Photographing Babies

[cesstrelle]

Hi everyone,
Now that I am officially an Aunt I really have something to photograph now, my new niece Aria! Once the new family is all settled in I want to do a photoshoot of them. Can anyone post their professional level photos of babies? And photos of babies with the parents? (not sure if a thread was done like this before) I'd like to do some photos of Aria alone and with her parents. I have a digital rebel.
I just need to get some ideas as usually my subjects are the four legged variety with hooves or paws :D .
I don't know if this is a dumb question or not but can a flash hurt a newborn's eyes? In the photo below I didn't use a flash even though she was sleeping.

Here is Aria getting ready to come home from the hospital at about 2 days old. She was born 7:47pm 3/19/05 and was 6 pounds 2 ounces.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/cesstrelle/1700p.jpg

[Maureen Souza]

Well I flashed away at my kids and they are all adults with normal vision, lol. But you don't have to aim your flash at the babies, bounce it off the walls or ceiling, get a diffuser, put the baby in front of a nice, lit window... you have tons of options. And most of them work pretty well most of the time!

By the way, congratulations Auntie!!:lol:

[*MOMOFAIRFORCEBRATS*]

flash wont hurt her. but it could surpise her and piss her off.

try staying away from using it at all put her close to a window. very close if necessary.

with the rebel when i put a baby in natural light i use my 50mm lense. set camera at iso lowest that i cna get with a SS of 1/160 to 1/200 (prevent camera shake) and open the aperature up where i need to. usually i stay around f 2.4 . manually changing the focus point versus focus and recompose helps get sharp eyes at such open aperature. depending on how bright it is you could get iso 200 on a good sunny dday then maybe go for f 4 or higher. thing to remember when shotting at low AP is dot get too aweful close frame her with a bit of space around her will ensure you depth of field includes both of her eyes. Have fun....

you can look for poses in my newborn and baby galleries if you like.. www.annsnelson.com

[cesstrelle]

you can look for poses in my newborn and baby galleries if you like.. www.annsnelson.com (http://www.annsnelson.com/)

Wow, you have some fantastic photos there...and some great ideas. I will definately be seeing the baby again on Easter, hoping to get some interesting shots then.