First Indoor Newborn Shoot

[311Photo]

Congrats, Nr. 3&4 are great images.
Creating black and whites or using split toning often helps overcome noise - or even use noise to your advantage, giving it a vintage, intimate look. Very well done!
If anything, I´d crop Nr.4 a little tighter. You cropped mummys clothing left and right which is a little distracting to my eye. Cropping it closer would stop that and get a little more intimate with the baby. Especially if you want to print on canvas, it is wise to leave a little space between your objects and the corner of the frames. Canvas can be printed onto the sides too, and you need that space to be printed on either side (does that make sense? - you see english is not my first language ). I´d say this would give a nice 4x5 crop.
To be very honest 1 and 2 are merely snapshots, but nothing to worry about. If you don´t get the posed shots you plan, you have to do something. Sometimes it helps if you have a lens with really shallow depth (wide aperture) to make those snapshots look more interesting.

Nr.5 has some potential.

• I´d try to get rid of that table leg and what seems to be a carpet on top left, and maybe also give it a tint (it would work better on the raw file though ).
• If the black carpet was a big one, you could have tried to use that as a background, filling the complete frame by either moving it, or moving father and baby, for example by getting closer to the carpet.
  Finding the right background for these kind of shots is always key. Look out for something uniform that could fill the complete background of your frame.
• If you have some cloth, make sure it always covers the nappies. That is something you need to take care of and if you don´t have an assistant, you could instruct the parents to keep an eye on, because that can easily happen and is somewhat distracting. Retouching it works sometimes, but not always.

Here´s my try , could be a tad brighter though.
View attachment 129152

Thank you SO much for your feedback! That is tremendously helpful!! Editing is a big weakness for me right now. What did you use to edit this image! I absolutely agree that your suggestions and touch-ups greatly enhance the photo.
I know the mom's arms got cut off That was not an editing crop but more of a lack of space to move around in their home and my weakness in improvising in such a situation (e.g. having her turn sideways as the dad did).
Again, your enhancements and advice are so helpful!

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

 

[alfanoc]

Great advice above and sweet photos taken. It's obviously going to take practice and I enjoy the little help with photoshop or lightroom program that help change the look of the photos, and they do wonders! . I tried doing a few newborn photos myself and wow.... time consuming. Patience.. lots of patience. Good luck with everything.. I'll be posting the same questions soon!

 

[photo1x1.com]

Congrats, Nr. 3&4 are great images.
Creating black and whites or using split toning often helps overcome noise - or even use noise to your advantage, giving it a vintage, intimate look. Very well done!
If anything, I´d crop Nr.4 a little tighter. You cropped mummys clothing left and right which is a little distracting to my eye. Cropping it closer would stop that and get a little more intimate with the baby. Especially if you want to print on canvas, it is wise to leave a little space between your objects and the corner of the frames. Canvas can be printed onto the sides too, and you need that space to be printed on either side (does that make sense? - you see english is not my first language ). I´d say this would give a nice 4x5 crop.
To be very honest 1 and 2 are merely snapshots, but nothing to worry about. If you don´t get the posed shots you plan, you have to do something. Sometimes it helps if you have a lens with really shallow depth (wide aperture) to make those snapshots look more interesting.

Nr.5 has some potential.

• I´d try to get rid of that table leg and what seems to be a carpet on top left, and maybe also give it a tint (it would work better on the raw file though ).
• If the black carpet was a big one, you could have tried to use that as a background, filling the complete frame by either moving it, or moving father and baby, for example by getting closer to the carpet.
  Finding the right background for these kind of shots is always key. Look out for something uniform that could fill the complete background of your frame.
• If you have some cloth, make sure it always covers the nappies. That is something you need to take care of and if you don´t have an assistant, you could instruct the parents to keep an eye on, because that can easily happen and is somewhat distracting. Retouching it works sometimes, but not always.

Here´s my try , could be a tad brighter though.
View attachment 129152

Thank you SO much for your feedback! That is tremendously helpful!! Editing is a big weakness for me right now. What did you use to edit this image! I absolutely agree that your suggestions and touch-ups greatly enhance the photo.
I know the mom's arms got cut off That was not an editing crop but more of a lack of space to move around in their home and my weakness in improvising in such a situation (e.g. having her turn sideways as the dad did).
Again, your enhancements and advice are so helpful!

