Proof read my brain before newborn shoot

[rachelrach11]

I will be photographing my very first newborn this Sunday. She will be 6 days old. It is my friends baby and I jumped to the chance to volunteer for the experience.

I was previously concerned with lighting issues (her house is like a cave and all I currently have is a pop up flash) until I found out that I will actually be going to her neighbors house . She has a beautifully lite living room with several large windows.

I am super excited to have this experience but very nervous. I would hate for this opportunity to not turn out as well by me missing a "key element" somewhere.

Im bringing my Nikon D7000 with a 50mm 1.8 lens along with several accessories such as a backdrop stand (made from PVC) , backdrop fabric, my sons "bean bag", a large reflector ( that I plan on using opposite side of large window, directed at baby ), a few bowls and "foo foo" girly things ( definitely not a necessity but I couldn't resist ).

Mom plans ( or hopes) to have baby super sleepy with a full tummy....

As for the technical aspect, (all in theory) I basically plan on staying in A priority mode ideally around the 1.8-2- range ( for more Fore and background blur). The D7000 seems to do really well with higher ISO's so I'm not hesitant about adjusting it as needed. white balance set on cloudy for warmer tones?

And lastly, Spot metering with the focus being on the eye closest to me.

Does everything sound accurate for the most part ? It's not everyday that I have the chance to photograph a "very new" newborn and I want to use every moment to my fullest potential.

 

[dndpaints]

I just did my first shoot a couple of weeks ago with the same camera and lens. A few things to think about...someone WILL get peed or pooped on at some point if you are doing nude shots of baby. Bring several backgrounds and if your been bag doesn't have a vinyl cover you'll need something between the fabric and the bag to absorb spills and keep the bag from getting ruined. Crib pads work well and mom likely has some. Also mom may expect to have baby sleepy but that can all change when you take baby's clothes off. They aren't used to being naked so take your time and let them adjust. Also, keep the room warm...almost uncomfortably warm, say around 80. Little one's get chilled fast and that's a guaranteed way to make them not relax.

If you do shots of baby swaddled, make sure their hands are up where you can see them just peaking out of the wrap or at least their shoulders show. I made the rookie mistake of swaddling the baby like I normally would my own child and all that showed was her face...not a cute picture.

As for white balance...honestly I leave mine in auto. I find that that camera is usually spot on or very close...usually just a minor tweak in Lightroom or photoshop if anything.

 

[MLeeK]

Baby bean bags are much firmer than bean bag chairs. I'd skip the bean bag chair, it's more dangerous that good for you.
You will be rather close to your subject, so I suspect you will find that 1.8-2 is too shallow. Make sure to constantly check your depth of field and to watch your shutter speed.
You have the focus idea. Just make sure it's the inside corner of the eye closest you so that if baby is not completely flat to camera you will have DOF falling to the other eye too.
Expect it to take LOTS of time. Newborns do NOT cooperate.
A heating pad is a great tool with newborns.
Make sure heat in the room you will be working in is WARM. Baby will be nekked a lot! You should be sweating!
I always carry with me hand sanitizer. People can be a little odd about their babies! This one probably won't be a big deal cuz it's a friend, but it's a good practice to get into.
Be prepared for poop and pee. It's a fact of life with newborns. Wipes are a necessity.

 

[KmH]

F/1.8 to f/2 probably won't cut it with a 50 mm f/1.8 lens.

For tack sharp focus at the point of focus you will need to stop the 50 mm f/1.8 down at least 2 stops to f/3.5, and f/4 or smaller would be better. The depth-of-field (DoF) even at f/4 will likely be very, very shallow. So shallow as to make placing the zone of acceptable sharp focus very, very difficult. Hopefully, your camera has a depth-of-field preview function, and your viewfinder doesn't get to dark when you use it.

