Baby photo shoot today

[sweetapollo]

This morning I had a photo shoot for a friend of mine. Their little boy is about 4 months old.

Here is my favourite from the shoot.



Comments?

 

[HL45]

Just curious of why this is your favorite? can you post a couple others?

 

[Juga]

A very sweet picture however there are some issues that I see and hopefully more knowledgable people can verify. Such as the stuffed dog takes up much of the frame and is very tightly framed on the right. Also would've liked to see his entire face rather than just the upper half, the overall image isn't very sharp but more specifically the eyes are soft which makes me think that you used a wide aperature. I agree with HL45 why is this your favorite and can you post a few more?

 

[sweetapollo]

I used a 50mm Nikkor Prime at F16 for this shot. I am not sure why this is looking soft. The image looks really sharp and his eyes are very clear in the image I have. Am I missing something?

I can only post one as the parents don't really like a digital footprint for their child on social media and so weren't keen on me putting stuff online. The reason why it is cropped tightly is because his mother was holding him and her hand was just in shot. I shall try to photoshop out the hand and then open the crop. Hopefully that will provide a better image. The little boy isn't at the point where he can lift his head up and hold his own weight, I did take another shot with his whole face in as the eye on the stuffed toy was shifted slightly, but it is more the expression as to why I like the shot even though his full face isn't clear.

Still learning and hopefully I will get better with time and practice. (this was my first shoot with a baby so I was a little unsure)

 

[HL45]

I didn't realize the baby could not hold his head up. No disrespect to Juga but I don't see the softness in the eyes, looks sharp on my monitor.
I do agree that the stuffed animal is the problem. Only seeing half of the eye really takes away from the boys face. If the Mom could have moved his head over a little to show both eyes....
Just curious now, why f/16?

 

[robbins.photo]

I used a 50mm Nikkor Prime at F16 for this shot. I am not sure why this is looking soft. The image looks really sharp and his eyes are very clear in the image I have. Am I missing something?

I can only post one as the parents don't really like a digital footprint for their child on social media and so weren't keen on me putting stuff online. The reason why it is cropped tightly is because his mother was holding him and her hand was just in shot. I shall try to photoshop out the hand and then open the crop. Hopefully that will provide a better image. The little boy isn't at the point where he can lift his head up and hold his own weight, I did take another shot with his whole face in as the eye on the stuffed toy was shifted slightly, but it is more the expression as to why I like the shot even though his full face isn't clear.

Still learning and hopefully I will get better with time and practice. (this was my first shoot with a baby so I was a little unsure)

I think the "softness" Juga might be commenting on is most likely due to the background - on a stark white background like that the stuffed animal just isn't dark enough to truly separate and as such it tends to sort of fade into the background, giving the illusion that the focus is soft - a darker background probably would have worked better here to make both the boy and the stuffed animal stand out a bit more. I think Juga also has a point on the overall composition, the shot would probably benefit from being cropped a little closer so that the boy takes up more of the frame - this will most likely require losing at least a portion of the stuffed animal though so it will be a little bit more difficult to balance. I think really what might have been better would be to have the boy on top of the stuffed animal with both of them looking forward at the camera - much easier to sort out the composition that way and I think it would have been a better shot overall.

Ok, so that's the downside. On the upside the picture does look nice and sharp (other than those few areas where there isn't enough contrast to see it), the skin tones look great (hard to do with a kid that age), and as was previously mentioned the facial expression is priceless.

 

[sweetapollo]

Yeah we did move him after the fact so his face was clear to see, but he never smiled the same way. The F16 is because I was basically trying a new studio that I have never used before and their equipment was not what I was used to. I had my lamps too close and too powerful I think and so since I only had a small slot, it didn't really seem to matter to me if it had a high DOF rather than a shallow one I would normally have chosen. After I got the shots I needed I had time to play with the lamps and get more comfortable with them. I was just worried that since the baby had just woken and was active and alert and ready to play, I should go with what was working (the balance between soft box and backwash on the infinity screen was good so I didn't want to spoil it) He only had about 20 minutes of being active before he decided to become bored and want to go.

As I said it was my first time photographing a baby and so didn't want to wreck it by having a grumpy baby. Basically the whole day was a way to get a few photos for a friend and learn the equipment at the new studio and such.

 

[robbins.photo]

Yeah we did move him after the fact so his face was clear to see, but he never smiled the same way. The F16 is because I was basically trying a new studio that I have never used before and their equipment was not what I was used to. I had my lamps too close and too powerful I think and so since I only had a small slot, it didn't really seem to matter to me if it had a high DOF rather than a shallow one I would normally have chosen. After I got the shots I needed I had time to play with the lamps and get more comfortable with them. I was just worried that since the baby had just woken and was active and alert and ready to play, I should go with what was working (the balance between soft box and backwash on the infinity screen was good so I didn't want to spoil it) He only had about 20 minutes of being active before he decided to become bored and want to go.

As I said it was my first time photographing a baby and so didn't want to wreck it by having a grumpy baby. Basically the whole day was a way to get a few photos for a friend and learn the equipment at the new studio and such.

Lol.. I get it - sometimes no matter what you do you just never really get the shot you want. But on the upside what I think or what anyone else here thinks about the images really doesn't amount to a hill of beans, only important thing is whether or not the client is happy with them.

 

[sweetapollo]

Yeah and they are really happy. They only actually wanted one photo from the event, which is to be used on the family christmas card (his shirt says merry christmas on the front) and so I made sure I got that shot right at the beginning and took a safety shot at the end when I was comfortable with the equipment.

All the rest is icing on the cake. My main reason for putting it on here was to learn from my event. Sometimes a constructive criticism and my explanation as to why I did what I did, helps me be a better photographer. Learnt a lot in this shoot really and although things are fine, I can make my next stuff better and flow better.

I know I had my soft boxes too close and too low down for the baby shots and so will next time move them back but what would a normal F stop be for a studio shot?

I would have thought about 5 on an infinity screen and with a background probably something like a 1.8 or 2.8 to make sure it really drops off. Would you agree? I tried both my 50mm and 105mm primes for the shots and normally really like the low DOF on them when there is a coloured and textured background.

 

[Juga]

I saw softness when using my work monitor and downloaded the file and on that screen it looked very soft. I will look at it on a better screen when I have a chance.

 

[sweetapollo]

So in terms of cropping do you mean something along the lines of this? (done really quickly with face on top left third point)

 

[Braineack]

It looks soft to me too. I like the shot, but the composition is lacking. Did you take more of this same pose?

 

[robbins.photo]

Allow me to tell you everything I know about studio lighting:

{sound of crickets chirping}

Yup, that's about the sum total of my knowledge on the subject - lol. I'm strictly amateur and I shoot mostly wildlife/zoo stuff. But I'm sure there are folks here more knowledgeable than I who can probably give some handy tips. DERREL! OH DERREL! Lol

 

[Juga]

Sorry it still looks soft on the eyes to me. Composition is the biggest issue.

 

[colinorinda12]

I'd just like to say that I'm impressed with the softness of the babies skin against the detail in the stuffed animal. That alone is visually interesting. Congrats.