Baby Photography

K

K-lou

Suspended / Banned
Messages
18
Name
Karen
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi everybody

I am new to this website and new to photography really. I have always loved taking picture and now I have my daughter Rose who is just over 6 months I love taking pictures of her.

I am looking to get into baby photography and was just wondering if anybody else does that on here or does it as a living.

K xx
 
Hi Karen

I do! Set up late last year, so quite new myself but the next few months should hopefully be a turning point. Was there anything in particular you were looking to find out?
 
Hi Simon

Thanks for getting back to me :-) Everything really lol Just how did you start, how easy did you find it, what sort of kit would be needed. This is something that I would just love to do, I have put a couple of pictures of my own little girl on here for people to see.

I ideally would love to start next year so I have this time to really brush up and learn as much as I can. I own a Cannon 400d and have two lenses which came with the camera.

K xx
 
Practice loads on friends babies, and look at what other people do to get ideas on the styles, although toddlers at play works as well as 'posed shots'. I use my 50mm 1.4 for most shots, great IQ. A good flash is essential (SB900 for Nikon) and a collapsable background too. It does take time to set up, any advertising you book is always a few months down the line. It also takes time to set website up, plan a price list and product list and also look at other ways to get work. Local baby groups would be a good first point of call.

Like you, I did loads of my boy, had some great comments and was asked by others to do their kids... A good personality helps!
 
Could I be really cheeky and ask if you charged at all while you were practicing? I have a friend who is doing the same and she is charging £20 for two hour session and then all the pictures on the cd for them?

I am just starting out so was not sure if I could or should do that? Thanks so much for your advise, I would love to get a website set up but your right it will all take awhile.

I am going to have a look around and see what sort of flash I can get and what would be best. Thinking of starting a course as well just to get me better at lighting as I am not great at that.

K XX
 
This is an area that I think I would definitely like to get into. I have done a couple of photo shoots for my friend of her son, and a shoot for one other friend and I have really enjoyed doing them. Obviously a love of children and the kind of personality that can keep a child occupied is worth it's weight in gold when doing these kinds of shoots I think - luckily I always seem to get on well with children :)

I personally haven't charged anything although I did a shoot for my friend last week and she gave me some money towards my travelling expenses which was nice. I am now getting to the stage where I think if I can do another couple of shoots I might have enough material to be able to set up a website and start offering shoots at a good price.

I think you have a good pricing structure on your website cambsno thats definitely the kind of thing I'd probably aim for.

I have a few images on my Flickr from the shoot I did last week if you would like to have a look at them.
 
Dont know the Canon equiv but did have a sb600, although my new sb900 is much better.

They were very close friends so did not charge, they are the sort of friends who I would never charge anyway.
 
Of course I don't mind, thanks so much for the feedback. I was not sure with the one of her and the blanket. I wanted to be drawn to just her eyes but her face looks out of focus.
K x
 
Great pictures, I love looking at other peoples photos to get ideas
I am doing this too ;)
I have just started charging since the new year, I charge £80 for an hour session of taking them and at least 15 high res images on a disc, this is until I get my portfolio built up, I am getting really booked up though!
Can't believe how popular I am :eek: I have stopped doubting myself now though which is a good thing so hope to get better........
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sutton-United-Kingdom/Kay-Graham-Photography/219549782602?ref=ts is my page and I am in the midst of setting up a zenfolio website.......

Any comments welcome I love recieving comments!! :)
 
Kay your pictures are stunning this is the sort of work I love to be able to do. Would you mind if I asked what kit you have? I have already looked into getting onto a course, and now I am looking at buying the flash or soft box and also backdrop's and so on?? Do you use Photoshop for these pictures, they really are fab :-)

K xx
 
Shazza- Thanks for becoming a fan :) :thumbs:

K- I have taken over my hubbys home office and converted one half of it into my studio!
My camera is a D5000 with kit lens and 35mm 1.8
I have seamless paper for my backdrop, the elemental's mega pack 2 (2 lights with softbox & umbrella).
I have a seperate flash unit for use when out. But if I go on location I would much rather use natural light then flash.
I use Photoshop CS4.
Hope that helps?
 
Kay

How are you promoting yourself, you say you are getting booked up - how? How did you get 67 friends on facebook. I really cant get to grips with FB, can people search for things like Baby Photography?

Simon
 
I have been subjecting our 4 month old to many many hundreds of shots - they move so quickly sometimes that you end up with a blur!

