Photographing little babies is just so ….. fun, and stressful, and tense and …hard!! But so worth whatever it takes to get the job done.
This photography effort below was not perfect. I am just a mom trying to figure this stuff out and I make plenty of mistakes on my journey, but this new mom was happy to have some pictures of her little girl, mistakes and all, and I was happy to get the practice and learn some things.
I headed out the door with my bag packed: one white satin baby blanket, some white tulle, a few simple baby outfits, a rattle, crunchy bright toy, my 50mm 1.4 lens, an empty memory card and a full battery.
What I was hoping to find when I got to the house was: nice window light and a fed ‘not sleepy’ happy baby!
Here are some thoughts on what I learned and a few tips.
Pack a little simple outfit just in case the mom forgot. I like lots of baby skin showing but a little simple dress for a girl or shirt for a boy is cute too. I brought this little pink slip along with a cloth diaper cover…always use a diaper cover (found at most specialty children’s stores) there is nothing cute about a disposable diaper.
I found some great natural window light in the upstairs foyer. We put the white blanket over some pillows and tried to set her up a bit. Remember to turn off the flash!
You may or may not always get the smile you want at this age…so be happy with the tongue!
Be even happier if you get the tongue AND the smile together! Notice in this shot that the head needs to be tilted down a little more. Note that the tulle in the background keeps the carpet from showing.
Try to face the baby directly toward the window light. Notice the light in her eyes? I have had some success with mom holding baby and getting the over the shoulder shots. But she has to hold her up high so the baby isn’t buried in her shoulder.
I used my 50mm lens and learned that the f stop needed to be a bit higher than it was with the close-up shots These were shot at 2.8, ISO 160, shutter speed 1/100. When your f stop is low and you are close, the depth of field is shallow meaning that only a sliver of the photo will actually be in focus. In this case one eye is in focus and the other one is not because it fell a little behind the right eye and out of the focus area….this is called a shallow depth of field, only a small part of the are is in focus. I should have increased my f stop to include a larger area.
After a little crop.
I always like to get hands in the shot, both hands seems to be a bonus.
Try different angles and work through the crying and diaper changes. Don’t get discouraged; one minute they will be screaming and the mom will be anxious then the next second they will calm down. Although an extra pair of hands to help is good, I seem to have the best success when mom leaves the room!
Try changing to black and white post editing. This is black and white with the temperature warmed up a bit.
I had to get flat on the floor for this shot but I love it. Once the crawling starts this shot will be hard to get so get it before they start moving!
I love the interaction here with mom. The beauty of this shot is that you can’t really tell if she was laughing or crying! So keep shooting through the crying! You may be surprised!
Finally, keep shooting till the very end when baby gets tired and the ‘nuzzling’ starts. At this point it would have been good to get some sleeping baby photos but she was changed and put down for a nap. I felt like I needed a nap too!
Camera Mom Tip: Practice is the key to getting better with your photography. Remember with babies especially you will have to take a lot of shots. Practicing with a baby doll is a good idea. I like to plan a few sessions so I don’t feel so stressed to have to get it perfect the first time!
