Newborn Photography HELP!!!

That's fab! You can set some of the extra aside each month to start building your equipment.

When I started out being interested in photography I felt totally overwhelmed by all the technical stuff. I read loads, did courses, practiced, got feedback, practiced some more. Now 5 years on I have my own wedding photography business. It is possible with hard work, patience and willingness to listen to feedback. Good luck and looking forward to seeing some images :-)
 
I really can't thank you guys enough and hey we ended this well it could have ended worse im so glad i decided to listen to you all im sticking the back pay in a seperate bank account so i can keep track of my savings!
 
ShoeQueen said:
That's fab! You can set some of the extra aside each month to start building your equipment.

When I started out being interested in photography I felt totally overwhelmed by all the technical stuff. I read loads, did courses, practiced, got feedback, practiced some more. Now 5 years on I have my own wedding photography business. It is possible with hard work, patience and willingness to listen to feedback. Good luck and looking forward to seeing some images :)
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thanks for this! Im glad its not just me that felt this way when they started lol!!
 
caitlinjade95 said:
I really can't thank you guys enough and hey we ended this well it could have ended worse im so glad i decided to listen to you all im sticking the back pay in a seperate bank account so i can keep track of my savings!
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yay - and I owe you an apology for what i said before in #117 - I was having a bad day yesterday or the day before or whenever it was.

I'm glad its all come right in the end and thanks to Phil being a diamond geezer you'll shortly have your lighting dillema sorted too

I'll look forward to seeing some pics in the fullness of time (y)
 
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caitlinjade95 said:
thanks for this! Im glad its not just me that felt this way when they started lol!!
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tbh everyone feels that way when they start, even if some of us don't always remember how we felt 20 odd years ago.

Also you are in the strong postion of being good with kids due to your job - personally i'd rather deal with a ticking bomb than a crying 2 year old ... out of my depth doesn't begin to describe it
 
Just wanted to say I've been following this post and wanted to wish you the best for your future career. I've not commented before as others were giving you better advice than I could. It's great to see you listen to it (thought that may not happen at first!) and get some offers of help too. Phil, you are a true gent and it's nice to know people like you are on this forum.

You're also taking home a few more quid each month, which will help no end, I'm sure.

Looking forward to seeing the pics you take, and I wish you all the best. It won't always be easy but you seem the type that has a dream and will stick with it!

Ian
 
Thanks for this message, im just really excited to get learning and give it a shot im determined! thanks again guys!
 
I gave up on this thread some time ago as I was honestly convinced that anything we said would be ignored. I am happy to be proven wrong and that the OP is taking on advice.
 
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And without reading back over each reply lighting does not have to be expensive. Most of my baby work is one light maybe 2 lights and a speed light and softbox can do enough. I would imagine many of us started simply with a camera and natural light.

Did you find a course in the area Carlin?
 
Hey no im still hunting for one im battling with free time at the moment i work stupid hours with no time off lol so i'd book a day off on the day of training once i have a little more money to get me on the move. Thanks for the lighting info i am so excited to get stuck in and just so you know i was listening all the way i was just a little lost :)
 
Hey everyone i know a few of you said you'd like to see some photos when im set up. I'm not fully set up im playing around with my flash and waiting for some stands to come but i shot some photos today and a friends little boy (hes 2) and wondered if anyone could give me any critique or tips etc. These photos are unedited and i just used natural light and what i had around me :)

Sack that...for some reason i cant upload images to this thread, anyone know how to do it lol
 
caitlinjade95 said:
Hey everyone i know a few of you said you'd like to see some photos when im set up. I'm not fully set up im playing around with my flash and waiting for some stands to come but i shot some photos today and a friends little boy (hes 2) and wondered if anyone could give me any critique or tips etc. These photos are unedited and i just used natural light and what i had around me :)

Sack that...for some reason i cant upload images to this thread, anyone know how to do it lol
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If your pictures are on Flickr

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/resources/inserting-images-from-flickr-updated.7/
 
ooo when i try to upload to the thread and i click upload image it just gives me the option to upload only with a link for a URL?
 
caitlinjade95 said:
ooo when i try to upload to the thread and i click upload image it just gives me the option to upload only with a link for a URL?
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First of all, Where are you trying to up load from?
 
What have you used to light these as you say things around the house but it looks from the catch light like a softbox ?

Shot 2 has worked nicley with a nice connection with the camera.

