I just love this thread. I've gotten a lot of great information from it. I have to say, 3/4 year olds are really hard for me. I just went to a preschool and photographed 50 kids, ages ranged from a few months up to 5 yrs and the 3 yrs old were my toughest to get to smile. I tried the animals, the jokes, talk @ spongebob, etc.. but some just would NOT smile It was also difficult since I didnt have much time with each child.
So I applaud you for making it look so easy. I hope to be that good one day, your work is amazing.

Thank you for all your doing!!! Now I need someones baby lol

Me too!!!

wanted one baby in the Carolina's to share but only for photos cause i'm done with babies lol

Aww - Thank you ! I'm pleased you have found this thread helpful !

I am so happy you have gained helpful info from this thread - and yes kids at 3/4 are HARD WORK !
Even harder when you are on a time limit. I find the more time you spend with them, getting to know them, playing with them, the more they trust you - after all you are a stranger & most kids have had the "don't talk to strangers" talk with their parents ! When I first meet my client's kids I sit and chat, play for a while and then start with the photos. I have never had a kid I couldn't crack, I always get there in the end - but as I said - when you're on a time frame - like at kindy or pre school, it's super hard !

I'm done with babies too ! My family is complete - 3 is plenty for me

I love newborns, love them, I loved mine at the newborn stage, so when I get to snuggle someone else's baby AND THEN GIVE HIM/HER BACK !!! It's wonderful ! lol

You know - "borrowing" a baby isn't such a bad idea - in the past when I was portfolio building I did put out a few "model calls" - people understood that I was learning/building my business & for their time and for letting me borrow their baby or child, they were given a CD with 5-10 images and one print.

Cheap effective way of gaining experience & happy parents who in the end became some of my highest paying clients !

Happy days !

Wow this is a FANTASTIC THREAD! Thanks for sharing all this great information. Even after reading it all I still have some questions!

What aperature to you find works best when shooting newborns? I find I am having some issues with my camera or lens locking up...not sure if it is a technical issue or user issue. I try to shoot f2 on my 50 1.4

Also did you get the 50 1.2 and how do you like it?

Do you layer anything over your bean bag chair to protect it from baby pee pee or poo poo or do you or is the blanket usually enough? Do you have many colored blankets or do you only use a select few colors?

As a new photographer, how much of an investment should I expect to make in this business. I have a camera, two lenses, a flash, some workshops under my belt and am slowing building up my backdrop, blankets and prop supplies. I feel like I am constantly spending though and always looking to add. When is enough enough or is it ever enough?

As far as your pricing, do you find it is working well for you...charging a session fee and putting up a gallery? How many prints do your customers end up buying and does anyone every buy the whole disk? Right now I just charge a flat rate and give a disk because it seems everyone wants the images for facebook, etc. I know this is a commonly disputed thing in the portrait world (disk vs. gallery) but am curious to hear your take on it and if clients every turn you you down due to your disk prices

Finally - how long does it take you to photoshop and edit a session. How many pictures do you take in a session and how many do you display in the gallery? Is it hard to edit them down?

Ok whew, sorry for ALL these questions, I probably have some more but will stop here!

I've been wanting to have a girl. I think it's really good reason to have one now, if I can get my husband to agree lollll. Seriously, I wish I'd known about photography 8 years ago. We paid a good amount of $$ to have so-so pictures, not even 1/10th of what mercersmoments has done

I like to shoot natural light at f/2.8 & with my strobe I shoot at f/3.2

Lens locking up - this sometimes happens to me if I am too close to the subject.

I borrowed a friend's 50 1.2 - gave it a good test & then borrowed another friend's 50 1.4 - I was impressed with the clarity for the price, so saved me some $$ and went with the 1.4

This was taken with it using natural light from doors behind me
exif :
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: EF50mm f/1.4 USM
Exposure: Manual exposure, 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400

I have a standard mattress protector under the blankets, I shoot on white, cream & brown, I'm a fan of neutral tones, not bright colours

I am still buying props and camera gear - it's never ending, once you get the L series bug - you're done for

I have a policy - make the money before I spend it.