Assuming a crop sensor camera, f/4 and a 5 foot point of focus distance, the total DoF will only be 0.45 feet (5.4 inches) with 0.23 feet (2.3 inches/48%) of the 5.4 inches being in front of the point of focus and 0.25 feet (3 inches/52%) behind the point of focus.

If using f/4 and the point of focus is less than 5 feet, the DoF will be even more shallow. At 4 feet the total DoF is only 0.3 feet or 3.6 inches (48%/52%).

DoF and lens focus sweet spot are the reason many professional portrait photographers use f/5.6 to f/11. At f/5.6 using a 50 mm on a crop sensor camera the DoF is still only 0.67 feet (8 inches).

I've said many times the often recommended for portraiture, inexpensive, 50 mm f/1.8 is a poor recommendation because so many photographers just don't understand how DoF works.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum/270090-most-common-problem-dof.html

You can visit Online Depth of Field Calculator which is the source of my numbers, and I used Nikon Dxxxx crop sensor cameras. Your profile doesn't list any gear.
Since Canon crop sensors are a bit smaller than Nikon crop sensors the DoF numbers above would be slightly smaller too.

 

[Derrel]

Jack the ISO to 800 most likely, set the lens to f/4.5 to f/5.6, and meter the cheek of the baby to determine the right shutter speed. Place the shooting area closest to the brightest window, and get the reflector JUST outside of the picture area. There will NOT be a lot of extra depth of field, so you will need to focus carefully, and realize that the depth of field plane is SHALLOW...so, you will need to make sure the baby's face is in-focus. Luckily, a six day-old baby cannot move around much...hardly at all,actually, so, this is do-able. Do "safe" poses...none of this propping the baby's head upon her hands nonsense...that's just dangerous for a newborn...

 

[rachelrach11]

F/1.8 to f/2 probably won't cut it with a 50 mm f/1.8 lens.

For tack sharp focus at the point of focus you will need to stop the 50 mm f/1.8 down at least 2 stops to f/3.5, and f/4 or smaller would be better. The depth-of-field (DoF) even at f/4 will likely be very, very shallow. So shallow as to make placing the zone of acceptable sharp focus very, very difficult. Hopefully, your camera has a depth-of-field preview function, and your viewfinder doesn't get to dark when you use it.

Assuming a crop sensor camera, f/4 and a 5 foot point of focus distance, the total DoF will only be 0.45 feet (5.4 inches) with 0.23 feet (2.3 inches/48%) of the 5.4 inches being in front of the point of focus and 0.25 feet (3 inches/52%) behind the point of focus.

If using f/4 and the point of focus is less than 5 feet, the DoF will be even more shallow. At 4 feet the total DoF is only 0.3 feet or 3.6 inches (48%/52%).

DoF and lens focus sweet spot are the reason many professional portrait photographers use f/5.6 to f/11. At f/5.6 using a 50 mm on a crop sensor camera the DoF is still only 0.67 feet (8 inches).

I've said many times the often recommended for portraiture, inexpensive, 50 mm f/1.8 is a poor recommendation because so many photographers just don't understand how DoF works.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum/270090-most-common-problem-dof.html

You can visit Online Depth of Field Calculator which is the source of my numbers, and I used Nikon Dxxxx crop sensor cameras. Your profile doesn't list any gear.
Since Canon crop sensors are a bit smaller than Nikon crop sensors the DoF numbers above would be slightly smaller too.

Im trying to get myself familiar with DOF and all it's glory :/ Im still confused about one ( probably the main) aspect of it.

You (so kindly) referenced the DOF calculator a while back. I have used it multiple times ( and currently have it saved on home screen ) but understanding it is a completely different story. It's like looking up a word in English and having it to me in Chinese.

For example.....
Let's say I'm using a D7000 with 50mm f8 at 4ft.
#1-My near limit is 3.82ft, far limit 4.2ft, total is 0.38
#2-Total in front of subject is .18ft (48%)
#3-Total behind is 0.2ft (52%)
#4-Hyper focal 81.5ft
#5-Circle of confusion 0.02m

#1- have no idea what near, far and total is or includes?

