Jmjgu05

Soft and Dreamy

Nikon D5000

Nikon D5000
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Jan, 2019

Views

220

Likes

Awards

People's Choice in Newborn Babies Photo Challenge

Top Choice

Superb Composition

Outstanding Creativity

Peer Award

All Star

Behind The Lens

Location

This was taken in the client's home for her newborn shoot.

Time

I typically aim for the morning with newborns, as this tends to be when they are most sleepy. It also works well when you have an open window for natural light!

Lighting

I usually try to use natural lighting for newborns but it didn't work with their house set up. In this case, I used a continuous bulb with a white umbrella to help with diffusion and make the image appear softer. I prefer a soft box over an umbrella to have a better control of the direction of light, but you use what you have at the time and make it work!

Equipment

My camera is Nikon D7200. I used a 50mm lens to compensate for my cropped sensor camera giving me a good focal length for portraits. Natural window light wasn't available so I chose a continuous light bulb with a white umbrella diffuser.

Inspiration

Everyone loves newborn baby photos! Obviously mom and dad wanted them, but I was happy to oblige. I'm a photographer hobbyist so I typically only do newborn shoots for family and friends. I'm always really excited to get the opportunity to try new things.

Editing

I did quite a bit of post-processing on this image. Using photoshop for bean bag newborn photo edits is not abnormal. I took a little twist and tried to make the feel very soft and dreamy. I started with color correction of the skin eliminating jaundice and purple hands and feet. I used noise reduction to make her skin smooth and soft. After that, I selected her little tushy and used a puppet-warp to make it perfectly round and smooth. To create the soft vignette fade, I used 4 gradient filters with a slightly darker shade than the blanket in each corner of the image. I finished with a series of iris blur filters layered to create a focal point on the baby's face.

In my camera bag

For newborn photography, I bring a few different things than when I'm just out having fun. I have a Nikon D7200 which is a cropped sensor body. This means any lens I put on adds about 1.5x the focal length. I always bring my Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens. On my camera, it gives me the equivalent of a 75mm lens which is a great portrait length. It is very sharp and gives a natural-looking background blur. It is also known for having a pretty quiet autofocus which is great for newborn sessions. For those little tiny toes, ears and lips, I use my Nikkor 85mm lens. Again with a cropped sensor, it gives me the equivalent of 128mm. It is equally sharp and quiet. However, it does require some distance from the subject to focus. I originally bought this lens because I do most of my shots outdoors so it works perfectly. Having to take a few steps backward to focus for newborn macro works just fine for me though. The last lens I pack is the Nikon Nikkor 35mm f/1.8. Again this gives me about 53mm on the D7200 body. This lens is great when you want to grab a scenic newborn shots.

Feedback

Anytime I have done any newborn work, I try to get natural lighting. Although this one wasn't shot that way, I do recommend it. Somewhere along the line, I learned a placement of "3 feet from the natural light window at about 60 degrees from the subject. Always place baby's face toward the light." I find this gives nice soft shadows. Nothing should be harsh when photographing newborns. When you're looking at newborn photos, you want a sharp image. Parents want to remember every little eyelash and hair. A fixed focus lens will give you the best results consistently with this. The ones I like are listed in my equipment bag. And lastly, patience! You are working on baby's time. Let them get warm and comfy... crank up the heat... use a noise machine. Once you get them snoozing soundly, you can start making subtle changes to their positioning to get the image you want.

See more amazing photos, follow Jmjgu05

Jmjgu05

Jmjgu05

Soft and Dreamy

Nikon D5000

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow Jmjgu05

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