Overlays and Softboxes

Today, I started thinking about Easter mini sessions. Yes, I know it's not even Valentine's Day, but since photography is a seasonally driven business, I need to be prepared. I wish I lived in a warmer climate so that I could do Easter photos outside. But, in New Jersey, that's rarely possible until after Easter. Plus, I have all these great backdrops that I bought to use for indoor sessions. I'd actually like to use them (and if I use them enough, I can justify buying new ones).

Since I will have to do minis indoors for the next few months, I decided to try the new softbox my husband got me for Christmas. A softbox is just a reflective bag that sits over the flash to soften the light and make it look for natural.

Today was a bright sunny day, but I still needed the flash to fill in some shadows. If I had just used the flash without the softbox, it would have created a harsh shadow and overwhelmed the natural light. But, the softbox did exactly what I wanted it to, filled in the shadows and evened out the coming in from the windows.

This is Bobby posing with his sock monkey in front of damask backdrop. The backdrop was really too fancy for this shot but it is still cute.

Once I had the lighting issue worked out, I decided to think of a theme or prop to use for the Easter minis. I love those photos you see on Pinterest of little kids posing with baby bunnies and chicks. But, I don't have any baby animals at my disposal. Nor do I want baby farm animals in my house. Plus, I always worry so much for the animals. Little children aren't known to be gentle. Unless it is my client's personal pet, I don't like using live animals in sessions.

But, I can still have animals in the photos. Behold, the glory of Photoshop and a little magic called overlays.

I need to play with the technique a little more to make it look a little more natural. But, for a first attempt, I don't think it looks too bad. What do you think?