I bought enough gear to get me by, then slowly added to my stash of cameras, lenses, software & props.

No workshops for me, I would rather teach myself & spend my money on more gear rather than on a workshop.

You can teach yourself, it can be done

99.9% of my clients buy the CD of high res images - they come with a sample print of each, this entices the client to buy prints from me as they are professionally printed and colour profiled.

I have had my fair share of clients not booking me due to the price - then they go and book a $100 shoot and burn photographer and get average work, in the end you only get what you pay for !


Let's just say I'm not sitting by the phone hoping for a booking

Depending on how cooperative the child has been during the shoot, if there more than one kid, if mum and dad are in the photos etc - I take about 80-150 images, I aim to put 20-30 in their gallery, but always end up with more - I am terrible at culling perfectly good shots

Takes me about 2 hours to edit a full session, I don't to allot of batch editing, each photo gets it's own personal attention

That's ok - I hope I helped in some way - I am no expert that's for sure, but I'm happy to share my knowledge & hope people get something from it

WOW GREAT INFO - THANKS! That picture you posted is SO CRISP AND CLEAR!

I would love to see some before and afters (before and after processing) - only if you want to!

Ok and I thought of another question! How do you get a baby to smile...like the one above? Can you get them to smile alot? I have had a few 7 month old babies that wont even look up from their new setting (i.e. the beach - a baby kept playing with the sand, or at the park - the baby kept picking at the grass...when we moved him onto a blanket he started pulling at the blanket, or a I placed a baby in an old coke crate prop...they bang their hands on the side of it and won't look up....even some who I just plop down on a roll of paper in the studio, what gives?) I feel like I have tried everything from toys, squeaky toys to singing to dancing. Even the parents get involved (which sometimes works and sometimes does not). Sometimes I get them to smile but my camera is not up bc I was making crazy faces at them.

So what is your secret?! How do you get them to smile...this is for the babies who dont talk yet and just are really enthralled in their new environment. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and how many colored blankets do you have...do you have a few different textures in white, a few in tan, etc?

When do you stop using the bean bag chair... meaning at what age?

Also, once a baby is mobile (crawling) what set up do you use?

Another question is about lenses... I am not at the point where I can purchase any L lenses. I am wondering if I should try and sell my 85 1.8 and get the 50 1.4 as it may be more usable on my 40D. What is your opinion about that?

Awesome thread, you gave me a lot of inspiration for my shoot tomorrow with my 6 month old second cousin.
I did a 1.5 year old last year and it didn't go so well, once they're up and running its so much more difficult to get their attention to you.
Hopefully everything goes well tomorrow! The nice thing about family is you can retry as many times as you want.

Thank you for sharing!

Hi Seona,

Thanks for your contribution and I hope this haven't been asked yet.

I will be shooting a 1 month old tomorrow for my friend. I am very new to this and I have no light meter. I have 2 studio strobe with umbrella(short thr or reflective) and 1 reflector. Can you suggest me what simple setup I should aim for since this is my first time shooting other's babies. I want to leave ambient light out of the equation as this is something I can't control.

Also, if you are only allow to pick 5 photos for each session, what would your pick be? My pick would be:

1. Baby alone looking at camera
2. Baby sleeping while smiling
3. father holding baby
4. mother holding baby
5. Parents and baby together

Am I missing something else that you think it's a must?

Thanks in advance and have a nice day.

Ok so friends on mine just have a little baby girl a few months past and they asked me a few days ago to take photos of the little one this coming sunday.

The ideas in my head are of the baby sleeping on a soft blanket all curled up, i want to capture the elegance and peacfulness of her sleeping but I want to lighting to be soft and natural and I want to try and avoid using flash if at all possible as to be honest, I HATE flash.

so can you help me out? any tips or tricks.

below are a few links to what im after. thank you.....

http://kristinrachelle​photography.com ...ag/newborn-baby-pictures/ (scroll threw )

http://rawphotodesign.​com/blog/?p=1637

cheers again