Baby oh baby!

adpace

I have had the recent pleasure of photographing babies!! What a wonderful opportunity, but at the same time what a stinkin' struggle it is, LOL!! Who would have thought they'd be so difficult! This particular one was very happy with a pacifier but as soon as it was removed would start crying. Any one have advice on how to handle this? We would give & take the pacifier to her, but I felt like I was torturing the poor thing! We ended up with a few decent shots (in my book... my very limited book.) Please tell me what you think of these. The close ups of the eyes and then the hands... are these good? What can I do to improve close-ups of the little details?? Here we go...
1)

2)

3)

4)

5)


Thanks for looking and of course c.c. is always appreciated!

adpace

Just bumping up - hoping for some c.c. Need to get better at the close-up shots. I was using my 50mm 1.4 - and kept it most of the time at 2.0. I also used a flash and bounced it off the ceiling... I would have used natural light, but it was getting dark fast.
Thanks.

Scott_Quier

For #1 and #3, I think I would convert to B&W and boost the contrast a bit - for me that would add a bit of interest.

#4 - Make that a tighter crop on mom & baby - everything below the baby's elbow would be gone were it my photo.

The last one ... no nice way to say it ... is not a keeper. Not an interesting pose; boring, flat light; and it looks OOF to me (I could be wrong on that one).

adpace

Thanks Scott!! I really appreciate the reply!! I'm glad you said that about the last one... I'll toss it out! I'll also try converting to B&W on the other two.
THANKS again!

ivar

All (baby only) shots were taken horizontally and straight.
For some reason, and it may be coincidence, I feel like it works great for the closeups, but the on 2 and 5 I feel like there should be some sort of angle. It may make it less 'boring' that Scott is referencing.

adpace

Thank you Ivar for the comments! I'm very new to all of this so any / all feedback is certainly appreciated! I think I get what you're saying about the angles. I took a ton of pictures... hopefully I can find some more interesting ones in the bunch. This was by far the hardest shoot I've done - and I've really only done 3 paying jobs. Some times I wonder if I'm really cut out for this. I love it SO much though! *sigh*.

Thanks again to both of you!!

roentarre

Stunning quality in deed. I love the look on the baby's face

jeffreaux2

I ...REALLY... like #3!!!

Calm Light Photos

#2 is my favorite. I like the eyes, lips and porcelain like skin tone. I almost like #3, but for some reason I don't like the glancing eyes, but I do love the hands in that one.

adpace

Thank you roentarre! Very nice of you to say!

And jeffreaux2, thanks! I converted that one to B&W - I'll hopefully get it posted too!

Thank you Calm Light Photos! I totally see what you're saying about the eyes in #3. Interesting catch... hmmm!!

Thanks so much for the responses!!

JulieLawsonPhotography

adpace wrote:

Thank you Ivar for the comments! I'm very new to all of this so any / all feedback is certainly appreciated! I think I get what you're saying about the angles. I took a ton of pictures... hopefully I can find some more interesting ones in the bunch. This was by far the hardest shoot I've done - and I've really only done 3 paying jobs. Some times I wonder if I'm really cut out for this. I love it SO much though! *sigh*.

Thanks again to both of you!!

If you love it...don't give up on it. Trust me, I was told once that maybe still life was my "thing". I didn't listen to them because I knew that I wanted to photograph people more than items. There were times when I felt like I was banging my head against a wall...hard. Very frustrating, but I couldn't quit. Capturing beautiful images that people will cherish forever is my passion and you don't give up on that, you shouldn't either. Patience and a lot of practice. (For babies, I secretly practiced on baby dolls when there wasn't any baby to practice on. !!!)

adpace

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

If you love it...don't give up on it. Trust me, I was told once that maybe still life was my "thing". I didn't listen to them because I knew that I wanted to photograph people more than items. There were times when I felt like I was banging my head against a wall...hard. Very frustrating, but I couldn't quit. Capturing beautiful images that people will cherish forever is my passion and you don't give up on that, you shouldn't either. Patience and a lot of practice. (For babies, I secretly practiced on baby dolls when there wasn't any baby to practice on. !!!)

Aww! Thank you Julie, that means a lot! I will certainly keep at it... and keep practicing! Patience will take the most work! Hee hee. Thank you again!

grimace

Wonderful job. I really like the angle and DOF in photo #1