I am keen to us Elements to try and change the yellow tinge that is appearing from the lights in our apartment thought - a steep learning curve!
 
I do a fair bit too :)

I noted Simon's comments about using a flash and a portable backdrop and to be honest I think that is way too shy of what you need. I suppose it depends on what you want to shoot and the quality of final product.

Whilst you can use one light (I do lots), the small camera flash doesn't really take the accessories needed to get the best soft light.

I'm no master of light but I do think as a pro we should have the kit available to do the job in any situation.

My kit is maybe a little overkill but if you want to shoot professional kids portraits, you need strobes. The power, control and number of modifers means you will get the best quality of light and will make your job a lot easier.

2 or 3 strobes (there's lots of choice in this area) - I use Elinchrom 400BX lights. I have a portable Lastolite hilite with a black bottletop cover so I can switch white to black in seconds. I have a couple of smaller portable backdrops but shooting kids needs a bit of space to shoot in so the 6x7 hilite gives me that.

You don't need a particularly fast lens - you just need a lens that is sharp at f8 as most of my studio shots are taken at that aperture although I do use a Canon L lens (24-105f4L IS).

McKenzie-078.jpg
 
XB70 said:
I have been subjecting our 4 month old to many many hundreds of shots - they move so quickly sometimes that you end up with a blur!

I am keen to us Elements to try and change the yellow tinge that is appearing from the lights in our apartment thought - a steep learning curve!
Click to expand...

The issue here is the amount of light you have available for the aperture you are using. You need a fast shutter speed to stop action. Look for about 1/125th minimum probably faster. Better still use flash to freeze action.

To get the faster shutter speeds without flash you need high ISO or/and a fast lens (f2.8 or faster)

THese youngsters are fast and stop but for a brief fraction of a second :)

user1265_pic430_1255186710_1_.jpg
 
KayGraham said:
Any comments welcome I love recieving comments!! :)
Click to expand...

Kay
What edits are you using on the skin? I think the images have the potential to look great but something looks slightly odd about many of them?

JD
 
EOS_JD said:
I do a fair bit too :)

.... I'm no master of light but I do think as a pro we should have the kit available to do the job in any situation.

My kit is maybe a little overkill but if you want to shoot professional kids portraits, you need strobes.
Click to expand...

Erm, I shoot babies and kids and I do it all with natural light, available light. Does that mean I'm no pro? :naughty:

I shoot newborns and young babies inside with window light, and then toddlers upwards I either use window light or I take them on adventures outdoors, which they love.

Indoors I am generally working on ISO 400, f4-f5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/100th or 1/125th.
 
Agree with Zoe. If you have a studio maybe its different, but I shoot in peoples homes, and even if there was space, would it be practical to start setting up strobes? A backdrop and SB900 takes a couple of mins to set up and does not get in the way. I can follow the child round if they are on the move, something you cant do with strobes!
 
cambsno said:
Agree with Zoe. If you have a studio maybe its different, but I shoot in peoples homes, and even if there was space, would it be practical to start setting up strobes? A backdrop and SB900 takes a couple of mins to set up and does not get in the way. I can follow the child round if they are on the move, something you cant do with strobes!
Click to expand...

I don't have a studio. I shoot in my living room and on location in people's homes. I've never shot is a studio!

Setting up stobes is not only fairly easy, it's essential in my book! (Edit: Even with natural light there has to be some control)

Using strobes with a large softbox gives a far bigger coverage area in the place you want the light than a small flash that fires horrible harsh light all over the place. Set up the background (I use the Lastolite HiLite) and you can shoot in the area you have set up.

Takes me 10 mins to set everything up and 10 mns to take down - the backdrop can be changed from white to black in 2 mins.
 
ZoZo said:
Erm, I shoot babies and kids and I do it all with natural light, available light. Does that mean I'm no pro? :naughty:

I shoot newborns and young babies inside with window light, and then toddlers upwards I either use window light or I take them on adventures outdoors, which they love.

Indoors I am generally working on ISO 400, f4-f5.6 with a shutter speed of 1/100th or 1/125th.
Click to expand...

Not at all Zoe. And sorry for forgetting those that use natural light which is in facty probably some of the best light you can get! But when you go on location to people's homes I'm afraid that it's not always possible to shoot in natural light and to get the images I like, strobes are essential. Small flash doesn't really cut it and is too difficult to control.

