Newborn – First Attempt

[Crystal]

I’ve got 2 little nieces waiting to be born in the next few months so I invested in some studio lights, backdrop and cute girly props. I’ve been reading up a lot on newborn photography and my girlfriend was kind enough to let me practice with her bubba – it was WAY harder than I ever anticipated. I’ve downloaded a trial version of PS5 and tried to fix the skin tone, didn’t really have much luck as I don’t know what I’m doing.
So now I’m looking for lots of C&C, and advice on how can I get good skin tone and lighting.

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[JoshC.]

I don't have much advice as I've never shot portraits, or newborns for that matter. But just a little input; I don't think the backdrops in 2 and 4 are very flattering to the baby at all because its more distracting than complementing.

 

[PhotoWrangler]

You've got a lot on your plate, and it seems you don't know what to chew on first. Get your lighting down first. Then work on posing. Then work on processing. Trying to do all three at the same time is going to take you longer to reach your goal.

 

[MissCream]

Your lighting is too harsh for a baby. The best light to shoot newborns in is natural light. I only use my studio lights for babies if I absolutely have to and then when I do I usually have to do a lot of pp for skin smoothing and contrast. Keep practicing, new borns are not easy to shoot!

 

[ababysean]

How old was the baby? Newborns, to get that squishy, soft newborn pose, should be shot under 14 days old, under 10 days is even better! After that, they start building up fat supplies and can stay awake longer then an hour at a time....

She looks cold and not as in cool tone, I mean cold, like freezing. Get a small space heater. Turn the heat up to 80, yes the adults will be sweating but baby will be nice and toasty.

What kind of lights did you get? Sometimes, natural window light is best for newborns.

 

[Crystal]

How old was the baby? Newborns, to get that squishy, soft newborn pose, should be shot under 14 days old, under 10 days is even better! After that, they start building up fat supplies and can stay awake longer then an hour at a time....

She looks cold and not as in cool tone, I mean cold, like freezing. Get a small space heater. Turn the heat up to 80, yes the adults will be sweating but baby will be nice and toasty.

What kind of lights did you get? Sometimes, natural window light is best for newborns.

Thanks for the advice guys.

The lighting kit I bought was elinchrom d-Lite it to go set 400 and I thought that by doing the shoot with lights I could be more in control, because I will be visiting my nieces out of town and I would not be guaranteed to do it with available light so that was my thinking.

I did have the heat on and yes, we were all sweating so the baby wasn’t cold – this is just from me trying to fix it in photoshop. I was shooting in manual but had it set to portrait so the skin tone was really red – think that’s where I went wrong there. She was 4 weeks old and had a few pimples so I was trying to fix that as well.

I know I have so much to learn and practise, practise, practise but is there anything that is ok with the shots – I was loving the fringe blanket, while others did not? What sort of poses do people want to see with newborns?

I have so much respect for professional photographers as many people have no idea the skill it takes, the dad was saying “you have rapid fire don’t you?” just snap away!

 

[ababysean]

maybe practice on people that are more able to follow directions first? Seriously, age 2 weeks to about age sitting baby (6 months or so) is the hardest most awkward age to photograph.

 

[Kyna]

How old was the baby? Newborns, to get that squishy, soft newborn pose, should be shot under 14 days old, under 10 days is even better! After that, they start building up fat supplies and can stay awake longer then an hour at a time....

She looks cold and not as in cool tone, I mean cold, like freezing. Get a small space heater. Turn the heat up to 80, yes the adults will be sweating but baby will be nice and toasty.

What kind of lights did you get? Sometimes, natural window light is best for newborns.

Thanks for the advice guys.

The lighting kit I bought was elinchrom d-Lite it to go set 400 and I thought that by doing the shoot with lights I could be more in control, because I will be visiting my nieces out of town and I would not be guaranteed to do it with available light so that was my thinking.

I did have the heat on and yes, we were all sweating so the baby wasn’t cold – this is just from me trying to fix it in photoshop. I was shooting in manual but had it set to portrait so the skin tone was really red – think that’s where I went wrong there. She was 4 weeks old and had a few pimples so I was trying to fix that as well.

I know I have so much to learn and practise, practise, practise but is there anything that is ok with the shots – I was loving the fringe blanket, while others did not? What sort of poses do people want to see with newborns?

I have so much respect for professional photographers as many people have no idea the skill it takes, the dad was saying “you have rapid fire don’t you?” just snap away!

I don't mean any disrespect to people on this forum but a lot of people here tend to be VERY technical, which is great for learning the technical part of photography. They can't really help you with the artistic part and may not always agree with your artistic view of things. So....I would focus on asking technical questions not questions on posing etc.

I shot my first newborn shoot last weekend and I had a blast. I have only had my DSLR for 3 months and I am definitely still learning. I am starting with just using natural, available light and working on posing and simple editing and then I plan to grow with my post processing as I go. I did my shoot and the parents LOVED it and so did everyone else on their facebook. I have gotten a lot of attention and some bookings from the session and the pictures are definitely not "technically" perfect.

So what I'm trying to say is practice, practice, practice. Come here for technical help, but look to yourself for the artistic side and if you have it in you it will come out!

 

[g-fi]

I don't mind the props, but your lighting is like WHOA. If you're dead set on using studio lights, think large, diffused light. Are you using the softboxes with those lights? Newborn photography requires a skilled hand in PS to retouch what newborns usually look like to what most moms and dads expect in a finished product. Save yourself some grief and look into loading some free actions from Coffee Shop and MCP Actions. Coffee Shop has a Baby Powder Room action that includes a red skin tone removal layer, one of your best friends in newborn photography. In general, people expect a light and dreamy feel to newborn photography, in my opinion it's one of the few situations in which it's acceptable to blow your highlights out a bit as long as you don't lose detail on your subject. Do yourself a favor and hit up flikr and look at the baby session set-up group where people share their set-ups and technical info and the newborn posing inspiration and photography groups. You'll see some very excellent examples of GOOD newborn photography and several of the groups have discussion areas where people share what has worked and hasn't.

The single best tip I got when I started out in newborn photography was this: be patient. Getting a great newborn session may require several sessions, several hours, and a LOT of patience, but it's one of the most rewarding photography experiences for me personally. Good luck.

 

[Crystal]

Thanks again everyone. My niece was born yesterday and I will be visiting next week - stay tuned for my second attempt.... with natural light!