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

Glad I could help
I used Photoshop, but there are other tools out there. In fact I´m already considering other options because I don´t like adobes subscription plans - I still use a version that you could own, rather than pay a monthly fee.
However: I used the clone-stamp tool along with content aware fill. Do a search on these terms, there are plenty of tutorials around.
There is some learning involved, but it is no magic. There are two main things you need to take care of:

• avoid repeating patterns when you stamp. Look at the image zoomed in and zoomed out. If you find anything that looks as if it was copied from another part of the image, try to find a different source for your stamp. My retouch in fact was a quick and dirty one - especially in the top there are a few repeating patterns if you take a closer look, no good work
• make sure you use areas with the same brightness as your target for a source.

The other thing I did was turn it to black and white (with an adjustment layer - or with image/adjustments/black&white) with a slight tint of desaturated orange color. You can do that in Lightroom much better though, because you´d work on the raw file. The clone stamp and healing tools in lightroom are not made for major changes though.

Regarding moms arms: if you have an image from the same angle which has the left and/or the right arm on the image, you can "stitch" those together too. I don´t know if it would work automatically, I do it manually for these kind of things, but there is an auto align function for layered images, as well as a stitch function for panoramic images - haven´t tried those on portraits though.

Don´t worry, even professionals make mistakes and while it is much more clever to avoid these right in camera, there is a solution for many of the mistakes.

 

[houstonnewbornphotography]

Hi OP,

I work for The Houston Newborn Photographer, Alisa Murray. If you check out her website, she's got several links to blogs she writes on, many of them being instructional to new photographers.
I would suggest doing a quick read, I don't know how applicable this will be to what you are wondering about. She is really big on making the atmosphere warm. This includes the color of clothes that she wears and the temperature the room is set in. The more you make it warm for the baby, the better looking the baby will be in the shoot.

 

[311Photo]

This is so very helpful!! Than

Congrats, Nr. 3&4 are great images.
Creating black and whites or using split toning often helps overcome noise - or even use noise to your advantage, giving it a vintage, intimate look. Very well done!
If anything, I´d crop Nr.4 a little tighter. You cropped mummys clothing left and right which is a little distracting to my eye. Cropping it closer would stop that and get a little more intimate with the baby. Especially if you want to print on canvas, it is wise to leave a little space between your objects and the corner of the frames. Canvas can be printed onto the sides too, and you need that space to be printed on either side (does that make sense? - you see english is not my first language ). I´d say this would give a nice 4x5 crop.
To be very honest 1 and 2 are merely snapshots, but nothing to worry about. If you don´t get the posed shots you plan, you have to do something. Sometimes it helps if you have a lens with really shallow depth (wide aperture) to make those snapshots look more interesting.

Nr.5 has some potential.

• I´d try to get rid of that table leg and what seems to be a carpet on top left, and maybe also give it a tint (it would work better on the raw file though ).
• If the black carpet was a big one, you could have tried to use that as a background, filling the complete frame by either moving it, or moving father and baby, for example by getting closer to the carpet.
  Finding the right background for these kind of shots is always key. Look out for something uniform that could fill the complete background of your frame.
• If you have some cloth, make sure it always covers the nappies. That is something you need to take care of and if you don´t have an assistant, you could instruct the parents to keep an eye on, because that can easily happen and is somewhat distracting. Retouching it works sometimes, but not always.

Here´s my try , could be a tad brighter though.
View attachment 129152

Thank you SO much for your feedback! That is tremendously helpful!! Editing is a big weakness for me right now. What did you use to edit this image! I absolutely agree that your suggestions and touch-ups greatly enhance the photo.
I know the mom's arms got cut off That was not an editing crop but more of a lack of space to move around in their home and my weakness in improvising in such a situation (e.g. having her turn sideways as the dad did).
Again, your enhancements and advice are so helpful!