You quite rightly point that out and sorry I should have noted that myself. I wasn't thinking of the many professional photographers that use natural light - I know a couple of them :)

EDIT: just saw your web site! WOW! :)
 
EOS_JD said:
Kay
What edits are you using on the skin? I think the images have the potential to look great but something looks slightly odd about many of them?

JD
Click to expand...

I thought that too, the eyes looks awesome in most of your photos and the quality is great but there is a strange fake skin thing going on, maybe it's a love or hate thing?

They still look awesome though
 
EOS_JD said:
Not at all Zoe. And sorry for forgetting those that use natural light which is in facty probably some of the best light you can get! But when you go on location to people's homes I'm afraid that it's not always possible to shoot in natural light and to get the images I like, strobes are essential. Small flash doesn't really cut it and is too difficult to control.

You quite rightly point that out and sorry I should have noted that myself. I wasn't thinking of the many professional photographers that use natural light - I know a couple of them :)

EDIT: just saw your web site! WOW! :)
Click to expand...

Not sure I agree. I can think back to my last shoot where stobes could have been an option, but my shoot before that would have been very difficult space wise, and I think it would also be a stuggle at home. If you know what you are doing then a good flash like a SB900 can get very good results and it is a far more natural environment too.
 
cambsno said:
Not sure I agree. I can think back to my last shoot where stobes could have been an option, but my shoot before that would have been very difficult space wise, and I think it would also be a stuggle at home. If you know what you are doing then a good flash like a SB900 can get very good results and it is a far more natural environment too.
Click to expand...

So where do you put your SB600? on-camera? the worst possible place a flash can be.

Not sure what you mean by a more natural environment? I shoot in people's homes too as i said.

Also I often use a single light which needs very little space. Maybe nowhere near Zoe's obvious talents but on camera flash for portraits doesn't cut it. Do you use it off camera?

this was one light - big softbox to create a nice soft light.

Untitled-11.jpg




Proof is in the pudding and Zoes' is a top pudding compared to many I've seen..
 
No, use it on camera when I do use it. I am not denying that in theory a strobe is better, but for me I find the sb900 more useful. Like I said, on a number of shoots having a stand there would have been a problem space wise, and thinking of my latest shoot, the best picture (in the eyes of the customer) was one taken when I followed the child around, and would not have had enough time to move stobes lol!! I find that the benefits of flash outweigh the benefits for strobes, and would certainly suggest the OP starts out with flash then move onto strobes should she feel that would be the best option.

You could have a D3, the best glass and a strobe sytem, but that doesn' mean you would out perform someone with an old D50, cheap flash and a £50 kit lens!!!
 
I understand that and agree to a point. But if all things being equal in terms of the photographers ability, it's likely the the images with the strobe system and D3 would outperform those from a photographer with the D50 and a cheap flash - even an SB900 (taking that we are talking purely about the use of flash here as Zoe has shown natural light can be amazing too - those images she has would match anything I've seen!

Photography is ALL ABOUT LIGHT. No light, or poor light from an on-camera SB900 (and it is generally poor unless some sort of ocf system is employed) is not how I would look to shoot portraits of people in ther homes - especially when charging them good money. Theres little control using flash but far better results can be achieved even in VERY small places by using a brolly or softbox attached to the SB900 or by use of a single strobe. The above baby was shot in a space of 9' wide at the wall and a couch was just outside the frame and I war almost leaning on it.

I appreciate young kids like running around and that is an issue but bribery often works wonders and has them sitting long enough to grab a few - like the ones above.

To be honest many clients would buy any images of their kids - the ones they like are often not the ones I'd say were the best! :)
 
I've done quite a bit of baby photography since my daughter arrived :D

I prefer to use natural light, I limit ISO to no higher than 800 (due to my 50D not being great past that) and often use a reflector. When I do use flash I like to have it off camera and shooting through a diffuser. I sometimes use it on camera but bounced off a wall or ceiling.

My favourite "baby" lens is my Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm f3.5 as its nice and sharp, I've found with the right techniques manual focusing is not a problem at all, it's all in the timing and how you distract the little one!

This is one I took with the 135 and OCF shot through the diffuser:

Julia--mummy-BW-Web.jpg


I'm no pro but I was quite pleased with that :)
 
EOS_JD said:
I understand that and agree to a point. But if all things being equal in terms of the photographers ability, it's likely the the images with the strobe system and D3 would outperform those from a photographer with the D50 and a cheap flash - even an SB900 (taking that we are talking purely about the use of flash here as Zoe has shown natural light can be amazing too - those images she has would match anything I've seen!

