First Newborn Shoot

[terri33inne]

I had my first newborn shoot today, and I'm ok with the results, but feel like I have miles to go to improve. We met at their home, and I found a room w/ great light, but it was small, so getting angles & composition was a challenge...

So, for the following shot... any feedback is appreciated...

How is composition? Focus? Lighting?

I'm still struggling with all my photos feeling flat... Any settings I could have used to improve that?

I've found that 2.8 is the happy or sweet spot on my 50mm lens. I brought a bean bag chair for posing the baby on... any other suggestions for surfaces to put baby?

Also, there's a link to all the others from today... her 2 year old sister didn't want to cooperate too much... any tips on getting a 2 year old to work with you is appreciated too...



Camera Pentax K10D
Exposure 0.011 sec (1/90)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

http://www.flickr.com/photos/4671901...7624818795213/

[conor5150]

Beautiful baby.....the first thing I notice is the arm, the way you composed the picture makes it look like a bad crop, it almost looks like a different arm from a different baby....does that make sense? The is some great detail in the face and I think it would benefit from being brighter.


I have a two year old and when he sees the camera it's very hit and miss.....although lately he hams it up way to much.....LOL


Oh and you Flickr is set to private so can't see anything

[terri33inne]

Thank you for the feedback... I really appreciate it.

I see exactly what you mean about the arm. I don't think I did much cropping on this photo... the room was so small it was hard to get far enough away.

I'm still very much learning the post-processing so I will try to lighten it up. I'm not that comfortable w/ layers yet, and am not sure how to lighten up her face w/out blowing out the highlights on the blanket. Also, I'm amazed at how the same photo can look so different on a different monitor. I'll have to play with it some more.

I updated the flikr to make public...

[Mso]

I would recommend Scott Kelby's books on Photoshop etc. They are wonderful and I have learned so much from them. You can create a different layer, lighten up/change the whole thing, making the babies face just as you want. Put a mask on top which reverts the picture back to it's original state on your pc screen, then 'paint' out the babies face, exposing the lighter layer underneath and so lightening only it up in the photograph. It is very easy to do and Scott explains it so even I could understand!

I have taken the liberty of doing this very quickly, nothing else, just bumped up the brightness so you can see what I mean. If you would like me to remove this picture I will.