#2- does this mean that .18ft(48%) in front of actual subject is in focus? Will ALL of ACTUAL subject be in focus and this .18ft is a portion that will be added to the front? If so, how does the calculator know exactly how big or how much of subject to use as focus?

#3- Same concept as #2 but behind the subject ?

#4 & #5 Can't seem to tie these in?

I apologize if I sound like a complete idiot. I try to read and understand things of this nature and some things are easier for me to figure out than others.

Thanks again for taking the time to help me understand! I WANT to learn everything that I can! Your always so awesome! Thanks again!

 

[rachelrach11]

Jack the ISO to 800 most likely, set the lens to f/4.5 to f/5.6, and meter the cheek of the baby to determine the right shutter speed. Place the shooting area closest to the brightest window, and get the reflector JUST outside of the picture area. There will NOT be a lot of extra depth of field, so you will need to focus carefully, and realize that the depth of field plane is SHALLOW...so, you will need to make sure the baby's face is in-focus. Luckily, a six day-old baby cannot move around much...hardly at all,actually, so, this is do-able. Do "safe" poses...none of this propping the baby's head upon her hands nonsense...that's just dangerous for a newborn...

Thanks! You are one of the many reasons why I come to this forum for a teaching aide!

 

[Derrel]

Circle of confusion: technical term, forget about it for now. Seriously, forget that. Hyperfocal distance: the distance where depth of field extends from Infinity and back toward the camera to the closest possible distance. Hyperfocal distance varies with film format size, lens length, and f/stop in use. On the 50mm lens set to f/8, if the focusing distance is set to 51.4 feet, with the lens aperture set at f/8, on an APS-C format Nikon digital, with 0.02mm as the circle of confusion (the size of the "fuzzy" OOF airy disc), then the pictures shot will have "acceptable depth of field" from Infinity, and extending closer to the camera, as close as 25.7 feet.

My numbers are a bit different than the ones you provided, and are found at Online Depth of Field Calculator

The "in front" and "behind" numbers are the distances both in front of and behind the point of SHARPEST focus. See, in focusing, there is only one plane of actual SHARPEST focus; there is also "acceptable focus", both in front and behind that single plane's distance. Depth of field is that "zone" from in front to behind the actual focus plane, where objects appear acceptably sharp to be considered visually in-focus, based upon critertia for fuzziness (which is the circle of confusion, which is actually a size measurement for just how blurry something can be before it is rejected as being "too blurry").

In portraiture, shallow depth of field often shows up as having a nose that is out of focus, and then very clear,crisp eyes, and then ears that are ever-so-slightly out of focus. THAT IS THE WAY a lens renders a person's face when the lens is close to the person, and the aperture is wide,m like at say, f/1.8 or f/2. Depth of field in portraiture is very dependent upon just how close the camera is to the subject; at close distances, there is simply not a lot that is in focus, except for the plane the lens is actually focused upon! And so, at close distances, focusing becomes very important, and using somewhat smaller f/stops, like say f/4, or f/4.5, or even f/5.6--instead of big openings, like f/1.8 or f/2 or f/2.2, gives us a larger "depth of field"; meaning there is a little bit more in-focus in front of the plane of exact focus, and also a bit more in-focus behind the plane of exact focus.

Look at the drawings on Online Depth of Field Calculator they will help a bit I think.

Using depth of field is how we as photographers use the techniques of selective focus AKA "shallow depth of field", as well as "hyperfocal distance focusing"so we can get DEEP depth of field. Sometimes we want to make sure the background is out of focus; other times, we want to get deep depth of field that extends from very near the camera, to very far from it.

 

[KmH]

Im trying to get myself familiar with DOF and all it's glory :/ Im still confused about one ( probably the main) aspect of it.

