My first try at newborn photography

[dianeplo33]

I did some newborn shots of my baby. I really like this one, but it doesn't seem to have that "wow" to it. What am I missing--? looks a little blurry to me. I thought it looked good in B&W. I have done no post processing other than B&W. I shot this inside in a sun room. I believe I took this looking down at him.

shutter 1/125
aperture 5.6
iso 1600
canon rebel xsi
focal length 55 mm
exposure:manual
flash off

[MrJones]

a few thoughts:
1. you've cut of his hand. if you do that, try and crop tighter.
2. the BW conversion is no that good, try bumping up the contrast to get more whites in the photo.
3. he is not looking at the camera which basically turns it into just another photo.. just like his parents can take.
4. the angle - again, a typical mommy angle.. try thinking outside of the box and getting that unusual photo.

my suggestion to you and to anyone else going for his first photo shoots of any kind would be to start reading and looking at professional photos BEFORE going on those first few gigs (and after...).
even today, after shooting more than a few sessions, I still surf and get inspiration where ever I can.
if you've only looked at the people SYS forum here in DPS you'd have a lot of examples of what to do.

[kristenh]

congratulations on your new baby! i agree with what mr jones said above. a couple of other things- looking around, you don't see a ton of head and shoulders shots of newborns. they tend to be just the face or whole body. very few are taken from above- try lying him on a bed with his head to the side and focusing right on his eyes. if his eyes are open, see if you can't position him so that there is some light from the window reflected in his eyes- this will really make them sparkle. (they call this catchlights; you can google and see what i mean). you can also try positioning him on a rolled up blanket propped on his hands and take head and hands shots from right in front of him.

regarding the blurriness- you could probably have used a wider aperture and been able to lower your iso a bit. but in general,make sure you've got the focus right on his eyes.

have you read this book: how to photograph your baby by nick kelsh? it's a very good starter book. i like it a lot and there are so many simple things that you just don't necessarily think of.

good luck!

couple other thoughts as i looked at the photo again- i can't both post and see the photo, for some reason

if he is dark haired, put him on a lighter background so that his hair doesn't blend into the background- that way, his head will be defined. and in general have his face turned toward both you and the (soft) light. maybe i'm the only person in the world who thinks this way, but i don't like black for babies and not even black and white. they have such nice rosy skin and pretty eyes. imo of course

[dianeplo33]

Thanks for all the input! I will def think about these points next time.