First Newborn Session! C&C Welcome and Encouraged!

[jmtonkin]

Well, I had my first newborn session on Sunday. Actually, I should say "sessions." The baby was NOT happy and definitely NOT cooperative. I shot for eight hours on Sunday and two hours on Monday. The entire time went a little like this:

Shoot 5-10 minutes
Baby cries for 20-30 minutes
Shoot 5-10 minutes
Baby cries for 20-30 minutes
*Repeat*

It was AWFUL! Luckily, this was for family so I had all the time in the world! Props to those who do this on a regular basis. I'm not sure if it is just this baby, or if all babies are like this. If the latter is true, HOW DO YOU DO IT?!

Anyway, here are a couple of my favorites from the day. I'd love any and all C&C! Even though this shoot went about as bad as it could, I would like to do more newborn sessions. Your C&C will definitely help me improve!

Thank you!!!

1.

2.

3.

4.

I know that I have a lot to work on, but I'd love some advice. I regret the day I decided to purchase a white fur. That was a horrible decision, and it ended up blown out in a lot of the shots. I don't have a lot of equipment (Nikon D300s, Nikon 18-200mm and an SB-900), but I try to make do with what I do have.

Thank you for your C&C!

 

[CandySvoboda]

Love that face in the first shot!
I'd maybe drop the exposure a bit

Second shot is looking a little on the red side to me (maybe its my monitor?)

Third is my favorite because I love artistic shots, especially when they're black and white

Fourth I'm not too crazy about because I feel like, though out of focus, my eye is drawn more to the parents than the baby.

I admire your patience! I don't know if I'd ever be able to do infant shoots because I lack the patience.

 

[jmtonkin]

Thank you for your C&C! Though this was a three-day weekend for me and it was supposed to be a relaxing time, I ended up way more than I do in school. I'm glad it was family so I had the option to take all the time I wanted to get some decent shots...

 

[jmtonkin]

Does anyone else have any opinions/suggestions?

 

[NaturalLight]

Yes, babies are hard to photograph. Usually they're more sleepy during the first 14 days of life. I love the black and white one. Great composition and love the soft shadows. The second one is a bit red. Try and keep the skin tones consistent in a shoot and fix the white balance with editing. Try stepping back a bit. You don't always have to shoot such a tight frame. Great photos. Thanks for sharing

Does anyone else have any opinions/suggestions?

 

[jmtonkin]

Do you have any tips for processing them to get consistency? All of them are slightly different, but I'm not sure how to get that consistency that I want...

 

[NaturalLight]

which editing program do you use? I use lightroom and you can go about it a few ways: decrease the reds and change the white balance with the dropper tool or adjust the tint and temperature options. To make them consistent, you just adjust them until the skin looks the same in all the pictures. Babies are very hard to perfect the skin, since they all are pretty red when they're newborns. Photoshop would probably be a great tool as well. I just don't know the program that well yet. google editing newborn baby skin and see if there are tutorials. I'm sure there are tons

Do you have any tips for processing them to get consistency? All of them are slightly different, but I'm not sure how to get that consistency that I want...

 

[jmtonkin]

These shots were edited in Photoshop. I used an action called, "Banish The Reds" and set the brush to 50% opacity and brought a little more color back in. I did that for every picture; some must have needed more than others. I did a fair amount of touching up with these photos: removing some red, removing blemishes, smoothing the skin, adjusting the exposures, playing with the eyes and finally some cropping. I'm not using a calibrated monitor so it was a gamble whether the colors would look decent at all.

 

[kandrelynn0109]

I "shoot" newborns (eew sounds bad) on an almost daily basis.... The key to getting them nice and comfy is make sure they are warm! if you have like a little space heater or something you can put in the same room to make sure they are nice and snuggly (or a blanket) once you get them warm and to fall asleep you can sometimes uncover them and makes for sweet pics! BTW the first one is adorable

 

[jmtonkin]

Oh I definitely had a space heater going! I think the baby had a stomachache. Apparently he was fussy the night before too and all that day.

 

[LaFoto]

Even though I know next to nothing about infant photography, I have some observations.

The outcome of your stressful session (that you described for us, thank you ) looks ever so peaceful! Nothing of your (or baby's) stress to be seen in your photos. I think that is good!

The black&white one is very nice. I wish I had had more inklings of photography back when my children were this young... ah well. Next generation...

While I kind of like how tiny the baby looks in the last (you never get a true sense of scale in "baby-only" photos...), I'm not too fond of the kiss (not the fact THAT they kiss, but their pouty lips, I guess) and their nearness to the camera (therefore OOF, too) and mommy's kind of messy hair - all those elements are thoroughly distracting from what could have been a really cute idea. Maybe you could try to repeat that one once baby's stomach is more settled? You say they're family? Any chance for a reshoot?

 

[Granddad]

I've never tried newborn photography and I doubt if I have the dedication or patience. I like 1, 2 and 3. 1 and 2 are good shots so items like colour balance are just matters of editing. Some people may say that 3 is a bit clichéd but poses become clichés because they are good and most customers wouldn't know that anyway. Number 4 I'm not so keen on although I can see the intent. IMHO it's one of those good ideas that didn't pull together in this instance (although it might work like a dream next time). Focus on the adults is soft but not soft enough to look deliberate, the mother's puckered lips don't look good and the pacifier in the baby's mouth is too distracting, partly because of the colours and design of the item being too strong for photography.

Having said all that, I take my hat off to you for a pretty decent entry into the genre.

 

[PinkDoor]

I agree with another poster about looking at your editing as a whole, and editing with consistency. The second image has too much red in the babies skin. But you did a great job with posing! First newborn shoots can be intimidating with nervous new mommies!

The last image, I would make black and white. The sheen of the brown blanket really throws me off, and I think a clean b/w conversion will transform this image.

 

[mommy-medic]

With babies it's substantially more flattering to shoot down the body instead of up the nose. In number one, imagine a string gong straight from your lens to the forehead, then tilt the camera slightly down the body and you'll get some better angles. Not bad for first try. Space heater do work well, (if you're roasting baby is comfy), white noise, swaddling (stretch wraps work well for that). If you can't get baby good and deep asleep after about 2 hours I wouldn't keep pushing them.

 

[slow231]

the catch lights in 1 are bothersome. not only can i see the photographer but i looks like he is being lit by a bigscreen tv, a bunch of different colors and shapes in the lighting. 2 is nice. 3 i'm sure will go over well for most people, i personally don't like b+w, and it's a bit too hard for me as a baby shot. i do like the symmetry, but the tattoo (although relevant to the parents specifically) detracts from this. for the client i'd leave it in, but i'd PS it out if i were to put it in a portfolio.

4 misses the mark for me. I get the idea of framing with the couple but there are a few things working against the shot, focus, size, and lighting. pushing the couple further back would put them closer to the focal plane, make them less prominent in frame, and shroud less light from baby. also the football pacifier might have some significance to the couple, but generally branded/labeled/symbol-ed items detract from baby pictures, particularly for newborn shots.