Forgot How Difficult Newborns Can Be

It's been about two years since my last newborn. I tried planning everything out, come during her normal nap time, feed her just before she comes, keep the place warm. Not once did the baby fall asleep. And the entire time she was fussy! We're gonna try it again later this week and see if she changes her mood.

I did manage to get a handful of shots. Here's a couple of them. In the bottom one, the dad wanted to showcase his new tattoo he got.

Any more tips for a more successful shoot from you newborn gurus out there?

Warm rooms, full tummies and make sure they have been kept awake for at least an hour before you photograph them. Getting them full and tired leads to successful shoot every time.

Thanks, Maureen. I tried all 3 of those but still didn't work. You might just be a baby whisperer and not even know it.

Once in a while I get one who will not sleep either. It makes it difficult for posing but you can still get cute pictures.

great images...

Love the second one, although it's too bad Lucy didn't But this will likely be treasured when they have a million smiling pictures of her.

On the first, the set up has a lot of potential but I would open up the aperture and/or use a longer lens zoomed in, something to get more compression and less depth of field to really make the baby the focus. I feel like a lower or higher angle might work better if you can't do those... either kind of eye-level to her or straight down. But I'm still learning, so take it for what it's worth

Hope baby is having a better day for your next shoot!

B&W one is amazing

dpatrick27339 wrote in post #16975285
great images...

fullfram wrote in post #16998961
B&W one is amazing

Thank you!

chight wrote in post #16998818
Love the second one, although it's too bad Lucy didn't But this will likely be treasured when they have a million smiling pictures of her.

On the first, the set up has a lot of potential but I would open up the aperture and/or use a longer lens zoomed in, something to get more compression and less depth of field to really make the baby the focus. I feel like a lower or higher angle might work better if you can't do those... either kind of eye-level to her or straight down. But I'm still learning, so take it for what it's worth

Hope baby is having a better day for your next shoot!

I think you actually have insightful advice and I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I actually did grab some of those you mentioned. Here's a straight down one.

kraaazymike wrote in post #17013069

That is a money shot!!! I'd play around with cropping it tighter, even if you lose part of the basket, but that one is gorgeous. Let us know how "take two" goes if you do a re-shoot for a happier baby

I feel your pain! I just recently had a similar shoot planned but a wide awake baby made things really difficult....we tried all the above mentioned things to get the baby to sleep but alas....not a single sleeping baby shot. You still captured some nice stuff here though!