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

Glad I could help
I used Photoshop, but there are other tools out there. In fact I´m already considering other options because I don´t like adobes subscription plans - I still use a version that you could own, rather than pay a monthly fee.
However: I used the clone-stamp tool along with content aware fill. Do a search on these terms, there are plenty of tutorials around.
There is some learning involved, but it is no magic. There are two main things you need to take care of:

• avoid repeating patterns when you stamp. Look at the image zoomed in and zoomed out. If you find anything that looks as if it was copied from another part of the image, try to find a different source for your stamp. My retouch in fact was a quick and dirty one - especially in the top there are a few repeating patterns if you take a closer look, no good work
• make sure you use areas with the same brightness as your target for a source.

The other thing I did was turn it to black and white (with an adjustment layer - or with image/adjustments/black&white) with a slight tint of desaturated orange color. You can do that in Lightroom much better though, because you´d work on the raw file. The clone stamp and healing tools in lightroom are not made for major changes though.

Regarding moms arms: if you have an image from the same angle which has the left and/or the right arm on the image, you can "stitch" those together too. I don´t know if it would work automatically, I do it manually for these kind of things, but there is an auto align function for layered images, as well as a stitch function for panoramic images - haven´t tried those on portraits though.

Don´t worry, even professionals make mistakes and while it is much more clever to avoid these right in camera, there is a solution for many of the mistakes.

This is so very helpful, and I really do appreciate your encouraging words!! I'm currently using the free trial of Lightroom. I may go ahead and get the Lightroom PS combo subscription plan when my trial is up. I just need to break down and take a university course or something on both of them. Lightroom is easier for me because of the presets, but I'd like to be able to work with it more manually. And Photoshop is just a beast. I've tried and tried to tackle it but to no avail to far. I know a large part of it is just patience and hardwork.

 

[311Photo]

Hi OP,

I work for The Houston Newborn Photographer, Alisa Murray. If you check out her website, she's got several links to blogs she writes on, many of them being instructional to new photographers.
I would suggest doing a quick read, I don't know how applicable this will be to what you are wondering about. She is really big on making the atmosphere warm. This includes the color of clothes that she wears and the temperature the room is set in. The more you make it warm for the baby, the better looking the baby will be in the shoot.

Thank you so much for this suggestion. I could not find the blog links, though - could you link me directly to them or be a little more descriptive on where I can find them on her website. I probably just missed them in plain sight.

 

[vintagesnaps]

The link didn't work, but we didn't use bean bags with little ones. As they're older sometimes yes, it would depend on what was appropriate for the child. Unfortunately I probably know too much of the bad, but there have been slings and carriers that have to be used carefully (and I'd be just as glad if they were taken off the market for the most part) because if the baby is positioned too far down in it with chin on chest the baby can suffocate. I had a family that happened to and obviously was heart wrenching that they lost their child because of that. You don't want a baby down in some soft thing, they need decent support. There are reasons that baby beds and mattresses and strollers and seats etc. are tested and regulated.

I wouldn't do head in hands. I know people photoshop out an adult hand holding the head, but still, it's not a position I'd ever have put a baby in. That seems to have the head arching back and it just depends on the age and neck strength. There's a reason first time parents are told to always support the baby's head until the head control is developed enough to no longer need that. Some poses being used with newborns make me wonder if it's compromising the airway, that little neck and airway isn't that big to be bent in some odd way.

I would stick to poses that are ways babies are typically positioned instead of some of the 'poses' used in baby photography. Just because a baby is sleeping and basically helpless is not in my opinion a good reason to pose a baby in some odd way for the sake of a photo. Figure out how to get the look a parent wants in a picture in a way that's safe for the baby.

I have yet to understand the 3+ hour sessions that people do. When I did assessments I had to have everything ready and be efficient with the time the baby was awake, then record data and make notes. It takes learning how to do it. how to use that window of opportunity of time that a baby is awake.

Parents can't control the sleep schedule particularly with babies that young - or maybe ever! lol Usually they get on a schedule but there's no telling if they aren't feeling good, or teething, or didn't sleep well the night before, etc. etc. I know a photographer who says he usually allows for rescheduling for baby sessions in case the baby's just having a bad day and the best thing is to try for another time.

You might want to look at a variety of examples, I see some issues with quality of some of the one posted (and these days some of what passes for professional isn't always the best quality). You gotta get your eyes used to what good photos look like. You gotta get better with your camera before you do pictures for people. You need to know how/when to adjust when shooting and processing. Why not just go out and take photos for the fun of it and practice to learn the processing and take time to develop skills first?