A recent Session - Baby

Jason Hermann · January 17, 2011

Cutie for sure

The Customer requested a Porcelain Doll look, so I tried?

Best,
Jay

JulieLawsonPhotography · January 17, 2011

Cute baby! Love the pictures. I have people that still want to do the selective color stuff. Yours is very soft and nice. Very subtle.

Darren Troy C · January 17, 2011

Really like that 2nd one.

girardimages · January 17, 2011

So cute! I am about to do my first baby portrait and would love any tips or tricks from you guys. I'm primarily curious how much editing was done after the photo (aside form the last one which was definitely color adjusted), or if the softness and all is just good lighting setup.

VayCayMom · January 17, 2011

Brilliant!!

Jason Hermann · January 17, 2011

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote: »

Cute baby! Love the pictures. I have people that still want to do the selective color stuff. Yours is very soft and nice. Very subtle.

Thanks

Darren Troy C wrote: »

Really like that 2nd one.

Thanks Darren

girardimages wrote: »

So cute! I am about to do my first baby portrait and would love any tips or tricks from you guys. I'm primarily curious how much editing was done after the photo (aside form the last one which was definitely color adjusted), or if the softness and all is just good lighting setup.

Well good luck and have FUN! Most important imo otherwise the images will show it. Better off relaxing and taking your time. Be super patient with the baby/ family as it could potential take a few hours. Michele and I have a newborn so we know all to well on a 1st hand bases. Plus every child and family is different and you will need to adapt as needed we've learned. Overall though, babies are pretty easy! There happy little humans

As far as Lighting goes, It's very important! Our style is to get a nice soft velvet type look over the skin. The easiest way to do that is with 1 large light and a reflector. Check out this video I made showing our "On Location Set-up".

http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/?p=300

You can light it it many different ways, but soft lighting seems to work the best for babies in our experience.

Editing wise, we go pretty far with the skin smoothing. Parents prefer the perfect skin around us. We have never had a customer complain about there skin looking to good. That being said, I personally prefer the skin done a tad less smooth. I'll post some images of our baby Layla and you'll see what I mean. I also like to brighten the eyes a bit and sharpen them.

Best,
Jay

VayCayMom wrote: »

Brilliant!!

Thanks

Jay

coolcin · January 18, 2011

I just love this video, so helpful. What size soft box is that?

Thanks!

Jason Hermann · January 18, 2011

coolcin wrote: »

I just love this video, so helpful. What size soft box is that?

Thanks!

Thanks

It's a 30 x 60 Giant Foldable Softbox. We love it!

http://alienbees.com/foldable_detail.html

Best,
Jay

Hackbone · January 18, 2011

Very, very cute. Great job.

amoncur · January 18, 2011

Really beautiful lighting. Nicely done!

Not a huge fan of the selective color processing - I think it's been over done and looks cliche these days.

cr8ingwaves · January 18, 2011

I didn't see the last photo as selective coloring, but more of a desaturated look....more vintage looking than anything....I think the customer is going to be very happy with these results.
Love the soft light and sharp eyes. Saved your tut to my favorites to watch later.

coolcin · January 18, 2011

Jason Hermann wrote: »

Thanks It's a 30 x 60 Giant Foldable Softbox. We love it!

http://alienbees.com/foldable_detail.html

Best,
Jay

Thanks. One more question...can I use my PockWizards to trigger the Alien Bee 800 unit?

Would the The 13-foot Heavy Duty Light Stand be okay to hold everything?

Thanks!

If the Pockwizards won't work is this what I would need since I already have a CyberSync Transmitter?
CSRB+ CyberSync™ Receiver Plus - Battery Powered

Hackbone · January 18, 2011

Your light stand should do it and the PC Wizzard will fire the Bee. You will need a 1/8 inch phono plug on each end of a cord. I would buy them from pocket wizzard. I had gotten a few from Radio Shack and the earlier ones worked but the newer ones would not.

clickin girl · January 19, 2011

What a precious baby! My fave is #2! Parents will love these, great job!

