1st time newborn baby shoot...advice please?

[photomom2008]

A friend of mine has asked me to photograph her newborn baby, he is now 2 wks old. I of course told her by no means am I a proffessional at this, I am just learning. She is good with that, so I said OK. I could use the practice anyway. I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on how they shoot newborns. I will be in her home, which has a big picture window. I don't have any other lighting other than my on camera flash, which I have the settings set down so its not so harsh. I don't want to use the flash though unless I have to. Any suggestions on alternative lighting, backgrounds, posing tips for both mom and baby would be appreciated. One thing is metering, what metering do some of you use and do you meter off the babies skin to get the right exposure or do you think a grey card would be better? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

[lputman]

I would meter with the gray card. Bring a reflector (white poster/foam board will work if you don't have one).
Check out these flickr groups for posing inspiration...
Newborn posing inspiration group
Natural Light Child Photography
Newborn (Birth to 1 Month)

[photomom2008]

Originally Posted by lputman

I would meter with the gray card. Bring a reflector (white poster/foam board will work if you don't have one).
Check out these flickr groups for posing inspiration...
Newborn posing inspiration group
Natural Light Child Photography
Newborn (Birth to 1 Month)

Lputman, Thank you! Those posing sites are great. I do have a reflector that is white on one side and gold on the other so I will bring it. Thanks again! I appreciate your help.

[lputman]

Don't forget to share some of the photos if the mom will allow! I love baby pics.

[photomom2008]

Originally Posted by lputman

Don't forget to share some of the photos if the mom will allow! I love baby pics.

Definately...I am getting ready to go and I forgot to ask what lens would work best? I have a 50mm, 28-105 that I will probably go back and forth. Wow, I think I just got nervous! LOL! Wish me luck!

[lputman]

The 50 1.8 should be just fine! Good Luck.

[photomom2008]

Originally Posted by lputman

The 50 1.8 should be just fine! Good Luck.

Lputnam...I did it! Here's a sneak peak. I am going to post some in Share your Shots. Still working on some of them. They aren't perfect, but for the first time...I was happy. Tell me what you think?

From Brody

[Fotogreen]

The focus is soft. It would be nice to get to his level-not shooting from above. You can also use the macro feature on your camera for baby close ups. You can also put him on a flfat surface. For newborns taking pics of body parts, like the little feet, hands always work well. and remember practice makes it perfect. You just have to shoot..

[photomom2008]

Originally Posted by Fotogreen

The focus is soft. It would be nice to get to his level-not shooting from above. You can also use the macro feature on your camera for baby close ups. You can also put him on a flfat surface. For newborns taking pics of body parts, like the little feet, hands always work well. and remember practice makes it perfect. You just have to shoot..

Actually I thought the focus was supposed to be soft for babies, but wasn't sure. I had added a little gaussian blur to this photo. I did take some others from different angles but I posted them in another link in share your shots. I wasn't sure if I could post more than 1 picture in this thread or not. Thank you for the advice on the body parts, I didn't try that because I haven't used the macro feature. Does the 50mm f1.8 have that or should I say does it work with it? Thanks again, I appreciate the help.

[lputman]

He's a little doll! Good job!

Now that you've got the first one under your belt, you need to find more babies to practice on. Just yesterday, I told myself that I will have to pull out a little porcelain newborn doll that I have so that I can practice.

You can do the baby parts with the 50 1.8 until you are ready to get yourself a macro lens.

I'll come back to comment on color once I go back to work where I can hook my laptop up to my monitor.

You can post more photos in this thread.