Newborn Practice

[dancingsphinx22]

My friend let me try out newborn photography on her little baby girl. This was my first time and before anyone asks, no, I didn't charge the poor woman for my butchered photos. I was just happy to be offered the experience.

I did a lot of research, but I had some trouble with my results. For example, despite the natural light in front of a big bay window, I had to set the shutter lower and ISO higher than I orginally wanted. Which resulted in a lot of noise. Some of my B&W came out too dark, with noise.

I switched between my two lenses, 18-135 and 70-300, but I just wasn't making great results. So I'm asking for you to please tell me where I went wrong, and perhaps what I should have done differently?

Here's some examples:
80mm
F/5.6
1/80
ISO 1600

70mm
F/4.0
1/80
ISO 1600

The two images below are a before/after. I tried to give it a softer, smoother glow in edit, but I feel it's too bright now.

Flash. (I know, I know, but the sun was going down and I was desperate.)
f/5.6
120mm
ISO 1600
I had the WB set to sunny, because it was producing the most accurate color results at the time.

 

[paigew]

Sounds like you just needed more lighting. was it bright in the room from the sunlight?

 

[dancingsphinx22]

It was very bright, or so I thought. I was following the advice on this one site in particular (I am NOT affiliated in any way) - Newborn Photography: How to Use Light When Shooting Newborns | MCP Photography Blog

I liked the bright, clear, crispness of the photos in the blog, but I just couldn't achieve the same results. Granted they were using a 55mm lens with a lower aperture, so I know that's problem 1 & 2. But I still thought my images would come out brighter than what I got. I am so confused...I should probably hit the books again. :meh: