Day 146 - I spy with my little eye

I think this is my most frequent view of Jessica, so it's good to record it for posterity.

Day 142 - St George's Square

Kirklees Council have had some stick for the renovation of St George's Square, but I don't think anyone watching the kids (and big kids) splashing about in the fountains on a sunny afternoon could have any complaints.

I could fill an album with the shots of the girls enjoying the water, but this was my favourite, just for the expression on Jessica's face.  Shot with a blip of fill in flash to lighten the shadows on her face in the harsh midday sun.

Day 136 - Jess on Moonraker

Here's a picture of Jessica on the Moonraker floating teamrooms in Slaithwaite.  More natural light.  Whatever next?

She might look thoughtful, but I suspect she's just wondering where her bacon has got to.

Day 112 - Jess on the stairs

This was a snap in natural light, using the wide aperture of the excellent (and cheap) Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens that I use for almost everything to get a manageable shutter speed and shallow depth of field.

I need to looking at using our stairs for some proper portraits.

Day 109 - moggles

I couldn't leave this update of the blog without including some moggles, so here they are...

First, one of my last pictures of Anna before she started moving too quick for such a tiny studio arrangement.

Second, Jessica doing some jumping. Oh dear.

Day 101 - hug a hoodie

Who wouldn't support David Cameron's youth policy with hoodies like this roaming the streets?

Day 98 - splash!

Back to my usual moggles today, with some candid shots of them splashing about in the back garden in Southend.

Day 93 - Jessica's See-Saw

A quick test using the Lumiquest III Softbox with on camera TTL flash (Sigma 530 DG Super):

This is a vast improvement over the bare flash, giving a nice soft light and lifting the foreground off gloomy evening light behind.

Day 90 - golden hair

I was at a local arts meeting tonight, so I grabbed a quick picture of Jessica sitting on my bed in some lovely window light.

Day 85 - on the floor

Here's a picture of Jessica lying on the floor.  I've no idea what she was up to, but I do know it was taken with just window light.

Day 70 - out and about in the Dales

Here's Jessica on holiday at Middleham.  I used a Sigma 10-20mm wide lens and a burst of built in flash to lighten the shadows.

I've also got some non-moggle pictures if anyone wants to click and look...

Day 66 - Jess in the garden

Jessica is very happy that she can be back out in the garden now spring has sprung.  This is her charging around the garden at the cottage.  Continuous autofocus on the D50 was just about quick enough to keep up with her.  I'm not sure I'd fancy my chances using it on anything quicker!

I also took a picture of some grass.  You can see it if you click below.  I don't expect you will.

Day 58 - Jessica location shoot

A couple of pictures of Jessica by Ullswater today.  Jessica enjoyed a little stomp around and a splash.  I enjoyed playing will some fill flash and the wide angle lens.

Another picture after the click:

Day 47 - Jessica's art

I was at a local art group meeting on Tuesday.  I didn't have time for anything clever in the photo department, so I took a picture of Jessica's beautiful artwork instead.

Day 36 - photo shoot with friends

We had a photo shoot with some friends today.  The aim was to take some photographs of their lovely children, but as Jessica insisted on sitting next to her friend I grabbed a couple of them together too.

Obviously the rest of the pictures of the day are for the family to share if they want to, but I thought this one was rather sweet.

It was great to have the opportunity to photograph another family and I learnt a lot in the process.  I'm always amazed at how comfortable children are in front of a camera, which lets you capture some wonderfully natural moments and expressions.

Day 30 - Two Snaps

I took the girls out for a walk along the canel, looking for photo ideas along the way.  I ended up with a few that I was pleased with and thought I'd share a couple of them with you.

First up is Spa Mill, taken with the Sigma 10-20.  I like the shadows on this, giving a nice balance with the branches of the same trees at the top of the frame.

The second is another photo of Jessica, taken using diffuse ambient light.  I know I might be biased, but I think those eyes are stunning.

Day 29 - Beancounter

I received another toy to try out today - Lumiquest Softbox III.  Rather than pin anyone down for a portrait I thought I'd see how the slight unwieldy attachment coped with a more challenging assignment of candid shots of the monsters children.

This was taken with the ambient underexposed by about 2 stops and with the softbox on a YN460-II flash held close in front of Jessica's face, fired using a Cactus V4.  The light is certainly soft, with no harsh shadows and no burnt highlights on the coins.  It's also directional enough to give a bit of shape in the shadow around Jessica's cheek.

Day 22 - Jessica

Another home portrait session, trying out some new kit.  Well, actually trying to try out some new kit.  I wanted to experiment with a second hair light using a new Yongnuo YN460 Mark II flash, possibly using its optical trigger capability or possibly testing some new Cactus V4 receivers, the poor man's pocket wizard.

Thoughts and another snap after the jump...

Day 17 - Jess the Moggle

Here's the moggle again, lit with a single flash with reflective umbrella high at the end of the bed and told to jump and flop about.

Obedient as ever, she decided to just lie there and pout at me.  Fortunately she soon decided to dance about, giving me more of a challenge to get her in the frame, let alone in focus!

Another picture and thoughts after the jump...

Day 2

An attempt to get both girls in the frame today.  Slightly ambitious perhaps, given that they were both a bit grumpy.  I nearly didn't post today as this isn't pin sharp, but I decided that failing to have a picture on day 2 would be pretty poor.  I'll move on to something other than children soon.  Something easier to control, like tigers or the swine flue virus.

So, here are Annabelle and Jessica.

Strobist info: Sigma 530 DG Super at 1/4 power above left with shoot through umbrella