Beautiful Baby

farmraised · Dec 18, 2015

I have just started messing with infant photography. Id like to get some opinions back on this shot from a few weeks ago.

Designer · Dec 18, 2015

I see you're new here. We are supposed to go easy on the newbs.

As easy as I can; the pose bothers me. I think you shot this while the subject was lying down, then you turned the photo. The extremely close crop is not working the way you'd like it to. The baby's arm being just under his chin with no hand or shoulder attached is quite troublesome.

Additionally, it looks rather dark to me. Focus looks o.k. Why the B&W conversion?

tirediron · Dec 18, 2015

Welcome to the forum. Designer's points are spot on. The image is 1, 1-1/2 stops under exposed and very mid-tone rich (grey, lacking in contrast), and the pose just doesn't work. On the plus side, the focus looks good. My gut feeling is that you're making a mistake sooo many people do when they start out: Trying to be too "artsy" right off the bat. Get the basics down first, learn how to correctly expose images, learn what does and doesn't make a good composition, and so on. Then, once you've got a handle on that (usually only takes a few years!

) move on to trying artsy shots.

farmraised · Dec 18, 2015

Designer said:
I see you're new here. We are supposed to go easy on the newbs.

As easy as I can; the pose bothers me. I think you shot this while the subject was lying down, then you turned the photo. The extremely close crop is not working the way you'd like it to. The baby's arm being just under his chin with no hand or shoulder attached is quite troublesome.

Additionally, it looks rather dark to me. Focus looks o.k. Why the B&W conversion?

As far as the pose goes, she was on her back when this was taken. I didn't crop the photo, it was just a close up. Also, her arm is not under her chin, that's her chest. Although, looking at the thumbnail I guess I can see where it might look like that. I agree that it is underexposed. As far as the b&w, I have read several places that if you shoot in b&w or convert photos to b&w it helps you better learn how to judge values, and would then later help you capture better photos in general. I know I have a long ways to go, and was just looking to establish a base line, if you will, of where I'm starting from.

cherylynne1 · Dec 18, 2015

Welcome to the forum!

A couple things I think you did well: the light is coming from a good direction and looks fairly soft and natural, there are catchlights in both eyes, baby is interacting with the camera and has an interesting expression.

Things to work on: I agree that it's too close, and the framing of the blanket against one side makes us feel a little claustrophobic...definitely not an emotion you want when looking at a baby! That's an easy fix, you just move back a little. I'd also move "up," which I know is a relative term here, but I mean move in the direction of top of the baby's head. If her eyes were looking up rather than down it would lessen the effect of the wrinkles under her eyes and lift her chin up so that we don't get that disembodied feel like she doesn't have a neck.

The light could also be improved...did you add a vignette in post? It seems like the brightest part is her nose, and I think it would look better if the brightest part was on her eyes.

It's a great start, though, keep at it!