tips for newborn photography

[allison_dcp]

I have a CanonT50 35mm camera, a 50mm lens and a telephoto lens. I have been shooting for about a month. I was hoping someone has some good advice/tips or a good website to have as a reference. Thanks!

 

[KmH]

What do you have to use for lighting?

 

[IgsEMT]

Well,
First you need to know your camera/lens limitations... Then as KMH said, your light source. After you figure that out you'll know if you can shoot during daylight only or can do it at any time day/night(ish). Once that's covered, you need a subject who will let you work with him/her.

 

[allison_dcp]

What do you have to use for lighting?

the sun...lol. I do have a mountable flash, but wouldnt that make the pictures less natural?

 

[jamesbjenkins]

My best advice would be to read the (literally) thousands of posts here on this very topic.

Instead of starting yet another thread, why don't you try that nifty search function at the top?

Good luck.

 

[allison_dcp]

Well,
First you need to know your camera/lens limitations... Then as KMH said, your light source. After you figure that out you'll know if you can shoot during daylight only or can do it at any time day/night(ish). Once that's covered, you need a subject who will let you work with him/her.

My moms friend is having a baby, and I'm doing it for free(obviously) for practice.

 

[IgsEMT]

If you use artificial light source correctly, it will look natural. But from just this thread alone, doesn't seem like you know how to do that; therefore, learn basics of lighting before the baby is born.

 

[KmH]

What do you have to use for lighting?

the sun...lol. I do have a mountable flash, but wouldnt that make the pictures less natural?

Not if the flash is used effectively.

Light Science and Magic, Fourth Edition: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

Shooting indoors can present some technical problems.

1. Low light levels. The camera does not see the way you see. What is sufficiently bright to you could be quite dark to the camera. So dark that you cannot use a handheld shutter speed fast enough to control camera shake.
2. If you use window light (ambient light) and then turn on some interior lights, the interiors lights are not going to have the same light color temperature the window light has, and you can get some strange color casts from using the mixed color temperature lighting. Window light and constant lighting is ambient light, while flash is strobed light. Hot shoe flash units are designed to produce light that is very close in color temperature to sunlight (window light).
3. Using flash gives an advantage in that you can use the lens aperture to control the strobed light exposure while using the shutter speed to control the ambient light exposure, with the same shutter release. Often the ambient light is controlled so it is at least a stop darker than the strobed light exposure to help make the main subject (the infant) really pop in the image.

 

[unpopular]

Yes. But high intensity light can make some baby's heads grow at a tremendous rate, while arms and legs shrink. It has also been scientifically proven that too many flash discharges around infants turns them into internet trolls.

My own parents were very fond of flash photography.

 

[goodmornin]

heard or read somewhere that anne geddes always use natural light for newborn photography. maybe you can check out here books for some samples/tips

 

[rokvi]

heard or read somewhere that anne geddes always use natural light for newborn photography. maybe you can check out here books for some samples/tips

I don't think she "always" uses natural light. Sometimes maybe.

 

[KmH]

heard or read somewhere that anne geddes always use natural light for newborn photography. maybe you can check out here books for some samples/tips

From Anne Geddes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A typical sitting takes place in the morning when the babies are well-rested, and lasts about half an hour, otherwise the babies get too bored or fussy.[SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][7][/SUP] "You have to be really fast," Geddes says about getting good shots. She sets up her studio in advance—props, lighting, cameras and equipment[SUP][8][/SUP]—so that all the baby or babies have to do is sit. Many of her props are custom made, such as over-sized shoes and flowerpots.[SUP][6][/SUP] She keeps the babies' parents nearby for extra assistance with expressions.

 

[PinkDoor]

I've posted about her before. . . Jaiden Photography. Here info on baby safety is awesome. Also check out her Facebook page, she has pictures posted of pull-backs with her natural light and lighting showing.

Newborn Safety | Jacksonville’s Newborn Photographer » jaidenphotography.com

 

[12sndsgood]

Learn baby saftey, don't just sit babies there and expect them to not fall off of something, or get injured.

 

[ulrichsd]

Here's a thread from a while ago, I thought there were some good suggestions including the link on posing. http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...forum/251906-newborn-photo-questions-c-c.html

If you have a room with good windows and ambient light, you can probably make that work, especially with a little post processing.