Amrita Samant gives us more insights into her amazing work as a maternity and baby photography.
Introduction
Deciding to pursue child photography stemmed from the idea of combining two of my favourite things, babies and photography. It was only a natural move, given the love for the two.
My journey started with natural light photography and in due course of time, I noticed the need to learn the art of studio lighting as depending on the weather could sometimes prove dicey.
The idea therein, was to learn how to light my baby subjects safely as well as mimic the lighting technique to look exactly like natural light.
Unlike adults, documenting babies and children can be fairly unpredictable. Children give fleeting expressions, crawl or walk away very quickly from the shoot zone dedicated with lights and do not repeat smiles when asked. To work with such uncertainty, a photographer needs extremely reliable equipment that can work fast and is flawless with reliability. Repeating a moment or a pose with a baby has always been hard, hence that one chance is all we get .
We also work under time pressure as all shoots are done during their routine play time and not on our watch.
Lights Used
Profoto lights, being UV coated, also proves safe for newborn babies. This has won me a lot of trust with all new parents who want to have their newborn babies documented.
I personally love the Profoto B10 (or B10 Plus) and the A1 which is used in all my images below.
The best thing about Profoto lights is that I can charge the batteries before my clients get to the studio and keep the entire place completely wireless. With kids, and expecting mothers navigating my studios, its extremely safe and comforting to know that there are no wires across the floors.
Here are a few of my images shot with babies of different age groups and the lighting therein, explained.
The image below was lit with a Profoto Deep XL Umbrella + B10 light facing the subject's face directly.
The next 2 photos were lit with a a Profoto Deep XL Umbrella + B10 light placed behind a scrim with a change in the photographer's placement slightly to the right.
The image below used a two-point lighting system here to light up the mother & son.
On photographer right, I have a B10 on a Profoto Deep XL Umbrella pointed downward at an angle. On the subject diagonally right, I have an A1 on a stand to add a rim of light on the mother's hair and back.
For the last picture, to create this high-key lighting scenario, I’ve used a Profoto Deep XL Umbrella behind a scrim to create a well lit backdrop and a a Profoto Deep XL Umbrella on Photographer right, to light up the family equally, avoiding any spill over of light, from either side.
About Amrita
A Sony Photography Artisan, A Profoto Mentor and a member of the International Association of Newborn Photographers, Amrita is a pioneer in the Maternity & Child photography industry in India having started close to six years ago, when she sensed a gap in the Indian market.
She started her business 'Mommy Shots by Amrita' in 2013 with set ups in both India and Singapore, specialising in newborn and baby portraiture. Bringing babies and photography together was only a natural move, given the love for the two.
Amrita has completed over 1,300 shoots across ten countries and has scaled her business with an all-womens’ team, this being her way of supporting women in the creative field, hoping the bridge the opportunity gap in a small way.
You can view more of Amrita’s works over at her website, or follow her on Instagram.
