[Newborn]: Theresa Ellen - C&C wanted

sonny_c · February 25, 2011

In a continuing effort to build our Newborn portfolio this is only our 4th shoot. World, Theresa Ellen. Theresa Ellen meet the world.

All C&C is welcomed.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

heatherfeather · February 25, 2011

Absolutely love #4. What a beautiful little girl!

clickin girl · February 25, 2011

What a precious baby! Number 4 is my fave. It's a bit different than other baby pics you see. Nice job!

tate · February 25, 2011

nice! how do you get the skin tone so nice? I usually photograph babies and am fine with their skin, but for some reason I cant get that same nice skin tones with infants. I will be doing an infant shot any day now, so wanted some tips. I have purchased and have some actions to soften the skin...but cant seem to get the right mix...any suggestions? I have elements 9. Here is a picture of my baby....I wasnt able to upload a before picture, but this is what it looked like after I edited it. Something seems to be off and I cant figure out what it is. Like I said I have no problem with the pictures of children older......Christy

sonny_c · February 25, 2011

heatherfeather wrote: »

Absolutely love #4. What a beautiful little girl!

Wow! That means a lot coming from you. You have some beautiful work on your Smugmug website. Thank you for looking.

clickin girl wrote: »

What a precious baby! Number 4 is my fave. It's a bit different than other baby pics you see. Nice job!

Thank you very much. It's so hard nowadays to be different.

tate wrote: »

nice! how do you get the skin tone so nice? I usually photograph babies and am fine with their skin, but for some reason I cant get that same nice skin tones with infants. I will be doing an infant shot any day now, so wanted some tips. I have purchased and have some actions to soften the skin...but cant seem to get the right mix...any suggestions? I have elements 9. Here is a picture of my baby....I wasnt able to upload a before picture, but this is what it looked like after I edited it. Something seems to be off and I cant figure out what it is. Like I said I have no problem with the pictures of children older......Christy

That is an excellent question. Much like my photography, I try to keep my post processing simple.

In Photoshop CS5 I make a copy of my background image (original photo) and label it Clone.
On the Clone layer I use one of three tools to fix blemishes, stray hairs or dis-colored spots. Depending on the situation I will use the Clone Stamp Tool, the Patch Tool or the Spot Healing Brush Tool.
Once all my cloning is done I make a copy of the Clone layer and label it Portraiture.
Imagenomic Portraiture is a Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture plugin that smooths the skin. I apply this filter to the Portraiture layer and lower the opacity to 30%-60%. The reason I lower the opacity of this layer is to maintain skin texture and details.
Then I add a layer mask and mask out the eyes, eyebrows, edges of the nose, and lips.
Still on the Portraiture layer I press this keyboard combination...SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+E. This combines all the layers below my selected layer and adds it to the top of the layer stack.
I label this layer Select Sharpening.
Then I select the Sharpening Tool (I do not use any sharpening filters or actions) and set the strength to 50%-70%. Finally, I brush over the area I masked out and sharpen to my preferred taste.

I hope this helps.

tate · February 25, 2011

sonny_c wrote: »

Wow! That means a lot coming from you. You have some beautiful work on your Smugmug website. Thank you for looking.

Thank you very much. It's so hard nowadays to be different.

That is an excellent question. Much like my photography, I try to keep my post processing simple.
In Photoshop CS5 I make a copy of my background image (original photo) and label it Clone.

On the Clone layer I use one of three tools to fix blemishes, stray hairs or dis-colored spots. Depending on the situation I will use the Clone Stamp Tool, the Patch Tool or the Spot Healing Brush Tool.

Once all my cloning is done I make a copy of the Clone layer and label it Portraiture.

Imagenomic Portraiture is a Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture plugin that smooths the skin. I apply this filter to the Portraiture layer and lower the opacity to 30%-60%. The reason I lower the opacity of this layer is to maintain skin texture and details.

Then I add a layer mask and mask out the eyes, eyebrows, edges of the nose, and lips.

Still on the Portraiture layer I press this keyboard combination...SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+E. This combines all the layers below my selected layer and adds it to the top of the layer stack.

I label this layer Select Sharpening.

Then I select the Sharpening Tool (I do not use any sharpening filters or actions) and set the strength to 50%-70%. Finally, I brush over the area I masked out and sharpen to my preferred taste.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for the information! I have PSE9. Have been debating about making the jump up to CS5....to be honest its the $$ that is holding me back right now. I have just started out ...It seems from all that I have read that that will end up being the path I take in the future....Do you know if these same steps can be done (or similar steps) in PSE 9? Clone is different than a mask? will have to read up about that...will also look into that imagenomic portraiture..but have a feeling it wont work for PSE. I feel that my pictures are almost there....but cant get that skin tone down on the infants. Here was my before picture, so did make a big difference, but the baby looks "off".

sonny_c · February 26, 2011

tate wrote: »

Thanks for the information! I have PSE9. Have been debating about making the jump up to CS5....to be honest its the $$ that is holding me back right now. I have just started out ...It seems from all that I have read that that will end up being the path I take in the future....Do you know if these same steps can be done (or similar steps) in PSE 9? Clone is different than a mask? will have to read up about that...will also look into that imagenomic portraiture..but have a feeling it wont work for PSE. I feel that my pictures are almost there....but cant get that skin tone down on the infants. Here was my before picture, so did make a big difference, but the baby looks "off".

I am not familiar with PSE 9 and its capabilities. The Imagenomic Portraiture plug-in is available for PSE 9.

Read this article about layer mask.

Freezframe · February 26, 2011

Life at its start!
Bea-u-tiful!

