baby portrate

mercmanuk

mercmanuk

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my niece is having a baby end of Nov and wants some shot of Newborn what portrate filter would br recommended to soften the pictures could be using bounced flash as well,


Merc
 
Not sure I fully understand the question. Are you wanting a filter for the front of lens or one for PP'ing?
How about a very thin smear of Vaseline on an old UV filter or a stretched pair of tights over the lens?
For PP, I'd go with Imagenomic's portraiture but careful not to over do it as it is generally accepted that babies need little to no smoothing.
Probably not what you were after but hopefully it will bump you to the top so someone with some experience can give you a proper answer. ;)
 
Having experience of shooting babies, here's a few of my tips;

Use wide open aperture such as f2.8/f4 for a softer dreamy effect.

Do not use flash on newborns as it causes distress for the baby not to mention I heard somewhere that it's actually bad for newborns to be exposed (no pun intended) to the sort of lighting power that flashes give.

Use a white or black cloth to lay the baby on as a background however do no put the baby directly on the floor, use a cushion or pillow instead to cradle the baby.

Filters are pretty much useless (the ones your after), I've seen these diffuser filters and they aren't needed in this present day, photoshop can have a plethora of plug in's for diffusion but as Mark said there will be very little needed plus using a wide open aperture will also diffuse the image.
 
Hi many thanks for that going to use continuous lighting and some barn doors and a snoot to give off some back light light, using the 70 200mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.4 will have a look a PS i use CS4 but prefer to try to get the shot in one go using raw, not too good in PS, friend of mine has all the portrate software and a lot of props,

Regards Merc
 
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woodbutcher said:
Not sure I fully understand the question. Are you wanting a filter for the front of lens or one for PP'ing?
How about a very thin smear of Vaseline on an old UV filter or a stretched pair of tights over the lens?
For PP, I'd go with Imagenomic's portraiture but careful not to over do it as it is generally accepted that babies need little to no smoothing.
Probably not what you were after but hopefully it will bump you to the top so someone with some experience can give you a proper answer. ;)
Click to expand...


i will give these a go i like home made effects, i am there all weekend for the shoot and the set up will be installed in the spare dining room 18x10 foot very high ceiling all white so will have plenty of time, using no flash then just fill light poss try some coloured gels for the barn doors, and get some sheets from ASDA :D


Merc
 
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Not sure if its of use to you but I did my first baby portraits recently. If you look HERE at my thread you can see the results.

As mastertrinity says use as wide an aperture as possible. Also I would set your camera focus to single point and focus on the eyes. Of course you can focus on the eye and keep the shutter half pressed to lock it and then reposition.

I used one of those soft fleece type blanket to put the baby on in this photo below and she loved it (Francesca aged 3 weeks)

baby%2014.jpg


Also don't use flash, looks awful and scares the baby use a reflector to bounce light back at baby (can get them cheap off ebay) luckily at this early age the baby does not move much so you can get away with a slower shutter (because of larger aperture)
 
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Hi thanks for that they are lovely, i have touched lucky on a free reflector gold / silver from subscribing to photo plus :clap: worth £40 quid so will put that to good use as well as the continuous light and snoots.


Merc
 
Took this yesterday of my 6 week old - Nikon 50mm/1.4 - natural light - 1/80 f2.2

20322c.jpg
 
Hi that's pin sharp and right on the eye, my neice has had her baby so we will be going doen in a couple of weeks, he's nice and chubby as well, well done on that pic it's great

Merc:thumbs:
 
l do newborns a fair bit.

Lighting....natural where possible....lens wide as possible. l do use a softbox sometimes.

Props...beanbags are fab. They support well, and you can change the cover to change the look and feel.

Don't use filters....you want to get detail, but with soft skin, so it's all about post processing.


Untitled by MaddyZangles, on Flickr


IMG_0006 by MaddyZangles, on Flickr
 
Hi thanks for then they are Lovely, giving me more and more ideas just ordered a background supports and B+W backgrounds buy one get one free:)


just had an update from new mum baby's not happy when undressed cries alot, :eek:
not to worrie i'll get some ear plugs:lol:


Merc
 
Well if baby cries when undressed, try getting some nice material to swaddle instead.

You will need to be very, very patient. Try undressing the baby, wrapping in a blanket tight, then when he/she is sound asleep, laying on your prop. The leave it for a bit. Once you know he/she is settled there, remove the blanket slowly. It sometimes works with a baby that isn't settling well.

If not, you'll just have to go with it, but don't get hung up on getting a certain pose. baby rules the shoot.

Allow 3 or 4 hours for the shoot.
 
Make sure the room is Very warm.
 
On the images with the eyes open, are the eyes sharpened?

Rosie
 
MaddyZangles said:
Well if baby cries when undressed, try getting some nice material to swaddle instead.


You will need to be very, very patient. Try undressing the baby, wrapping in a blanket tight, then when he/she is sound asleep, laying on your prop. The leave it for a bit. Once you know he/she is settled there, remove the blanket slowly. It sometimes works with a baby that isn't settling well.

If not, you'll just have to go with it, but don't get hung up on getting a certain pose. baby rules the shoot.

Allow 3 or 4 hours for the shoot.
Click to expand...

all being knitted at the moment

we will be there all weekend studio will be fully set in in spare dining room using dolly for test shots then bring baby in when he's ready.

The23rdman said:
Make sure the room is Very warm.
Click to expand...


oh it will be if i know my sister, :lol:
TheCrewDesigns said:
and don't rush it, you can take breaks to allow the baby some space so he/she does not get fed up
Click to expand...


i will be able to shoot well into the night plenty of G and T's on offer to keep us going.:cool:

lucky with the fact that my neice live's with her mum and dad in there 6 bed house, so she chose to stay, my sister has 4 kids, so she has to be on front row for all this.
 
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MaddyZangles said:
l do newborns a fair bit.

Lighting....natural where possible....lens wide as possible. l do use a softbox sometimes.

Props...beanbags are fab. They support well, and you can change the cover to change the look and feel.

Don't use filters....you want to get detail, but with soft skin, so it's all about post processing.


Untitled by MaddyZangles, on Flickr


IMG_0006 by MaddyZangles, on Flickr
Click to expand...


loving these
very inspirational

not sure how you manged to get the baby to be so clam when naked, as my little one usually screamed!
 
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