10 Days New - 1st baby session

anonymouscuban

I had the pleasure of shooting my wife's cousin's baby Keanu on Sunday. This was supposed to be a paid session but I am gifting the photos to them. It was my first time shooting a baby so I didn't know what to expect as far as quality of photos I would produce. I'm pretty happy with them. They haven't seen them yet. I wanted to post a few to get some feedback first.

I have to give all you baby shooters a lot of credit. Wow was this shoot hard. He is so tiny I had trouble posing him. Also, ain't no getting him to do something he doesn't want to. I made him cry a number of times... he hated being completely exposed even though it was extremely warm in the room; I was sweating like a pig. (do pigs actually sweat? :scratch)

The other thing I didn't expect were the accidents. Check this outtake shot for what I mean:



The parents actually love that shot!!! :clap They asked me to make sure that I include it in the finished set. I guess it's one of those keep sake shots that you show him when he grows up.

Well... here are some of my favorite shots. As I said, I struggled with trying to make the shots interesting since he kind of just laid there sleeping or crying. I would really love some feedback on these. The good and the bad so don't hold back.

1 - B&W Close-up... I don't like his little right hand showing. Looks odd. I will probably clone it out. Also need to dodge a bit around his head so there is some separation between it and the BG:


2 - Before he flipped out. Not sure if I should clone out little "pig tail" belly button:


3 - Requisite shot. I think dad's arm is too much in shadow at the bottom. I think this happened in the B&W conversion so I can probably pull some detail back:


4 - Changed to more of Hi Key here. Tried to add interest with the crop here. Did I succeed?


5 & 6 - Same shot but different process and crop. Both have a slight texture added to the background:





7 - Love his lips in this one. Wanted to pinch them:


8 - Does the DOF (or lack of) work on this one:


9 - My attempt at using a prop. Epic FAIL! He wasn't too happy. I think I may add some texture to the background to this win. A little too plain don't you think?


10 - A little more happy now. Again... think this one needs some texture or should I crop it tighter or should I chuck it? Not sure:

Snowgirl

The P shot is utterly priceless and no wonder the parents love it.

I think your biggest problem might be temperature - room ttemp. That is.
Newborns like to be swaddled or, if naked, to be in an overly warm room. Otherwise, they get cranky. I think your prop box might have been a bit too small. A bigger one would have allowed for a big, soft, warm blanket to keep the little guy cozy and happy.

The swaddled pics are sweet. It is tough to pose infants so their faces don't squish up.

heatherfeather

hahaha! I absolutely love the first one.... Out-take nothin, that one is epic. I remember those moments....

divamum

I don't shoot babies, so not helpful advice from me, but another +1 for the "outtake" - it's perfection!

anonymouscuban

Thanks for the replies so far guys. Looks like my "outtake" is the best shot of bunch.

I worked a few a little differently. What do you think of this post work?

A


B


C

divamum

I love the reworks, personally - much softer and more "baby shoot" ish C is really lovely!

Z6I

I just photographed my newborn grandson and it's harder than I thought too. He was not asleep which would have helped.
These are great. My daughter loved the P shot and we had our chance for one too but chose not to shoot. We should have!
Thanks for posting.