Very First Newborn Shoot

[EvieJrPhotos]

Hey all. I am new here and open to some critiques and advice. I have been reading for a while and decided I should post.

I had my first newborn shoot yesterday with a 9 day old baby. A lot harder than I though but I am pretty happy with the results.

I would love some feedback and critiques of what should and can be improved. Here are just a few!

 

[misstwinklytoes]

The baby's skin tone looks very off in all of them. Orangey in #1, too cool in #2 &#3.

#1 is sweet, but appears to be snap shotty. Slightly up or maybe further to the right might have made a more interesting angle. It might could be cropped a little? Focus on #1 is spot on the eyes and so pretty those eyes are!

In 2 the blanket she is laying on is very distracting, but I like the angle and idea. I think a solid blanket might have been a good idea.

The outfit in #3 is adorable! I think the lighting does nothing for the sweetheart though. Her face and feet are dark, but everything else seems (maybe) over exposed.

 

[MLeeK]

They are really small for my old eyes to see and give you decent feedback on.
1. Seems to be fairly well focused and exposed. You captured a nice catchlight in the eyes and a sweet smile. The color/skin could be improved upon in post processing, but newborn skin is HARDER THAN HELL to get perfect. I have found it works well to increase the luminance on the oranges to get that nice, creamy baby skin look.
2. Overexposed and I THINK out of focus, but I can't really tell. It's all about those tulips on the blanket. You also have too many props-the blanket, the headband make it busy. THE selective color thing makes it even more about the tulips and makes the headband add to the busy-look at everything but the baby feel. With newborns you really want the least busy images you can get. Especially those naked photos. One prop is a good rule of thumb. A printed blanket is definitely a prop. However you did your selective color it is leaving the bit of diaper rash pink/red and if I can see it at this size I am pretty sure it's a hard draw to the eye at full size.
3.It is green in color and very underexposed. It's too small for me to see the focus but it appears good. This one will be a print problem. You cannot print that at 8x10 or really any ratio other than your camera's sensor without cutting off parts of the baby.

 

[jaicatalano]

First off congratulations. It's a real process when shooting newborns. Let's be honest we all can tell you what is great and what is not so let's skip the good. All 3 shots look like they are either from different shoots or a different baby. Photo 1 for me looks like cheap studio lighting. I love the smile. I don't think babies smile that fast and you caught a great moment.

2 is so over exposed I can't tell where the baby ends and the sheet begins.

3 is good if you were going for a vintage look. It is my favorite.

 

[cgipson1]

^ what MLeek said.. color balance is way off on #2(cyan/blue) and #3 (green/yellow) on my calibrated monitor... post large photos if you want good C&C...

May I post edits?

 

[cgipson1]

Well. guess we scared her off.. when we didn't tell her how wonderful her first newborn shoot was! Too bad.. looks like she has potential!