A few pointers

Focus. Try and focus on the eyes (shot 2 could have been lovely if only the eyes had been sharp)

Composition. While nothing in photograpahy should ever be a fixed "Rule" the Rules of thirds simply works, espesially at this basic stage of portrait photography. With these you have put the subjest very much in the middle of the frame. Either focus and reposition or change the focus point. This could be done on these with a little cropping but at this stage I would aim to get this basics right in camera.

Lighting. This is the hard part to pass comments on as you have said already you do not really have any knowledge in lighting and practical training and lots of practice is what you need here. The only thing i can suggest is to play around with this alot. Move the light, take a shot and make note of how it changes the images, not only around the subject but also bringing it in closer for a softer light.
While you have a nice catch light the low key shots are still missing something in the eyes and light posisition will make a big differece to this.

Also bring the subject away from the background a little more if you want pure black.

Shadows. Dont be scared of shadows. Shadows create depth. The main issue with the lighting is it is flat. Again playing with a angle/direction/distance is the only real way to work this out.
A 2 year old is a hard age to pratcice on. My adivce would be to work on lighting with an adult who can do as you ask (or ever on yourself.... or even a dummy) as this way you can be very precise on the lighting
 
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Thankyou very much for this comment it was really helpful. I have myself a little notebook to write down all the tips lol!! This wasn't planned as such she just asked me to get some nice photos of him so it was quote spare of the moment.

I noticed about the eyes straight away and thankyou for the tip on that. I also struggled with the lighting as it was at a funny angle for natural light so i tried a few with a daylight bulb which seemed better than using natural light lol. I havn't bought soft boxes as i want to get used to my flashes before i get any more lighting and confuse the hell out of myself lol!

Ill start practising on adults with the lighting i think this will be my main mission. I have edited some of the shots would you say they are in improvement after editing?

I went on pinterest and followed how to diffuse the light from using a day light bulb. Could the catch light be coming from the window? he was facing it in these shotsView attachment 30901

View attachment 30900
 
A catch light is a good thing. You want that spakle in the eyes. I was just wondering what you had used lighting wise as the shape of the catch light looked like a softbox, but I am looking on Tapatalk so its hard to see clearly. Oddly despite having a nice catchlight the eys still feel a little empty in all the low key shots.

I would expect to get a nicer light from a window than a diy daylight bulb set up at this stage. Was it low light that was the problem?
 
yes there was just the one window and the light looked really flat which is why i tried experimenting its all practise i guess. she loves the photos but she loves them as a parent as a photographer they arn't great so thankyou for the tips on how to make them better!
 
Caitlin, sometime in March on creative live Kelly is doing a newborn seminar, take a look, i think you will enjoy it
 
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Sorry I should have linked for you, box has done it though. Just sign up its free. If you then want to buy the course they do offers. Kelly is very good, I watched it before.
 
quick question!!

You know on photographers photos where they have the pretty fonts with their name on the edge of the photo or in the photo (not a transparent watermark one) how do i do that?!!! hahah

Also im only asking this for future referance my friend wants a couple printing for her so im going to do that without my name thing on and just as the photo. i'm just wondering for any of you professionals when you give your clients their prints...do you leave your signature on there or do you remove it?
 
caitlinjade95 said:
quick question!!

You know on photographers photos where they have the pretty fonts with their name on the edge of the photo or in the photo (not a transparent watermark one) how do i do that?!!! hahah

Also im only asking this for future referance my friend wants a couple printing for her so im going to do that without my name thing on and just as the photo. i'm just wondering for any of you professionals when you give your clients their prints...do you leave your signature on there or do you remove it?
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Hi Caitlin. There's a few ways to go about it.

1. Pay a graphic designer to design a custom signature/logo for you.
2. Have a look at Fiverr.com - you basically you pay someone around a fiver (funnily enough) to knock up a quick logo/signature for you and email you the files. I've seen some pretty darn good ones from there and some absolute dross so it's a lucky dip. Might be worth it for short term use though.
3. You could have a got at creating your own signature watermark in Photoshop or similar if you have it.

As far as watermarking prints for clients, no, not something I'd do. You've gotta take a step back and think about the purpose of a watermark in the first place. It's mainly a deterrent, so that nobody can steal your photograph and pass it off as their own or use your photograph without your prior consent - so therefore it's only really worthwhile adding a watermark when posting photos online (especially social media).