You (so kindly) referenced the DOF calculator a while back. I have used it multiple times ( and currently have it saved on home screen ) but understanding it is a completely different story. It's like looking up a word in English and having it to me in Chinese.

For example.....
Let's say I'm using a D7000 with 50mm f8 at 4ft.
#1-My near limit is 3.82ft, far limit 4.2ft, total is 0.38
#2-Total in front of subject is .18ft (48%)
#3-Total behind is 0.2ft (52%)
#4-Hyper focal 81.5ft
#5-Circle of confusion 0.02m

#1- have no idea what near, far and total is or includes?

#2- does this mean that .18ft(48%) in front of actual subject is in focus? Will ALL of ACTUAL subject be in focus and this .18ft is a portion that will be added to the front? If so, how does the calculator know exactly how big or how much of subject to use as focus?

#3- Same concept as #2 but behind the subject ?

#4 & #5 Can't seem to tie these in?

The numbers are relative to 2 places. The near and far limits are relative to the camera. The 'in front of'(%) and behind values are relative to the what you focused on, which you intend to be the babies near eye. If you focus on the babies near eye, everything from there (the point of focus) that is 0.18 feet closer to the camera, and everything from the eye 0.2 feet further from the camera will have acceptably sharp focus. That constitutes the depth-of-field, which has a total depth of 0.38 feet.

From the camera - The near limit is how far (3.82 feet) from the camera the zone of acceptable focus starts. Anything closer to the camera than 3.82 feet will be blurred to some extent.
The babies eye will be 0.18 further from the camera and 4 feet from the camera. The DoF far limit (4.2 feet) is how far from the camera the DoF ends and whatever is further from the camera will be out-of-focus to an extent relative to how far from the camera.

You need to note that the DoF is pretty much parallel to the image sensor in your camera. So if the camera is pointing slightly up or down the zone of the DoF will also be slightly tilted up or down.
Also the Dof doesn't have sharp limits, focus sharpness falls off gradually near the number limits. Actually the focus sharpness begins falling off immediately with distance from the point of focus, but the focus stays sharp enough until the limits the numbers define are reached.

You can practice all this without a baby. A stuffed animal or something similar can be used.

Camera......................3.82'..eye..4.2'...................................................................................

0.18'..eye..0.2'

 

[rachelrach11]

You guys are awesome. It makes so much more sense now that you have explained it. It will definitely take something to get use to but I'm determined to do it.

This are a few newborn shots of my sweet Piper taken by a local photographer. I wanted to post a few since we are on the subject of newborn photography and DOF. I really like the DOF used in these shots.

Can something like this be achieved with a f4-f6? She ( the photographer ) seemed to stay around 2-3 feet from Piper during most of the session.

 

[MLeeK]

Look at the exif data on her images and see what she was using. I can't see it on these, but if you have any digi's you should be able to.
I'd guess about f/7.1, but that's because that's my comfort zone that close. If you are on a crop sensor maybe f/8.

 

[rachelrach11]

Look at the exif data on her images and see what she was using. I can't see it on these, but if you have any digi's you should be able to.
I'd guess about f/7.1, but that's because that's my comfort zone that close. If you are on a crop sensor maybe f/8.

We unfortunately just purchased actual prints from her. I want to say that the actual CD file would have cost us around $100 more and after spending around $500 ( that also included the session fee), we passed.

I know for a fact that she used a Nikon D700, natural light with a large reflector. These are just select images that she shared/posted on my facebook account.

 

[rachelrach11]

The numbers are relative to 2 places. The near and far limits are relative to the camera. The 'in front of'(%) and behind values are relative to the what you focused on, which you intend to be the babies near eye. If you focus on the babies near eye, everything from there (the point of focus) that is 0.18 feet closer to the camera, and everything from the eye 0.2 feet further from the camera will have acceptably sharp focus. That constitutes the depth-of-field, which has a total depth of 0.38 feet.

