My Newborn Baby (first newborn shoot)

[mindfloodz]

My beautiful baby girl Riley was just born on July 29th and I capitalized on the opportunity to try my hand at newborn photography. I bought a few props and just wanted to capture some really precious moments without having to pay a fortune for them. Here's a few of my favorites.

 

[Robin Usagani]

The first one for sure have wrong WB. Try to make the fur thing white. It looks a little yellow. also I think your clarity slider is too high.

 

[mindfloodz]

I totally agree and will reprocess the RAW images again. thank you for the feedback. If I posted the RAW would you like to take a crack at it? Maybe give me a step by step.. I'm still learning Photoshop and trying to get better

RAW image:
http://hotfile.com/dl/125699716/d90c30c/IMG_8609.CR2.html

or

http://hotfile.com/dl/125699716/d90c30c/IMG_8609.CR2.html

 

[mindfloodz]

fixed #1:

 

[Rebekah5280]

Fixed #1 = MUCH BETTER! and a very beautiful portrait of your daughter. Congrats!

 

[mindfloodz]

Thank you very much Rebekah! I really enjoy this pic as does much of my family and friends. I'm glad Schwettylens brought to my attention the poor WB and the overuse of the clarity slider. Much better now. Time for a frame

 

[JMBriggs]

Good job! And congrats! Nothing more fun then being a parent! (Not even photography... But it may come in a close second : p

 

[adrianakyan]

did you blur the face? it looks kind of fake. like #2 and the last one. also #2 looks too orange. she is very cute!! congratulations!

 

[Rebekah5280]

did you blur the face? it looks kind of fake. like #2 and the last one. also #2 looks too orange. she is very cute!! congratulations!

Yeah, what she said.

 

[MTVision]

It almost looks like you tried airbrushing your daughters face. Nothing wrong with fixing blemishes and red spots but it just doesn't look right on a newborn. I may be wrong but that was the impression I got!

 

[mindfloodz]

I totally agree and was never very happy with the processing on the face. i didn't airbrush, but i did use Nik Color Efx Pro, Dynamic Skin Softener. I have since reprocessed the picture and took it in a very different direction. It may not appeal to some, but I like it and some of you may agree that it looks better than the original I posted. When I was doing these photos the first time, I was rushing through it to get them out on Facebook for friends and family to see. I was also not on my computer, but a laptop. The screen was poorly calibrated and it was clear to me that the pictures had flaws in the colors and some of the post processing techniques I use. Here is a redo on #2. Enjoy:

 

[ZoeyWhite]

congratulations on your baby!

nice photos, your pic together is sooo sweet.

 

[MommyPhotographer]

Great Pictures! :]

 

[Rebekah5280]

The problem I (still) have with #2 is that the skin on the face looks very plastic-y.

I'm not sure why there is soooo much skin softening. Maybe because she is really blotchy and/or flakey (as all newborns are). When I process a newborn skin, I usually just try to tone the blotchiness down and spot heal any acne or flakes. I usually try to stay away from the blotches on eyelids, as those are important features in the photograph and I can never "fix" the blotches without causing "damage" to the eyelids. If you go into Newborn processing, its better to just tone down than to fix completely. Newborns are blotchy and flakey and have terrible skin! Everyone knows that! And, your capturing your newborn baby, the flakes and blotches are precious.

 

[mindfloodz]

Would you like to give the RAW image a try? I didn't do anything with skin softening.. It's just how her skin is.

Hotfile.com: One click file hosting: IMG_8661.CR2