Wednesday, December 29, 2010

baby fauxtoshoot

Ever since getting pregnant I've been looking forward to having another go at taking photos of a squishy newborn.  It has been fun these past 3 weeks experimenting with photographing Quinn... though I gotta say, I kinda feel lied to.  It's been long enough since D was a baby that I've forgotten, I guess, and every newborn tutorial I've read makes it sound like the "sleepy newborn phase" means having a deeply-asleep baby who can be (gently) molded into different positions, and it being relatively easy.  With Quinn, I tend to have a window of about 30 seconds for taking any sort of attempted posed photo before he starts getting upset with me.  So I have to work FAST.

Last week, I did manage to get some cute shots of him last week.  I took these up in our room, which has the best light of the house.  I waited till a sunny day (it's been super rainy lately), then dressed him in a cute outfit and laid out a brown fleecy blanket on the bed.  I then nursed him to sleep, tried to lay him down and "pose" him as best I could, then snapped as many pictures as I could in the tiny window of time before he woke up and started crying (and repeated the feed-and-photo sequence a couple times).  Of course, the second rude awakening I got was realizing (again) how much more I still have to learn as far as postprocessing.  There's just so much that I don't know how to do.  Oh well...  Next time I'll have to remember to shoot in RAW instead of JPEG...







Constructive criticism/feedback/tips are welcome. ; )

4 comments:

  1. Not all newborns sleep as well as others, but it might help to turn up the heat. When the famous baby photographers (a.k.a. Anne Geddes and Rachel Hale) do baby photo shoots, they jack up the heat in the studio to about 80 degrees or so. (In addition to a full tummy and dry diaper, of course!) Then the babies are so warm and cosy and will sleep through you putting them into poses.

    The downside? You may sleep through the photo shoot as well. Not to mention the electric bill and Green-Guilt.

    But sacrifices must be made for the sake of art!

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  2. They are beautiful shots! You did a great job. I love the one where he is struggling too, it shows such personality. Of course the peaceful sleeping shots are angelic, but it's good to have a few different shots. Shooting kids is tough! If it doesn't work out there is always tomorrow. Try again if you aren't totally happy, they are only this little for a few weeks. I wish I had done more of my kids as newborns.

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  3. These are some good tips. I feel so tired at the moment, not sure that I'll find the energy to do this, but maybe with some help of a fellow photographer?

    Your photos rock, they are so adorable!!! Really you are super mom, posting and all! Love it.

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  4. I'm a photographer who used to work with babies -- and YES -- CRANKING UP THE HEAT makes a difference for many babes... or a hair dryer close by... or warmed towels/blankets... :)

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