Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I have been asked about baby shoots a few times and I finally decided to give in and give this a go.

Does anyone have any tips/pointers? The baby is about 4 weeks old and my primary concern is the safety of the babies eyes when it comes to flash photography.

Let me know if anyone has any experience with this.

I have experience posting a reply to another thread!

http://tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14415

Perfect! Thanks, a search of "baby" and "Babies" didn't bring that thread up.

I tried the B-words as well, but I knew that I had posted something. Found it by using "newborn". Next would have been "foamie".

please refrain from mentioning words like "shoot" and "baby" in the same sentence

first time i shot a baby.. it made me really happy

mostly because i could say " i shot a baby" ..


... yea

sorry i have nothing constructive to offer

I would never want to shoot kids or pets, but newborns, it's gotta be like still life, just more lucrative, right?

Obviously you want to look at some of Anne Geddes shots to get inspiration and ideas. Some of the things to keep in mind.

1. Make sure the home/location is warm beforehand so that the baby is comfortable. For a 4 week old you will definitely want some shots without the diaper on so the warmer the room the better.
2. Try to use available window light if possible. Diffuse with a curtain if needed. Otherwise use a flash into an umbrella and bounce off the ceiling or wall. The idea is to try not to scare the little thing with the flash.
3. Bring a couple interesting/soft blankets .. I beige and black blankets. Being prepared for your blankets/props to be soiled - it goes with the territory.
4. Bring a bunch of interesting props -- like hanging cloths, baskets, etc. But think safety first -- babies don't bounce off the floor very well
5. If you are lucky enough to have the baby sleeping then you can try some interesting/elaborate poses.
6. It can be very helpful to have a remote trigger so you can quickly pose the baby and take the shot quickly.
7. For shots on the floor get down to their eye level and take the shot, as opposed to shooting from above.

There are a lot more tips but these are the main ones I think about when shooting babies.

Good luck.

oh yeah. 4 week old babies, try to catch them just after their feed. At that state, they are like high on drugs, and will happily cooperate and give you (more likely the parent) all sorts of happy faces.

Since Ofermod sent you to my old posting let me shed light on what I did ...basically a natural light coming from the window with a light sheer white curtain as well as bounced the flash off the ceiling...You'll do fine!

My eye twitched when I saw the subject

I shoot babies with a Canon

I laughed at that, would be a weird conversation to have on the subway.

reason #452 why Canon is better than Nikon: You don't sound as cool when you replace Canon with Nikon in the above sentence.

Well, thanks for the insight guys! I'll post some pics after the shoot on Saturday, wish me luck.

rofl.... this made my day... and I'm a Canon user...

Oh, i thought this thread was called "Shooting Babes". My mistake.

I have nothing to add here. LOL

LOL .. my tips are still applicable to babes - especially the soiling part

where do you find your babes??

About as weird as talking about eating baby back ribs.

This is all I do is photograph newborn babies. I am in my 3rd year of business and just celebrated photographing my 200th newborn. Babies need to be 10 days old or younger in order to obtain the poses found on my web site. You can check out my work if you're interested.

Cheers!
Chandra

Thanks Chandra! Your work is absolutely amazing. Thanks for the tip about the babies age. I shot this baby yesterday afternoon and It was really really tough, I probably only got 3-5 shots I would consider keepers. This baby was already 3 or 4 weeks.

nice baby pics chandra... i guess its best to do the baby shoot on the time when the baby is sound asleep eh... they're so angelic ...

post some pics bartimus..

Saying this was a tough shoot would probably be an understatement. The baby was crying, moving, and just upset in general. Getting him into any position that wasn't in his mothers or fathers arms was near impossible. The most frustrating thing about this type of photography is that you can charge someone for this sort of shoot, but you can't really guarantee anything. If the baby is having a bad day, you're screwed. Maybe this is why Chandra shoots babies 10 days and younger. Perhaps they're a lot more relaxed.

Anyways, here's a few select shots. The one of the feet is probably the only one I can say I truly like.

I really love that top shot! Keep in mind sometimes you can really capture wonderful shots even though they are fussing...I have a shot where the baby is crying and the parents love that shot...so although they are hard to photograph, you can still get great "emotion" shots!

Thanks! I have another friend who's wife is due on the 18th. I'm going to follow Chandra's advice and ensure I shoot the baby within 10 days. I hope I'm happier with this second shoot.

My first 20 newborn sessions were an absolute nightmare....LOL

I've travelled all throughout the US to learn from some of the best newborn photographers and through photographing over 200 newborns I've learned a lot about working with babies. It takes a lot of patience. A different kind of patience that's for sure.

You can always swaddle the babies up nice and snug and get beautiful eyes wide open shots. There are 5 great shots you can get in 5 mins or less with mom and dad's hands and baby's feet and baby holding onto dad's wedding ring finger. These are great sellers you can check out the details shot on my web site. Each pose I do can take 20 mins or longer to set up. My sessions are 4 hours long. Thanks for the compliments!

There's an easy shot of dad holding on to baby on his chest. You can do if baby is sleeping or awake. Mom's go crazy for the shot and it's easy to do and sells every time.

Round 2 this weekend stay tuned lol

Good luck. I find you need a LOT of patience with some babies and kids under 4yrs old in general. Last baby shoot, I didn't know the baby had spitup on a blanket I was using. So I proceeded to show the mom and dad how I wanted them to pose with the baby on the blanket and ended up getting baby barf all over my hair and face. Oh man, I almost lost my lunch right there. All I could think of was "HUMAN MILK!" ARGHHHH!

Here's another one I liked, that makes it 2!