Photography is ALL ABOUT LIGHT. No light, or poor light from an on-camera SB900 (and it is generally poor unless some sort of ocf system is employed) is not how I would look to shoot portraits of people in ther homes - especially when charging them good money. Theres little control using flash but far better results can be achieved even in VERY small places by using a brolly or softbox attached to the SB900 or by use of a single strobe. The above baby was shot in a space of 9' wide at the wall and a couch was just outside the frame and I war almost leaning on it.

I appreciate young kids like running around and that is an issue but bribery often works wonders and has them sitting long enough to grab a few - like the ones above.

To be honest many clients would buy any images of their kids - the ones they like are often not the ones I'd say were the best! :)
Click to expand...

Not sure why you have such an issue with using the flash attached to the hot shoe, I've seen great results from doing this and bouncing it off the ceiling.
 
I certainly do use my flashes mainly when shooting events but that's very different from shooting portraits when you need to have more control over the light, and you have the time available to do it. Shooting small camera flash on camera has a number of things wrong with it - not least small catchlights, red eye, shadows under the eyes, harsher light.....

But don't get me wrong I'm not saying never shoot using a flash gun - they have their uses. Just when shooting portraits indoors small flash is not the best way to light the subjects. Again this is disdcussing a single light as the discussion has not amounted to ocf which can give excellent results with small flashes.
 
EOS_JD said:
I certainly do use my flashes mainly when shooting events but that's very different from shooting portraits when you need to have more control over the light, and you have the time available to do it. Shooting small camera flash on camera has a number of things wrong with it - not least small catchlights, red eye, shadows under the eyes, harsher light.....

But don't get me wrong I'm not saying never shoot using a flash gun - they have their uses. Just when shooting portraits indoors small flash is not the best way to light the subjects. Again this is disdcussing a single light as the discussion has not amounted to ocf which can give excellent results with small flashes.
Click to expand...

huh? you do realise we are talking about bounce flash and not direct, since when did you get red eye from bounce flash, this was shot with an on camera 430 ex II bounced off the ceiling. There are no shadows under the eyes, the catchlights aren't small and there is definitely no red eye, how would using strobes have made this shot better? That's not a loaded question, I don't know a lot about lighting.

4292263781_da47d0d6d0_o.jpg
 
Have been reading this thread with interest as this is definitely something I'd like to get better at.

As much as I can see why you suggest strobes would be good EOS JD I think that for a beginner like the OP (and myself) they may be a bit advanced. Having only just brought my first flash (430 exII) I need to get used to using that before thinking about going onto more advanced lighting such as strobes etc. As some of the shots on this thread show you can still get good results using other lighting methods.

I would like to know what lenses people recommend for taking the best baby pictures? At the moment I have used my Canon 50mm 1.8 Mark II for my shots but would like some recommendations for other suitable lenses as I find the focussing very hit and miss using the 50mm.

Also are there any courses that concentrate on this kind of portraiture?
 
I find the sigma 30mm 1.4 great for full length shots and the 85mm 1.8 is a beauty too. The shot above was taken with the 30mm actually
 
Sharon, I used to use a 50mm 1.8 and upgraded to the 1.4 AFS (Nikon) which I found much better. I did have a Nikon 17-55 2.8 which is a 'pro lens, but although it took great pics was never quite as good as the 50mm. Depends on what camera you have - crop factor etc... but something like a 50mm, 85mm or even around 100mm is ideal.

Agree that to start with a flash is fine, once you get to grips with that, then sure - investigate other options!
 
joescrivens said:
huh? you do realise we are talking about bounce flash and not direct, since when did you get red eye from bounce flash, this was shot with an on camera 430 ex II bounced off the ceiling. There are no shadows under the eyes, the catchlights aren't small and there is definitely no red eye, how would using strobes have made this shot better? That's not a loaded question, I don't know a lot about lighting.

4292263781_da47d0d6d0_o.jpg
Click to expand...

That really is a great shot and I'm not sure I could take a shot like that without some form of additional light/modifier. How did you light this? Are you using a reflector or white floor? There's very little shadow under the chin either which is generally what you get from on-camera bounced flash. As the light comes from above, shadows would be cast below any protruding areas like chins, eye sockets etc.

Also looks like there's been some skin softening/lightening too?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top