From the camera - The near limit is how far (3.82 feet) from the camera the zone of acceptable focus starts. Anything closer to the camera than 3.82 feet will be blurred to some extent.
The babies eye will be 0.18 further from the camera and 4 feet from the camera. The DoF far limit (4.2 feet) is how far from the camera the DoF ends and whatever is further from the camera will be out-of-focus to an extent relative to how far from the camera.

You need to note that the DoF is pretty much parallel to the image sensor in your camera. So if the camera is pointing slightly up or down the zone of the DoF will also be slightly tilted up or down.
Also the Dof doesn't have sharp limits, focus sharpness falls off gradually near the number limits. Actually the focus sharpness begins falling off immediately with distance from the point of focus, but the focus stays sharp enough until the limits the numbers define are reached.

You can practice all this without a baby. A stuffed animal or something similar can be used.

Camera......................3.82'..eye..4.2'...................................................................................

0.18'..eye..0.2'

Thanks a bunch! We have a plethora of stuffed animals in the house , so I took your advise. I tried experimenting with different things and getting more ( not 100%) comfortable with it.

My concern is that I'm assuming that the lighting could be completely different ( in the fact that I was lazy and didn't use the reflector in my trial run. I'm still getting used to folding those suckers up!) and that the babies skin tones are a little different than Mr. Bear.

Would you recommend staying in "cloudy" for babies skin tones? Im sure its going to be a challenge to have smooth skin tones. And averaging about 3-4 feet at f4-6? I feel like you should start charging me for all the amazing help you've given me so far!!!

 

[paigew]

Looks like you have a lot of great advice already. I haven't read it all but mine is, shoot at around 3.2. I used to have the 50mm 1.8 and that is the aperture where my photos came out the sharpest. Also, I have read that you can use a regular bean bag chair but you have to clamp it really tight on the bottom so it is very firm. Good luck!

 

[MLeeK]

The numbers are relative to 2 places. The near and far limits are relative to the camera. The 'in front of'(%) and behind values are relative to the what you focused on, which you intend to be the babies near eye. If you focus on the babies near eye, everything from there (the point of focus) that is 0.18 feet closer to the camera, and everything from the eye 0.2 feet further from the camera will have acceptably sharp focus. That constitutes the depth-of-field, which has a total depth of 0.38 feet.

From the camera - The near limit is how far (3.82 feet) from the camera the zone of acceptable focus starts. Anything closer to the camera than 3.82 feet will be blurred to some extent.
The babies eye will be 0.18 further from the camera and 4 feet from the camera. The DoF far limit (4.2 feet) is how far from the camera the DoF ends and whatever is further from the camera will be out-of-focus to an extent relative to how far from the camera.

You need to note that the DoF is pretty much parallel to the image sensor in your camera. So if the camera is pointing slightly up or down the zone of the DoF will also be slightly tilted up or down.
Also the Dof doesn't have sharp limits, focus sharpness falls off gradually near the number limits. Actually the focus sharpness begins falling off immediately with distance from the point of focus, but the focus stays sharp enough until the limits the numbers define are reached.

You can practice all this without a baby. A stuffed animal or something similar can be used.

Camera......................3.82'..eye..4.2'...................................................................................

0.18'..eye..0.2'

Thanks a bunch! We have a plethora of stuffed animals in the house , so I took your advise. I tried experimenting with different things and getting more ( not 100%) comfortable with it.

My concern is that I'm assuming that the lighting could be completely different ( in the fact that I was lazy and didn't use the reflector in my trial run. I'm still getting used to folding those suckers up!) and that the babies skin tones are a little different than Mr. Bear.

Would you recommend staying in "cloudy" for babies skin tones? Im sure its going to be a challenge to have smooth skin tones. And averaging about 3-4 feet at f4-6? I feel like you should start charging me for all the amazing help you've given me so far!!!

If you are shooting raw I suppose cloudy would work. Then you'd have one consistent white balance to fix. Makes more sense to me to print out a gray card and just set a custom white balance.