Seneca · January 19, 2011

Very very cute. Love all images. Not sure about the selective coloring.

Jason Hermann · January 24, 2011

Thanks for the comments everybody

Oh yeah the Wizzards will fire the Bees, but depending on how many triggers and receivers you have, you may want to looking into the Alien Bee stuff. I know 1 pocket wizard is a lot of cash.

Best,
Jay

Agnieszka · January 25, 2011

Beautiful!

coolcin · January 25, 2011

Jason Hermann wrote: »

Thanks for the comments everybody

Oh yeah the Wizzards will fire the Bees, but depending on how many triggers and receivers you have, you may want to looking into the Alien Bee stuff. I know 1 pocket wizard is a lot of cash

Best,
Jay

Thanks Jay! I went ahead and got what you suggested in your video. I can not wait to try the set-up out.

What backdrop are you using in the video? What about white? What do you suggest to use for that. I had ordered an inexpensive set-up with white, black and green but they are more like thin sheets. The stands will come in handy though. I did buy a fleece black blanket that I'm going to try.

I will be photographing babies mostly indorrs.

I'll let you know how my 1st session goes on Thursday!

Jason Hermann · February 17, 2011

coolcin wrote: »

Thanks Jay! I went ahead and got what you suggested in your video. I can not wait to try the set-up out.

What backdrop are you using in the video? What about white? What do you suggest to use for that. I had ordered an inexpensive set-up with white, black and green but they are more like thin sheets. The stands will come in handy though. I did buy a fleece black blanket that I'm going to try.

I will be photographing babies mostly indorrs.

I'll let you know how my 1st session goes on Thursday!

Sorry for the delayed reply. Were using a Black felt cloth material we picked up at the local fabric store. Joannes Fabric by us.

Sounds like you have a handle on it.

Best,
Jay

l.k.madison · February 18, 2011

girardimages wrote: »

So cute! I am about to do my first baby portrait and would love any tips or tricks from you guys. I'm primarily curious how much editing was done after the photo (aside form the last one which was definitely color adjusted), or if the softness and all is just good lighting setup.

I use all-natural light on my babies, large windows are my best friend. Wide open aperture allows for really shallow DOF, perfect for all those fingers and toes.

Be patient, be prepared for props to get soiled (babies poop and pee a LOT) and yes, expect it to take alllll day. Even my best session took three hours.

I have an action I run that is two actions tweaked and blended together. I do all of the skin smoothing/blemish removing then run the actions that make the color *just* right. I get the baby looking photogenic (not all babies do) and then run the action, it gives me a b/w copy, a color copy and 300DPI ready for printing house.

A thread started a few months ago about how to do babies, it offered great ideas and more details than what's listed here.

Jason Hermann · February 25, 2011

l.k.madison wrote: »

I use all-natural light on my babies, large windows are my best friend. Wide open aperture allows for really shallow DOF, perfect for all those fingers and toes.

Be patient, be prepared for props to get soiled (babies poop and pee a LOT) and yes, expect it to take alllll day. Even my best session took three hours.

I have an action I run that is two actions tweaked and blended together. I do all of the skin smoothing/blemish removing then run the actions that make the color *just* right. I get the baby looking photogenic (not all babies do) and then run the action, it gives me a b/w copy, a color copy and 300DPI ready for printing house.

A thread started a few months ago about how to do babies, it offered great ideas and more details than what's listed here.

Great Advice and very accurate on the time Babies are tuff and the sessions will take for ever at times.

There is nothing better than natural light!! If you have a huge window available and the shutter speeds to work with I Highly recommend using natural light.

Wide open is tuff with babies, especially on a full frame camera, but at the perfect angle it looks great. We usually shoot at least f/4 or 5.6 to get the nice sharp dof the customers seem to like best for close-ups. Full frame baby shots f/2.0 and natural light is the snakes hips

If there is no natural light, the next beast thing is a huge softbox that is in the shape of a large window. It's not as good, but it does a great job!

