the Cacing Diaries #5

day 32

Saturday morning and I have little to do. I just bathed Cacing and she was genki, which in Japanese means active. (My wife works part-time as an online Japanese-English translator so I’ve picked up a word or two). I was itching to do some baby photography and lighting is something that I have been struggling with all the time in the limited confines of our home. My wife also castigates and forbids me from using flash as it could damage her developing retinas so I am dependent on ambient light. Today however, the sunlight was soft and directionally streaming through the door of our home into the living room. Perfect!

I set her up on all-white sheets, prettied her up with her white headband and prayed that she’d stay jolly and playful. If she were cranky, she could be too much to handle.

One challenge is for her to look at me. Only a month old, she still could not really focus her eyes. So waiting is part of the game and I have to be quick in clicking the shutter when she did.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/160s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3 EV


I tried to work the various angles. Problem was she kept on turning side to side and swaying her hands like a snow angel. Finally, after egging her repeatedly to look the other way, she gave me her modelic poses. As I told my wife, Cacing's Tyra moments were worth the wait.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/200s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3EV



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/500s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 400, +1.0EV


Cacing is also small. (Infants are!) I could not do a real closeup as I don’t have a macro lens. The picture below was a crop. I hope I’d be able to get some proper gears in the future as I would like to do much more.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/320s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 400, +1.0EV


day 33

Another Sunday, another chance. I am veering into concepts already.

The idea was to capture a travel-ready baby.

The problem is to catch Cacing in a good mood as typically she doesn’t like confined spaces. I don’t want to start a crying fit. With her mom’s blessing and supervision, I prepped my cabin bag first. I fluffed it with a few pillows. Next, I strategically placed paraphernalia like a shaver, a camera (my wife’s prosumer Canon), a toothbrush set, among others.

To cut time, I did some test shots of the bag to determine the proper exposure settings. Then, I promptly settled Cacing inside the bag for a few seconds. The rest is up to her as you certainly could not coach a baby to pose and smile. Take it from me, a month old infant would not take directions. I tried and failed!

The first attempt lasted only a short 10 seconds as we had to pull out Cacing when she started to squirm. Attempt number 2 also failed. This was the third attempt. Still not the best take – I don’t like the background, the angle of her face and the overall color scheme – but I am learning.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/13s, f/5.6, 48mm, ISO 800, +1/3EV


Cacing now seemed upset. Time to pack up. There will be other opportunities…