to the back one two three and wipe his mouth you can I get it? Yeah that's fine it's whatever. Two three teo hi uh I'm gonna get you uh teo high didn't go vertical what? One two what's that up there? What is that? And you could say I'm constantly getting babies looking away should get mommy one two I think there's that massive smile also it's pretty easy to do this I'm gonna get you oh, good. Now he's gonna throw the hat on him since we've got a good shot and he's really good with that's that's actually not very normal he's really good and escaped to where did you go hey, uh would you do okay good now I want to get in that crawling position because we want to show that he does more than sit he's not a six month old so uh put it in a crawling position facing this light over here I got to keep him there so uh let's put it right here ready where you going? Your vest good pulling back again one phew ha ha you go one two three teo can you clap your hands good job okay now in our studio we would have we have lots of chairs and cool things that kind of go with the little harley look here we're just gonna let him just kind of lean up on this doesn't really go with the scene but we're just giving him some variety here one of the two strong boy it shows that he's big and you can hang on to something uh where's the dougie well thank you. I know watch again I wanted to make sure you get this if I tickle him and I bring it in let's sit him on top of the box we can't escape so stay a little closer to watch the ticket because I wanna make sure everybody gets this if I tickle him and bring it down low teo oh oh we're cool now what if I tickle him and I bring it back here he goes too high if I go like this space nice job actually that was really cute I'm gonna have you uh take your sunglasses off we're going to borrow you you'd be a prop she's like I didn't plan for this to sit right about here and sway around the opposite way so that you're facing that way and this what you were doing house jump in here you're gonna just hold him up like you just did and just play with me a puppet you're gonna lift him above your head and I got to get a little higher since our background is not very high well what happened you could take it the hat comes off that's okay whoa we're looking really right there hang on I gotta check my photo something about burial right here we go you're ready miss helen go ahead and play with him so polish can down first and if he's done that's okay, because we're almost done great now turn to your body now that were framed actually the opposite way so I could see more of his not too far come back a tiny bit right about theirs are dario now we have to get his attention back now he's kind of frustrated so this is where turning one I'm gonna take this off to make it easy, teo and lift him up a o tio you're beautiful there's you goes good and one more that's also missed him way up again oh, yeah, good job, that's. Awesome. Okay, we can let him go, let's. Give him a round of applause. Yeah, that was easy. Perfect, thank you so much.

Class Materials

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Sandy Puc - Day 1.pdf
Sandy Puc - Day 2.pdf
Sandy Puc - Day 3.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I know so many families with new babies at church and have wanted to invite them to let me create studio portraits, both for practice and for profit. You've given me so many wonderful tips and ideas for posing, shooting and marketing. I've already begun collecting appropriate props. I believe in me, but know that selling will be the hardest thing for me. Sandy makes everything look so easy! I related to her emotionalism--I'm the same way. Today at church, a visitor shared about an expectant mother in Ohio who was diagnosed with Stage 3 brain cancer. Thanks to Sandy's pregnancy portraits and the story about the beginning of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, I emphasized to the visitor the huge importance of that family (already with 4 children) to have a family pregnancy portrait taken. It will mean so much to everyone, but especially the unborn child, who may not ever know its mother. I am also interested in exploring the Now I... training program, if our local hospital needs a special photographer. Thank you for the fantastic seminar I could attend in the comfort of my own home. Cha Ching!

Daniela Moroni
 

This is my first Creative Live course and I'm very happy with it. I don't have a studio but it was very helpful to understand how to begin a career as a baby photographer. I like the way Sandy explains what she does. You see that she loves her job. I'm glad to have known about Now I Lay me Down To Sleep project. I'm not an english speaker so I'd like there were english subtitles 'cause when she speaks very quickly I miss a lot of words... Thanks Creative Live team!

a Creativelive Student
 

Sandy is truly an inspiration! Her fantastic photography definitely urges us on to greater things, but I am most impressed by the way she connects with people. Her clients are not just $$ to her, and her job is not simply a way to make money - she feels things greatly, and it shows. This webinar causes me to not only better myself as a photographer/business owner, it inspires me to become a better person.

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