Skin Baby Photo Shoot

[MavericksMission]

As some of you might have seen I did a photo shoot with my new little cousin at 6 weeks old.. it was sort of a fail, but still got a couple of okay shots..

Anyway, I did another shoot of him at just under 5 months old for her for a father's day present hence the carlton jumper! :laugh: ..

Here are a couple of photos, I am a lot happier with them.

Comments and criticism welcomed please!

:)

[persephone]

he is just beautiful!! his eyes look terrific, and there are cute little bubbles at the corners of his mouth ! :D Awwwwww.

I love the third smiley one :) :) The first one's kinda cute too :) To me the one where he has the football looks as if he's about to cry ...his face is just gorgeous ... but not being a football fan the props do nothing for me Obviously dad is a big Caarlton fan, so he will just love it!

I find that orange seat distracting, unfortunately ..

sorry, you did ask ......

[MavericksMission]

Thanks Pers!

Feedback much appreciated! :D

I am annoyed with the seat in them too, but he is in the awkward can't really sit up properly yet stage unfortunately.

I'm not a huge fan of the football props either, but that's what she requested :laugh:

Thanks again! :)

Edited for spelling.

Edited August 28, 2012 by MavericksMission

[PossumCorner]

Lovely shots MM, nothing of the "sort-of-fail" about it, beautiful baby with gorgeous eyes. LOL at Persephone's tact. Of course the props are what the parents wanted, and why not, esp for Fathers Day. You could always pop back soon and ask to take some prop-free shots for yourself, portfolio or whatever, his mum might secretly prefer to look at a simple bunny-rug baby-photo.

It did cross my mind though that a football fan would think "terrific shot of the Sherrin, pity it's a touch out of focus, and that kid in the background is a bit of a distraction". Giving the props equal-billing to the subject is something PixiFoto used to be panned for. Horsey people are just classic, they use ponies as the prop, and worry more about ears forward than baby looking happy.

[persephone]

"terrific shot of the Sherrin, pity it's a touch out of focus, and that kid in the background is a bit of a distraction"

yep LOL.

LOL at Persephone's tact.

Yeah, yeah .. I don't have much , I know :p

[persephone]

I have to keep coming back back to that smiley one ... there's just something about a baby smile :) :)

[kja]

He's a cutie!

A couple of things that might or might not help:

1 - get higher

2 - try black & white, especially for shots with distracting colours. If a colour isn't helping the image, it's a good time to mono it

3 - the colours look a little off to me, too yellowyish, I think

4 - try upping the exposure. Babies almost always look better a bit brighter, these feel a little underexposed, dark/dull to me

5 - white blankets are your friend. I just had a bub that was in one of those ugly things, too, but a white blanket under and over it worked a treat.

[huga]

Ok, I'm guessing you had to shoot wide open because of lack of light? That's fine, but I would have taken a couple of steps back (I know space can be super limited indoors though). They just all feel a bit too tight for me. But I do like space :) If indoors doesn't work, try outside.

The colour is a bit off, like kja said and yep, I would have converted a few to B&W too.

The angles are a bit awkward, but that could be because you are close - you are chopping lots of bits off.

The Bumbo doesn't worry me at all, but I think it would be better if we could see more.

I think you need to decide - am I shooting studio-ish (with a backdrop and minimal distractions) or I am shooting lifestyle/documentary (lose the backdrop and just shoot the kid in his environment)?

[kja]

+1 for what huga said, too! I knew I forgot some things :)

[Linda K]

first of all, big congrats, kids are hard - I know, I do it for a living. Agree with what has been said already, and also think the colour is off. One other thing - the backdrop is too close and the wrinkles in it distract me - would have moved that a bit further back, and take the time to get any wrinkles out first - it might be painful to do, but it is worth spending an extra 5 or 10 minutes there rather than having to photoshop each image - BTDT , it is a lesson you learn pretty quickly. Not worried by having to use a bumbo to help bub sit up, but agree that you can then disguise it by using fabric either in the same colour as the backdrop or what they are wearing, or a neutral colour, so it is not such a standout. Watch the limb chops, fingers and hands cut off aren't always a good thing, and then leaves you no room to crop in should you need to do a bit of cropping later - I always do what Huga has said - take a step back so you do have that room. Also get down to their level - eyes look better where you and they are at the same level so you have that connection, rather than looking up. Also watch where the clothing bunches up like the last one, it makes them look a bit swamped by the clothing. Love the smiling one, great connection there!!!

[Guest Tess32]

I think if you increase the exposure they'll be a lot better, they look far too dark for babies. Agree with what Huga has said.

[MavericksMission]

Thank you all so much for the feedback!

It is very, very much appreciated and I will definitely take it all on board :)

I'm not looking at doing "human" photography professionally, just happy to take some snaps for my cousins and family.

I really do appreciate all the time people have taken to comment, it's really awesome to have such a great bunch of photography minded people on here that are happy to offer advice and comments! :)