Best,
Jay

tate · February 25, 2011

l.k.madison wrote: »

I use all-natural light on my babies, large windows are my best friend. Wide open aperture allows for really shallow DOF, perfect for all those fingers and toes.

Be patient, be prepared for props to get soiled (babies poop and pee a LOT) and yes, expect it to take alllll day. Even my best session took three hours.

I have an action I run that is two actions tweaked and blended together. I do all of the skin smoothing/blemish removing then run the actions that make the color *just* right. I get the baby looking photogenic (not all babies do) and then run the action, it gives me a b/w copy, a color copy and 300DPI ready for printing house.

A thread started a few months ago about how to do babies, it offered great ideas and more details than what's listed here.

Where have you gotten your actions? I have PSE9 and have purchased some actions from MCP actions. I also had found some free actions that I uploaded into my PSE. I just cant get that "just" right color. Would you be able to look at my photo and tell me what I might need to do? Or point me in the correct direction as to what you do? I dont have a problem with babies...its the newborns that I cant seem to get perfect! Thanks! Christy

indiegirl · February 25, 2011

tate wrote: »

Where have you gotten your actions? I have PSE9 and have purchased some actions from MCP actions. I also had found some free actions that I uploaded into my PSE. I just cant get that "just" right color. Would you be able to look at my photo and tell me what I might need to do? Or point me in the correct direction as to what you do? I dont have a problem with babies...its the newborns that I cant seem to get perfect! Thanks! Christy

I played around in Lightroom. I reduced the yellow and played with brightness, contrast and shadows for this one (the most natural of the three):

MCP LR Preset "Brightside" and reduced brightness by 40% or so

I ran "Golden Age" from the MCP LR Presets on the last one.

indiegirl · February 25, 2011

My sessions are never more than an hour or two (at max). I feel like I get the shots early (but my style is far more PJ-esque than these) and know when I'm just scatting and jivving to fill time.

tate · February 25, 2011

Thanks! Yes the first one is the best that you edited. Attached is the original picture ,so we have come a long way, but maybe its just not a "good" picture to work with to start with...this was a pic I took of my baby before I got serious with photography...like I said I can take nice photos of babies and older children, but infant skin have a lot of trouble with! Do you like lightroom over photoshop?

indiegirl · February 25, 2011

I do about 90% of my editing in LR. The 10% I do in PS is essential, though. I don't process the heck out of my pics, but I do nearly all of my b/w conversions in PS and, of course, any major editing like cloning out unwanted things.

Are you shooting in auto white balance? Have you ever played with your white balance? I think that might be part of your issue.

blondine · February 27, 2011

loving #2 and #3....gorgeous little one.

tate · February 28, 2011

indiegirl wrote: »

I do about 90% of my editing in LR. The 10% I do in PS is essential, though. I don't process the heck out of my pics, but I do nearly all of my b/w conversions in PS and, of course, any major editing like cloning out unwanted things.

Are you shooting in auto white balance? Have you ever played with your white balance? I think that might be part of your issue.

Yes I have never adjusted my white balance! Hummm maybe that is something I should do? Do you shoot in Raw or Jpeg? Usually I am in jpeg

Jason Hermann · March 1, 2011

tate wrote: »

Yes I have never adjusted my white balance! Hummm maybe that is something I should do? Do you shoot in Raw or Jpeg? Usually I am in jpeg

White balance is 1 of the most important settings you can make when shooting people/ babies imo. I used to never use custom white balance and then I would try and adjust everything in post processing. Lightroom, PS whatever..

Then I learned how to use Custom White Balance, and never went back!! Skin tones come out perfect off the camera every time.

Check this Custom WB Tutorial out. I have a new version of this tutorial already recorded, but I still need to edit it/ render it, so pardon the poor quality!!

http://www.jhpvideotutorials.com/278/using-custom-white-balance/

Best,
Jay

A recent Session - Baby

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