New camera first time dad

lopster99

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Hey everyone, I been a member here for sometime but always just browse all the posts never really post much because I'm new to this whole photography thing.

I just got my self a camera after years of wanting one. My daughter was born Friday evening so I been trying to play with it a bit. I bought a canon rebel t6i.

So here is a pic of my pumpkin
image.jpg
image.jpg
(my favorite one that I have taken so far). I know it's a long way from perfect I'm sure but I really liked this one, tell me what you think, what did I do wrong or right. Anything helps as I'm trying to learn how to take a good exposure.

I just learned by reading thought forum past few months and I also bought the book understanding photography by Bryan Peterson.

We'll thanks for your time !
 
#1 has better light on her face. The sweater has too much texture for an infant, IMO.

The "scrunched-up" posture in #2 is disconcerting because I can't tell if she really has legs or not.

Attitude (the angle) of baby in both is good.
 
She's beautiful!!! and congrats on the camera delivery, too :)
 
Interesting thing about photography, I like the texture of the blanket with the baby. Cute kid and you have a good eye. As mentioned, better lighting would improve the shots a bit.
 
Hi lopster
first of all congrats for the baby girl!
you did a great job as a beginner
otherwise beginners people don't know even about the composition aperture and the speed for camera
You just have to learn lighting tricks which are very important for photography
and make your pictures more beautiful
You can also learn photoshop for better image editing
 
Congratulations to you and your wife on the birth of yo
Hey everyone, I been a member here for sometime but always just browse all the posts never really post much because I'm new to this whole photography thing.

I just got my self a camera after years of wanting one. My daughter was born Friday evening so I been trying to play with it a bit. I bought a canon rebel t6i.

So here is a pic of my pumpkin View attachment 107074 View attachment 107075 (my favorite one that I have taken so far). I know it's a long way from perfect I'm sure but I really liked this one, tell me what you think, what did I do wrong or right. Anything helps as I'm trying to learn how to take a good exposure.

I just learned by reading thought forum past few months and I also bought the book understanding photography by Bryan Peterson.

We'll thanks for your time !


Congratulations to you and your wife on the birth of your child. Undoubtedly, your life has just changed. Most likely, you'll now have plenty of middle of the night time to read up on photography.

May I ask, what are you doing to make the photos of your child better?

In other words, while there's nothing to be highly critical of in your provided images, what are you aiming for? Are you looking for a collection of shots which basically record your child's life? Are you looking to replace a "professional" style of photography with your own?

From my experience with babies - rather limited, I admit - in a few month's time, your photography will become much more difficult as she learns to move about at will. From there comes walking and then running and your problems as a photographer compound exponentially with each new highlight in your baby's development.

Taking a shot of a sleeping child is a rather simple task when compared to taking a shot of a rapidly moving infant or group of infants. There is nothing to criticize about your shots, however, they do not, IMO, indicate a grasp of how to "creatively" photograph children. In other words, these are shots that could have easily been taken with the camera on full automatic mode.

If that is where you wish to be at this time with your camera, that's fine. Your camera, though, is capable of much more.

What are you using for your lighting?

It looks as though you are depending on natural light for the most part with little to no supplemental lighting source(s). In your first shot I would guess your primary light source was coming from the left and fell mostly on the child's feet. While it appears to have been from a sufficiently high angle to place some light on her face, why light her feet as the strongest element of the photo?

In this shot two things occur to me. 1) re-arrange the shot to have more light and particularly more pleasing light fall on her face and, 2) use supplemental light sources. Our interest as viewer's will always be on a face first and foremost. That' doesn't mean you want to over light the face which will render it flat and uninteresting. You do though want to make the face more of what we can take in than the feet. Our eyes travel to those lightest/brightest elements of the shot so you are somewhat telling us her feet are more important in this shot than is her face.

How are you metering your shots?

In your second shot, you've placed the child in a starkly dark/light background. In most metering situations your camera's systems will strive to recreate either as a medium grey. That metering will render a face somewhat over or under exposed based on what the camera's metering reads as the greatest element of value in the shot. On my notebook it's difficult to see exactly what your real world result is but, as a general rule, avoid backgrounds and clothing which will strongly affect the white balance of your shot. If you are shooting in RAW capture, the WB can be adjusted after the fact but, IMO, it's better to simply learn a few rules which affect WB to begin with. Once again, IMO, you've placed your main light source in a somewhat less flattering location and along with the background items - generally, avoid deep darks and light lights for your clothing/background items when taking portraits - we are again seeing less of the child's face than I personally would prefer for a highly flattering shot.

In the second shot, I would say a slight adjustment to your child's position relative to the light source would have made a rather significant change in the image quality. Shadows are falling on portions of her face which we would like to see. Highlights are on those areas which are less important to sculpting a baby's face.

You don't appear to be using any external light sources or the flash on your camera. For now, while most of your shots will be fairly simple at this stage of development, I would suggest you learn more about flash and external lighting. Once she begins to move about, flash will be even more important to your photographic success. You won't be able to count on "cute" things happening when she is perfectly lit by a single window or when she is standing perfectly still. By the time she is walking, aperture and shutter speed should begin to make more natural sense to you in your desired goals as a more highly accomplished photographer.

There are some rather basic conventions involved in photographing a child and even more to take in if you wish to have a predominantly natural light source for your shots.

Admittedly, there's a lot to take in if you are striving for more than "mom and pop" shots.

However, as a photographer, your basic elements of composition are light and shadow. Learn to use them to your best advantage and when to supplement light when required for a better shot.

You can go as dramatic as a classic chiaroscuro image; chiascuro - Google Search

You can learn about natural light and single source lighting; Making the Most of Natural Light in Photography

Introduction to Portrait Lighting

You should work to understand how white balance affects your photography and how clothing and backgrounds affect your camera's metering; Understanding White Balance

how backgrounds affect photography - Google Search

And, of course, look at how the better photographers deal with child portraiture and make an attempt to backwards engineer what they've done so you can duplicate their results; baby photography - Google Search


How to Learn

You'll have the next few decades to learn. Take your time and enjoy your family.
 
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Congrats on the new, beautiful baby girl! I like the scrunched up face look of newborns....so different from what they develop into within just a month or so. Ahhhhh....the thrill and excitement of a newborn baby to photograph. It's a wonderful feeling! I would continue photographing daily, and try to get one good picture per day. I did that, a day-by-day of my child's first months of life. As time passes, the day-by-day photos become a wonderful reminder of the early days.

The new Rebel T6i looks like a decent camera from what I've read about it. I personally think that a 1-meter pigtail flash connecting cord and a TTL-capable speedlight would be great accessories, useful for the next several years.
 
good start !
better lighting would help (diffused, off-camera)
 

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