Hope this helps.
 
thankyou for your tips, i think ill have a go at making my own i just want a nice font with my name on it...cant be too hard right?! hahah
 
Still not got the stands for my flashes yet so this was with natural lighting again. I'm so upset with how it went today my cousin has just had a baby and wanted some photos (shes 12 days old today) ive just finished photographing and ive come to check the photos and they look awful compared to my toddler shoot i did last weekend im really dissapointed and im not sure what i did wrong. I really struggled with the 'safe' poses i just wanted the chin on hands pose and poses on the side but serioulsy struggled to get her on her belly. I'd appreciate any tips or telling me where i went wrong i hope i find an answer lol im so frustrated with myself. She was awake for alot of it and only managed to get some sleepy ones but the photos ive selected are my favourite ones. Oh if its any help i used my 50mm lens with my canon 600dView attachment 31360 View attachment 31358 View attachment 31359
 
I think you have a few main problems with these.

1.They are not sharp; Are you using a single AF point or the whole grid? If its a grid then try to switch to a single point and focus on the eyes.

2. Flat Lighting;

When you say natural light what do you mean. Is it a window?

The light is looking very flat. These kind of newborn shots I almost always use natural light alone with baby at around 45 degree angle, with their heads facing the light. This time of year I would then punch the ISO up to around 800 ands shoot at around f2.8. As these stand the lighting is very flat and you need that angle of the light to get some depth in the shot. The same goes for using lighting. I tend to feather light at an angle rather than direct to use the shadows to my advantage.


3. Baby looks unsettled. As a general rule it is a good idea to have babt looking calm and relaxed. Newborns pull some pretty weird faces and discomfort makes this worse. Infact personally i think simply being awake makes this worse and why personally i like to make sure newborns are asleep (some photographers may work differently but i am simply talking from my experience).
As I said its not that I have any problem with awake Newborns but if you want tummy poses you are best to get them asleep or you are making a great images much harder for yourself, at 12 days old that is simply a matter of feeding and waiting, At this age they will sleep and I dont think I have ever had a 12 day old baby that has not gone into a deep sleep. The answer to this is something I have said time and time again and that is to get some training.

A few questions to hopefully be able to help more?

What do you have the AF set to?
How long did you spend on this shoot in total?
What exposure settings are you using?
What is the light and how far away is it?
 
asphotographymk said:
I think you have a few main problems with these.

1.They are not sharp; Are you using a single AF point or the whole grid? If its a grid then try to switch to a single point and focus on the eyes.

2. Flat Lighting;

When you say natural light what do you mean. Is it a window?

The light is looking very flat. These kind of newborn shots I almost always use natural light alone with baby at around 45 degree angle, with their heads facing the light. This time of year I would then punch the ISO up to around 800 ands shoot at around f2.8. As these stand the lighting is very flat and you need that angle of the light to get some depth in the shot. The same goes for using lighting. I tend to feather light at an angle rather than direct to use the shadows to my advantage.


3. Baby looks unsettled. As a general rule it is a good idea to have babt looking calm and relaxed. Newborns pull some pretty weird faces and discomfort makes this worse. Infact personally i think simply being awake makes this worse and why personally i like to make sure newborns are asleep (some photographers may work differently but i am simply talking from my experience).
As I said its not that I have any problem with awake Newborns but if you want tummy poses you are best to get them asleep or you are making a great images much harder for yourself, at 12 days old that is simply a matter of feeding and waiting, At this age they will sleep and I dont think I have ever had a 12 day old baby that has not gone into a deep sleep. The answer to this is something I have said time and time again and that is to get some training.

A few questions to hopefully be able to help more?

What do you have the AF set to?
How long did you spend on this shoot in total?
What exposure settings are you using?
What is the light and how far away is it?
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Just to add to the above (Andy is bang on), I quite like no2. There's lots could be improved on it, but it's just about a keeper.
 
My lighting is a massive issue i know that and there is no photoshopping in the world that can fix it is there lol. When editing these whats the best thing to do on photoshop i usually run and action for black and white shots and i have a newborn one to create the creamy skin but light wise to 'make it a touch better' what is the best thing to go for.

I used a shutter speed of about 1/250 f2.2 and iso at 400 or 800. I did use window lighting and the window was much bigger than my last shots and i had it at about 45 degree angle baby facing the light.

I was shooting through the top bit of the camera that you look into lol and focused it onto the eyes as it was a friend we did it really relaxed i went at 12 and got home for half 3 so roughly three hours (how long should it be).

Im so annoyed at myself she said she'd give me money for the photos (im just going to edit and put them on a disc for her) but im so annoyed at how i did with it that i certainly wont be accepting money off her for it!

I was so hopeful because i really got into the last one i did with the toddler but with the newborn i really struggled getting her in and out of poses i didn't attempt anything that i was unsure of such as the taco pose or the froggy pose, i wouldnt do anyhting of the sort without training!

thankyou both for your imput...now if only i could get to grips with lighting!!!!!
 
