Photography Friday: Rock Star

With my goal this year to blog a photograph every week, I think I will be more likely to stick to it if I have a particular day dedicated to photography. Dan usually only works a half day on Fridays and works from home, so I have a little bit more time for myself than I usually do. Besides, Photography Friday has a nice ring to it that Photography Tuesday just doesn't have. I could call it "Photography Phriday" or "Fotography Friday," but I am just not that cool.

The Stats: 

• Nikon D70 camera with Sigma 18-55mm lens and Nikon SB-600 speedlight
• 1/160 second exposure
• f/5.0
• ISO 200
• 38mm focal length
• Natural light through window to the left
• Speedlight at +1.0 pointed toward the ceiling

The Story: Dan gives Liam a bath every night and I dry him off and put his pajamas on him. Despite Dan's protests, I usually give Liam a mohawk when I dry his hair. Girls get ridiculous flower headbands, boys get mohawks. Liam also wore his Rock Star pajamas for the first time last night. The combination gave me the idea for today's blog. Add 1 drum stick and you have a rock star baby photo.

The Highlights: I love my new speedlight. My camera is old and doesn't handle high ISO really well. Liam is also pretty wiggly. Before I got the speedlight, I had to make the choice between grainy or blurry photos.

The Lowlights: I should have used a tripod. I had to move my face away from the camera to smile at Liam to get him to smile back. When I tried to snap a photo with my face without looking, the framing was all wrong. As a result, I didn't get a smile in any of the photos I took. I should have also faced him toward the window to get some nice catch lights in his eyes.

The Outtake: My son makes crazy faces. I'm pretty impressed that he can raise one eyebrow. I can't even do that. I think this is right about the time he filled his diaper and, thus, signaled the end of the photoshoot.