Baby portraits

Todd

Todd

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Name
Dale
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Hi everyone, I'm in need of some help, I have been shooting for around 2 years now on various subjects and getting quite competent until a friend ask me to shoot some portraits of his 2 week old baby, naturally I said yes but never having taken such shots like this I'm in need of some advice on what to do?

I was thinking some natural lighting near a window using maybe a neutral coloured sheet (white) for a back drop on maybe a sofa or something?

Im using a D80 with a 18-70mm and a 55-200mm

any advice will be much appreciated.

many thanks.
 
Your lenses are very slow for use of natural light. Using natural light you should be looking for something like a 50 f1.8 or faster

If you do decide to do it look for props - could be a rug, a basket, a sheet of see through material - anything to compliment the newborn. Towels and a bean bag can be very useful.

Search the web for images of newborns.

Your lack of fast glass though will be your biggest issue although if the baby is close to the window and there's enough light you may manage it.

I generally use flash but I guess you don't have any studio strobes?

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Try to get as much light into your photos as possible - that's always a good advice, but here it's probably more important than ever. Babies' skin is very difficult in post processing, so you want to have the initial material really bright and with as little noise as possible.
Also, take the feet/ hands shots when the baby is asleep (if you are lucky and it is asleep during the shoot ;)), so you have sharp photos of these little sweet pieces ;)
 
Todd said:
No strobes unfortunately although I have just acquired a studio lamp which could be helpful. this is all new to me so I suppose I got to start somewhere.
Click to expand...

Fast lens and a large window will be your friend. Babies move fast and that could be an issue for you unless of course you get baby sleeping :)
 
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