The sharpness on all of your images looks a little off Caitlin (these and last weeks), you need to read up on keeping yourself stable. Then practice that and focussing.

At those settings you ought to be able to nail pin sharp every time. Those images don't look like you've lit the way you've described either, there's no visible shadow modelling I'd expect from the 45 degree light source.
 
caitlinjade95 said:
My lighting is a massive issue i know that and there is no photoshopping in the world that can fix it is there lol. When editing these whats the best thing to do on photoshop i usually run and action for black and white shots and i have a newborn one to create the creamy skin but light wise to 'make it a touch better' what is the best thing to go for.


I used a shutter speed of about 1/250 f2.2 and iso at 400 or 800. I did use window lighting and the window was much bigger than my last shots and i had it at about 45 degree angle baby facing the light.

I was shooting through the top bit of the camera that you look into lol and focused it onto the eyes as it was a friend we did it really relaxed i went at 12 and got home for half 3 so roughly three hours (how long should it be).

Im so annoyed at myself she said she'd give me money for the photos (im just going to edit and put them on a disc for her) but im so annoyed at how i did with it that i certainly wont be accepting money off her for it!

I was so hopeful because i really got into the last one i did with the toddler but with the newborn i really struggled getting her in and out of poses i didn't attempt anything that i was unsure of such as the taco pose or the froggy pose, i wouldnt do anyhting of the sort without training!

thank you both for your imput...now if only i could get to grips with lighting!!!!!
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The Best thing to go for to improve the light is not found on photoshop, the best thing to make the light a touch better is to make the light a touch better. Now at the early stage of photography is the time to stop thinking about "improving things with photoshop" and start getting it right in camera. Then move on to photoshop. Dont get me wrong a few edits could make some improvements but please work on getting things spot on in camera. you have set No edit, but I would be happy to run an edit for you and see what i can improve.

A Nice window light at a 45 degree angle should be giving you much more depth and shadow than this. Are you sure this is a 45 degree window? From what i can see in the catch lights you must have had 2 light sources. Was it 2 windows? And I am guessing you moved pretty far away from those windows right?

Most newborn shoots for me last around 3 - 4 hours. I spend the first hour or so getting the baby ready. I dont even start untill baby is fully settled.

When I ask what AF points you are using i dont mean what part of the camera are you look at. I mean the settings in the camera. Is it set to a single point that you move around to focus on the eye or a full grid and the camera picks the point to focus on?
For now I wouldnt think about money. Use the opportunity to learn not earn.
 
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Phil beat me too it. These really dont look like they are shot with 45 degree window light. My guess is you are in the middle of a room with a couple of windows right?
 
I dont have alot on my notebook but I took this today as a improptue shot of a friends daughter. This was using a 45 degree lighting as described. If you notice the face has a gradient and a shadow falls under her chin. The same would work very nicely for a newborn on the tummy and the shadows would fall behind an arm, under chin that sort of thing. Far from a perfect shot but it will give you an idea of what i mean.

aaa-1024x683.jpg
 
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Now that youve said more i dont think it was at a 45 degree angle, yes there was two windows and really good natural lighting so its certainly me doing something wrong. I'm not thinking about making any money at all i was saying im so dissapointed in the photos i'd never expect any for it. I know what your saying about photoshop and your totally right i was saying it for the set of photos ive taken to day there is nothing i can do now in camera to fix the photos from today but i wouldnt want to give her the photos with the lighting that they are hence needing photoshop. no i used the grid which is like a + made from dots (i hope that made sense!) yes it was moved into the middle of the room not too close to the widow, is this wrong lol.

your photo is 1000X better than what i managed! It's very frustrating you dont want to dissapoint the parents of course and you want to get it right straight up. I now know its the lighting that i have to figure out and the focousing
 
caitlinjade95 said:
... yes it was moved into the middle of the room not too close to the widow, is this wrong lol.

...
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We've pointed to resources on lighting, you should read them. You really need to get it close, because otherwise, there's not much difference in the distance from the lit side to the shadow side, the inverse square law describes this.

If the lit side is 5 feet from the window, the unlit side is 5 1/2", which is less than 1/3 of a stop, add to that the other window at a similar distance and you've killed your shadow entirely.

If the baby is 2 feet from the window, the shadow side is 1/2 stop darker, there's your shadow. Now make sure the light is from the right direction, and your shadow falls naturally, creating the natural modelling. That's where the 45 degrees comes in.
 
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