On 2009-09-30 I shot some studio portraits for my friend Anita Cohen at Daytona State College, of her pregnant daughter Jacquelyn and her daughter’s husband Shoughn. Even though I’ve been a photographer since I was 13 (5 years), this was my first time working formally. Thanks to Prof. Joe Vance for letting me use the photography studio at Daytona State College even though I’m not in the photography program (I’m a computer science student).
Jacquelyn is due to have Shoughn Brady Jr. at the beginning of Nov. 2009. Sadly, Shoughn has to return to Iraq for his second tour in Apr. 2010, so he’ll miss his son’s growth from the age of five months to over a year. Here, he is wearing his camouflaged U.S. Army uniform. He’s a driver rather than front-line infantry. I hope he stays safe and doesn’t have to kill anyone.
We had a white background. Anita helped me figure out how to set up the hot lights and deflectors. I used one incandescent light (warm a.k.a. yellowish) on the left and one fluorescent light (cool a.k.a. bluish) on the right, which worked well. While some maternity photographers exaggerate the size of the woman’s belly or emphasize deep, brooding poses, I did not do that here. I prefer realistic, upbeat portraits showing love and joy.
Shoughn kissing his wife’s belly. I wasn’t sure about Jacquelyn’s facial expression, but I think Shoughn’s outfit balances the discipline of the army with the love he has for his wife and first son.
The only portrait of Jacquelyn and Shoughn I used the flash on. This is a conventional rather than artistic portrait, but portraiture is about the people in the portraits, and not necessarily innovation of the medium.
Shoughn is covering a red birthmark above Jacquelyn’s belly button. On the first portrait I edited it out, but on the second it was easier to leave it. I like to remove most blemishes to make people look how they’re supposed to look. My goal is to discreetly present an idealized version of reality. I don’t want laymen to say “this is Photoshopped!” Photographers will always say it, but non-photographers should not notice. However, depending on the angle and lighting in can be hard to clone out blemishes, so I have to balance art vs. time. I don’t air-brush; I either remove blemishes well or I don’t remove them at all. In my portfolio I have done difficult edits requiring hours of work (i.e. removing twigs, power lines, and houses), but elsewhere I re-shoot or leave it.
Our couple standing together, with Jacquelyn showing her tattoo saying “Shoughn” in cursive with a Hibiscus flower. The tattoo is for her husband and her son. I like it.
Anita (Jacquelyn’s Mom) calls this the “Marilyn Monroe” shot, in the style of an actress from the 1940s and ’50s famous for poses like this. For all the portraits, Anita wrapped the green sheet around Jacquelyn. Underneath Jacquelyn had a blue bathing suit on. Unfortunately that came through here (on her hip), but we didn’t notice it at the time. It’s not a big deal.
I shot all these portraits using my Canon Rebel XTi with my EF 50mm F1.4 prime lens in RAW mode. I edited in Adobe Camera RAW 5.0 (vignetting and color) and Adobe Photoshop CS4 (spot-editing), which is industry standard. I brightened the photos and made the colors warmer by shifting to a white balance with a higher Kelvin temperature, because I used automatic white balance in camera which was too blue.
Incidentally, a Daytona State College photography student asked to shoot Shoughn while he was in the lobby, but Anita shouted out “he’s already taken!” 
Big thanks to Anita for making a $100 donation to my photography fund. I opened a checking account recently and deposited it there. I will use it for whatever photography or non-photography purchases I need to make in the next months, or bills.
I give well wishes and lots of love to Anita, Jacquelyn, and Shoughn, and I want the United States to leave Iraq, Afghanistan, and every other country we occupy, as soon as possible, never to return. 
Richard X. Thripp at 2009-10-25T23:42:23.I’ve never done HDR (high dynamic range) but I know it involves taking multiple stationary shots at different exposures and blending them together in Photoshop or another program… It should actually be called compressed dynamic range. The purpose is to show a wider range of light than digital photo-sensors can process at once, so the sky gets darker and nearby scenery gets lighter… Some HDR photographs look awful and unnatural. Make sure whatever you do makes sense to the eye.
The principle reason to upgrade to a DSLR is so you can use higher ISO speeds like 400-1600 with much less grain… also, you can get faster lenses. If you’re at a play or concert you can’t take good photos without a DSLR, generally speaking. The flash is useless because the performers are so far away. You need a lens that goes down to a low F-stop (large aperture like F1.8) and a camera that can go up to a high ISO speed (high light sensitivity).
I looked at your page; nice JavaScript with the rotating photos of signs. You should try getting further away from the signs and zooming in. It doesn’t reduce the image quality because the zooming process it entirely analog involving glass elements in the lens. In fact, most lenses are sharper in the mid-range… my 28-135mm lens is pretty good around 50 or 70mm, for example. At 28mm you have barrel distortion which makes everything appear wider. It’s very unflattering for portraits. Going all the way to 100mm or 135mm is good for portraits, which means you have to back way up and use no flash. Then you have pincushion distortion (compression) which looks much nicer for portraits.
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