Folding Stool

Ok so I know it doesn’t look like much. But let me tell ya, if you need to reach things off a shelf this is a must have!!. LOL I’m just kidding guys. I’m not reviewing this stool as a household tool. I am reviewing it as a photographry must have if you shoot groups often.

I’ve been shooting school group photos for the better part of 3 years now. I’ve only recently started using these stools and I don’t know why I waited so long. Until now I used to use 2 rows of chairs. The tallest people stand on the floor between the rows, the next tallest stand on the chairs in back, the next tallest sat in the front row of chairs and the shortest sat on the floor. Yes there are different ways you could do this like adding 2 standing rows between the chairs. The problem is it’s very hard to see everyone’s face that way especially if there are a lot kids close to the same height. 

Last year I photographed an 8th grade grad class of around 34 students. I used 16 chairs to stack the group as described above. No 8th grader wants to be chosen to sit on the floor. They think the floor is for little kids and to an extent I agree.

This year that school’s grad class was 38 students strong. I remembered how tough it was to stack everyone last year but I had a secret weapon this year. I came equiped with 7 of these stools. They stand 9″ tall and are about 16″ wide. They fold up really flat making them very portable! I’m sure you’ve seen these or larger ones at you local hardware or department stores. They support about 300 lbs. which is fantastic for their size!

With theses 7 stools I was able to stack everyone without having anyone sit on the floor. I went with the 16 chairs again, placed the stools on the floor in front of the back row of chairs, left a bit of standing room in front of them and then the front row of chairs. So here’s how I stacked them. The tallest stood on the floor in front of the stools, the next tallest stood on the stools, the next set stood on the chairs in back and the shortest sat on the front row of chairs. This way I had each row at a different level and I was able to see everyone’s face perfectly. No-one complained about being blocked! The photo came out great! I’m definitly going to be lining this shot up for myself so I can post a pic of the results here. As for you guys, if you don’t want to take my word on this then try it for yourself. I promise it’ll help your groups looks better! If not at least you’ll be able to reach that pesky top shelf. LOL

Lastolite Baby Poser, Modular Cushion System for Multi-positional Posing.

I recently put the Lastolite Baby poser to the test. Lastolite has a great video on their website, www.lastolite.com showing just how flexible this poser is.

The cheapest I’ve found this poser was on www.adorama.com for $168. This poser is designed for use with Newborns all the way up to 5 or 6 months. To be totally honest though, I’ve had just as much success using this poser with a two year old!

The poser comes in 3 pieces. The main piece is about 28 inches long, 13 inches tall at the head end and 8 inches tall at the foot end. The middle section is 24 inches long. It’s a narrow piece that fits into the main and end sections. The end section is 12 inches long and 8 inches tall. When all pieces fit together the poser is about 40 inches long.

The whole thing is made up of tiny foam balls just like a bean bag chair. It even makes the signature squishing sound that seems to amuse every baby I’ve had in it. The poser supports babies of all shapes and sizes. It holds them snug if they’re sleeping so you don’t have to worry every time the move. It’s firm enough to prop them tall, but soft enough to keep them comfortable.

There are Velcro strips that are sewn on to help secure the pieces together. Note that I said sewn on not glued on. This is great because babies love pulling on things and glue often lets go. All of the pieces have small zippered seems that keep the foam balls in. The zippers even have plastic ties keeping the zippers closed tight preventing any leaks.

You can re-arrange the 3 pieces to for a ton of different positions. The poser is  bright white and looks great plain but you can also cover it with any fabric you’d like. A satin sheet looks amazing over it! Lastolite also sells a grey cover if you prefer.

On a scale of 1 to 10 I give this poser a 10. I really can’t think of anything I’d change about it. The price seemed high at first but after using it I feel it was money well spent.

Backdrop Outlet's 2 pc baby poser

I’ve bought a number of products from Backdrop Outlet in the past. They are constantly running great sales and are usually pretty quick with shipping.

Now that I’ve been photographing more infants I was in the market for a nice Baby poser that wouldn’t break the bank. So I’ve decided to write a product review of the Backdrop Outlet 2 piece  Baby poser.

They sell this poser for $99 on their website www.backdropoutlet.com. They advertise it as “perfect for posing babies” and “plush”. To be honest I was really excited when I finally received the poser. It was back ordered by 2 weeks but that’s no big deal.

When I pulled the poser out of the box I was surprised by just how small it is. The next shock was the material it’s made of. When I read ”plush” in the item description I though of a teddy bear. I pictured it being soft and cushioned similar to a pillow. In actuality the poser is made of a stiff molded foam. The best comparison I can offer is the insulating foam “Great Stuff”, yes the spray foam used to seal window gaps.

The base of the poser is round and concaved. The overall length is about 25 and a half inches long. It’s slightly egg shaped so the head end is wider than the foot end. The base itself stands about 7 inches tall and 14 with the back on.

The back is made of the same foam as the base. I’m not sure if this was just a fluke or not but there was actually a sharp edge on mine right where the back piece slopes down and meets the base. This was sharp enough to rip the fabric it’s wrapped in so I trimmed it down with a nice pair of scissors. I just didn’t want it to scratch a baby.

This poser may work well for Newborns but babies will outgrow his poser very quickly. I’m not a fan of the material used for it but if you cover it with a padded material it’ll be fine. The back may come with a sharp edge that may need to be trimmed. 

On a scale from 1-10 I give this poser a 4.5. It’s nice if your on a budget but there are a lot of other products that you can achieve the same poses with for far less money.