P is for....

[lissykeeper]

Preston. which is both my dads name and this cute little guys as well. And they are not related!

Well, I had a first last week. I shot a newborn. Little Preston was 13 days old and the most alert baby I have ever seen in my life. You know those cute sleeping baby pictures? Well, you will not find any on Preston. He stayed awake the whole time.

I wasn't planning on getting into newborn photography because I have heard how time consuming the session can be. In a flickr group discussion a few days ago, someone mention spending 4 hours on a newborn session. I love babies, but that is just not something I'm interested in doing. Anyway, long story short, this baby belongs to my husbands employee. I don't think they really have any expectations about the shots, they just wanted some decent ones.

This was taken after dark so I had to use my flash. I bounced it off my kitchen ceiling (warmest room in the house). My questions are:

1. Is the crop to tight? This is a crop. I had the whole baby in frame, but to me it looked like the out of focus head was accidental, which it wasn't
   
2. Are the whites too blown? I really didn't notice how bad until I uploaded them.
   
3. Is he too pink? I played around with it in LR a little, did I give the baby a sunburn.
   
4. Anything else you would like to add? Rip it apart. I have some tough skin and I want to improve so I need critique.

[dhart]

I like the framing. Like the shot. Whites are blown. Can you do something artistically with this one to help? Not sure what, but others may have some suggestions. The little jeans are adorable, so maybe play off those? HTH.

[lissykeeper]

Thanks for the reply dhart. I do still have the raw file, so I may be able to bring the detail in the whites back some. I will have to play and see what I can do when I get home. And aren't these jeans just too cute! There is just something about baby shoes and baby jeans that makes me go awwwwww!

[dannyrich]

on my baby pics i take a focused foot shot and blurred head. I think it can be done, perhaps desat a lot so you get te blues but not so blown whites.

I like the style

[jsanders]

To be honest, it's not my type of pictures.
What are you focusing on? I would also reconsider the framing and the lighting.

[sk66]

I like "perspective shots" like this.
Of course the blown whites have already been mentioned. Additionally, I don't like the head cut off like this. I think a "shallower angle" / a shallower depth of field would have been better. It would allow you to include more without drawing attention away from the feet.

[Rachel3612]

I would like to see the sooc, I don't like the crop with it cutting off his face. The whites are blown but I can't tell if that was done post processing. I LOVE newborn pictures and love the pose just not the crop.

[KendraW]

I actually really like it. The deep blue of the jeans contrasted with the blown out whites is interesting to me. Might not be the one they frame and put in his room, but it's a nice artistic one, IMO.

I'm wondering if we were looking at bare little feet if we wouldn't mind the crop as much? Even though baby shoes are adorable. Baby feet are much cuter.