Tips for shooting newborns/babies?

T

The Judge

Messages
13
Edit My Images
Yes
My wife and I have a newborn baby (3 months old the other day) and he was one of the primary reasons for getting my 650D. He's still at the stage where he does smile but it can be fairly infrequent. He is obviously indoors a lot too so lighting isn't the best. Can anyone recommend any tips on how to shoot him?

Candid shots are a bit difficult because I am still struggling with exposing correctly with indoor lighting. Am I best off trying to 'pose' him? Place him on some pillows or something and take shots of him like that? Any tips will help really.

Also, I'm using my 50mm 1.8 mostly and my wife gets annoyed that I have to get quite so close to him. I don't personally think he's bothered but would it do me well to invest in a zoom (my only other lens is the 18-55 kit lens).

Thanks in advance, everyone!
 
I suggest first you get familiar with your existing lenses before buying anything else. The problem is not your equipment.
You must experiment and see what works best. Try shutter priority at continuous shutter release mode to catch those moments which happen too fast for your reactions. Then try aperture priority at various ISO settings. Get familiar with all these settings, so that handling the camera becomes second nature.
Above all I suggest you use natural light to avoid harsh shadows and to soften the image. Indoor lighting is a pain and flash is harsh.
Large windows with good daylight and leaving the doors open to flood in as much light as possible, is a great way to get more natural results.
Once you are comfortable with all this, you'll be able to figure out the best way for poses and keeping the wife happy!
Read up all the other threads in this forum. There are tons of guys with much better experience than mine who can give good professional advice.
Good luck and remember "Practice makes perfect"!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
First of all congratulations! I'm also a recent father with my little one just turned 3 months too. My tips would be to practise lots add stated above. I've taken thousands of photos already, some are great some are terrible but you learn as you go.

I've tried to pose my son, but i find it too difficult - he can never settle when i try it! Instead I've just taken candid shots usually with my 35mm f1.8 sometimes with my 17 - 55mm. He isn't too bothered about the camera. Your 50mm should be perfect.

When i get home I'll try and post some of the results of my 35mm lens.
 
Thanks for the advice, guys.

I think I'm struggling mainly because of the light. It's a dark house generally and the lighting is very uneven. I'll give it a shot trying to experiment. He's about at the stage where he can hold his head up a little so propping in the corner of the sofa is quite good. Getting him to smile though is a different matter...
 
I've also got a 3 month (well, 3.5 month) baby girl and our front room is miserable, facing away from the sun all day whilst the conservatory at the back gets more light, it's too cold to go in there at the moment!

I've just bought an SB-600 and will experiment a bit with that. I'm using a Nikon 85m f1.8 lens so at least I can give myself some distance away from the baby.

Any off camera lighting tips in this situation?
 
I think, from what little experimenting I've done, you are better off trying to take pictures of a newborn with someone else to help out. Trying to get them to smile from behind a camera is a nightmare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top