All are great captures!

Well done indeed!

Brady

mpriest13 · February 27, 2011

Love the series! Would you mind sharing some of the behind the scenes work. Did you use a flash at all or was it all natural light? I have read you need to crank the room temperature up to like 75 degree or higher to keep the little one asleep. Did you do that? What body/lens combo did you work with? I have two baby sessions coming up and I have never done one before and am looking for all the help/advice I can get. I am doing the first one for free for the experience and the couple knows it is my first try.

sonny_c · February 27, 2011

mpriest13 wrote: »

Love the series! Would you mind sharing some of the behind the scenes work. Did you use a flash at all or was it all natural light? I have read you need to crank the room temperature up to like 75 degree or higher to keep the little one asleep. Did you do that? What body/lens combo did you work with? I have two baby sessions coming up and I have never done one before and am looking for all the help/advice I can get. I am doing the first one for free for the experience and the couple knows it is my first try.

Thank you very much. I would be happy to share my setup.

1. Did you use a flash at all or was it all natural light?

Photo #1 was natural. There are three big windows to the right of the camera. The newborn is laying perpendicular to the windows to create some dramatic shadows. Plus the reflection worked better this way.
Photo #2 & #3 - A combination of natural light and flash were used. From the position of photo #1 we turn 180 degrees and laid the newborn on a beanbag covered by the furry white blanket. The natural light is coming from the left of the camera and slight above. This time she is facing the windows (from photo #1: turn 90 degrees counterclockwise). These two photos I did not want any shadows. Our goal was to achieve a clean & crisp image. I setup one Canon 580ex Speedlite on a light stand with a shoot through umbrella triggered by a Radio Popper receiver. On camera I used a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 and a Radio Popper transmitter. The flash was place behind the newborn about 8ft-12ft and about 25 degrees to the right. I don't recall the power settings on the flash, but it was on manual mode. If I had to guess the power setting I'm thinking 1/32 -1/64.
Photo #4 - A combination of natural light and flash were used. I loved how the natural light created a beautiful rim light on the newborn, the lamb, and the blanket. For some fill light we placed the Speedlite directly if front of the newborn about 15ft back. I used the same flash setup on this photo as I did for photos #2 & #3.
Photo #5 was natural. After an outfit change we went back to the 3 big windows.

2. I have read you need to crank the room temperature up to like 75 degree or higher to keep the little one asleep. Did you do that? I personally think it helps. When we arrived at the home it was already very warm in the house. If you do not have control of the house thermostat you can also use a small space heater.

3. What body/lens combo did you work with?

I shoot with a Canon 1D MK III because that's all I have. I was and still am a youth sports action photographer that has also moved into the portrait photography business.
Lenses - This is just my personal philosophy. I do not get caught up in the gear. I really only shoot with one lens which is my work horse, the Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS II USM. I do own a Canon 85mm f/1.8 and a Sigma 20mm f/1.8 but they rarely see any action. And that's it! I just make my gear work for me. With all that being said there are some short comings just using my 70-200. Which is why for this shoot I borrowed a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.

4. I have two baby sessions coming up and I have never done one before and am looking for all the help/advice I can get.
These videos helped me a lot.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

mpriest13 · February 27, 2011

sonny_c wrote: »

Thank you very much. I would be happy to share my setup.

1. Did you use a flash at all or was it all natural light?
Photo #1 was natural. There are three big windows to the right of the camera. The newborn is laying perpendicular to the windows to create some dramatic shadows. Plus the reflection worked better this way.

Photo #2 & #3 - A combination of natural light and flash were used. From the position of photo #1 we turn 180 degrees and laid the newborn on a beanbag cover by the furry white blanket. The natural light is coming from the left of the camera and slight above. This time she is facing the windows (from photo #1: turn 90 degrees counterclockwise). These two photos I did not want any shadows. Our goal was to achieve a clean & crisp image. I setup one Canon 580ex Speedlite on a light stand with a shoot through umbrella triggered by a Radio Popper receiver. On camera I used a Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 and a Radio Popper transmitter. The flash was place behind the newborn about 8ft-12ft and about 25 degrees to the right. I don't recall the power settings on the flash, but it was on manual mode. If I had to guess the power setting I'm thinking 1/32 -1/64.

Photo #4 - A combination of natural light and flash were used. I loved how the natural light created a beautiful rim light on the newborn, the lamb, and the blanket. For some fill light we placed the Speedlite directly if front of the newborn about 15ft back. I used the same flash setup on this photo as I did for photos #2 & #3.

Photo #5 was natural. After an outfit change we went back to the 3 big windows.

2. I have read you need to crank the room temperature up to like 75 degree or higher to keep the little one asleep. Did you do that? I personally think it helps. When we arrived at the home it was already very warm in the house. If you do not have control of the house thermostat you can also use a small space heater.

3. What body/lens combo did you work with?
I shoot with a Canon 1D MK III because that's all I have. I was and still am a youth sports action photographer that has also moved into the portrait photography business.

Lenses - This is just my personal philosophy. I do not get caught up in the gear. I really only shoot with one lens which is my work horse, the Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS II USM. I do own a Canon 85mm f/1.8 and a Sigma 20mm f/1.8 but they rarely see any action. And that's it! I just make my gear work for me. With all that being said there are some short comings just using my 70-200. Which is why for this shoot I borrowed a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.

4. I have two baby sessions coming up and I have never done one before and am looking for all the help/advice I can get.
These videos helped me a lot.
How to Pose

How to Swaddle

How to Wrap

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thank you so much for the help!!

[Newborn]: Theresa Ellen - C&C wanted

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