Kiddie Shoot at Starbox Studio

We had a kiddie shoot at Starbox Studio last Saturday, March 9, 2013 at around 1pm.

It was my first time to do a shoot at a studio and using studio lights, so it was a great experience for me. Having +AnGelo Chiu who knows his way around studio equipment helped a lot.

Probably the only decent shot I was able to take of my wife and kid.  Thirdy's getting to be a real handful. Lol.

 The day started with Chea and I (and Rona, Thirdy's nanny) heading out at around 11 am and dropping by an American surplus shop to check out some vintage items. We then went to meet Chea's sister, Chi, along with Tita Fe and Thirdy at Jollibee Anonas as they came from Antipolo.

We had a quick lunch and then headed off to StarBox Studio along Kamias Ave, QC. We arrived at the same time with Gelo and +lysander san jose , along with Gelo's daughter Thea. Wifey Karen and bunso, Ally, had to be somewhere else at that time.

The elevator is out on weekends, so we had to deal with 5 flights of stairs. Probably my only complaint on having the shoot at Starbox. There was a kids workshop at the studio, so we were only able to use the Photo Studio part, which was good enough. There was enough space to go around actually, even with about 9 adults and 4 kids in the shoot.

Yuki, the manager, was there. I also had the pleasure of meeting one of their photographers, Kim, and we had some conversations before they had to head out for a client call. Will, their studio guy, assisted us the rest of the shoot.

Gale, along with daughter Yesha, arrived a few minutes later and we started the shoot. We were still playing around with the lights, so we didn't get too much shots that we liked. Thirdy wasn't his usual timid self around too many people, so he was crawling all over the place, so we couldn't really get good shots of him.

Most of the shots were Bird's eye view, as Thirdy kept on crawling towards me when I tried to take pictures at his level. 

Didn't know he could crawl this fast. At home, he usually crawls a couple of feet then  his head plops down on the mat.

We brought the alphabet mat along with us. Good thing as the floor is vinyl on some solid flooring.

We mainly relied on our own flashguns for the early part, as the studio lights required triggers, which they only had one transmitter I think. There were four of us photographers (Me, Gelo, Lys and Gale), and we were itching to start shooting. By this time, Milan (one of our former co worker) arrived with her son, Lian.

On our second round, we used the grey background and were able to use the 3 studio lights. We had to take turns with the trigger, but it was ok, since we already got the initial shooting urge out of our systems.

Milan and Lian. The lights on the left was a bit low. 

Still wasn't able to adjust the light.

Gale and Yesha. Looks a bit better.

Gelo and Thea. Adjusted the lights so their faces are a bit brighter.

By this time, 3pm, Thirdy was getting rowdy as he wanted to get some sleep. So we couldn't take more pictures of him with Chea. Unfortunately, he was sleeping too lightly, as every time we tried placing him in carriage so we could take photos of him, he kept crying and waking up. So we just gave up and took pictures of the other kids.

By this time, Karen arrived with their bunso, Ally. Too bad she wasn't as trained as her older sister Thea in front of the camera so we weren't able to take pictures of her. Thea on the other hand was great to work with as you didn't have to ask her to pose, as she knew how to work the cameras already.

A few minutes before 4pm, Thirdy was already awake and were able to have a third round of shoots with him. First with a grey background, and finally with a white background.

We just used a studio light to the left and relied on our flashguns and bounce on the wall behind us. And that's our comforter he's on.

White background. Close up shot with my AF-S 50mm lens.

Thirdy tried standing up for the last few shots on his own. He managed that stance for more than 5 seconds allowing me to get this shot. Good job, son!

At past 4pm, Will asked if we wanted to extend the shoot, but I decided that it was starting to get late, and we're starting to get tired.

So we started packing our stuff and called it a day. Hopefully, we can do some studio shots again in the very near future as it's really fun taking pictures of your kids.