Newborn studio portraits

Did a newborn shoot yesterday. Please supply your normal dose of C&C

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These are cute but I wish you hadn't cropped off the cute little baby feet. Plus, there's something about the lighting that I don't really care for. It's almost too harsh when you'd expect it to be softer with a newborn. But, that's just my personal opinion so please take it with a grain of salt.

hmmm the lighting looks way too harsh?? Not sure what your set up was? or maybe you were going for that look?
I did a little play to try to even out the shadows a bit. I am not very good at this, but it will give you an idea of the difference in lighting

I like your edit too, but yes, I was going for the shadowy/contrasty look. First time trying this sort of lighting.

Setup was a softbox on camera right and an umbrella on camera left. Also a reflector on camera left to reflect a little of the softbox up.

Hey Gator,
I will agree with the others on the light being a touch harsh. The best one (in my eye) is the one of mommy, daddy and baby.

How far away was the softbox on camera right from them?

By the way, if this is what you were looking to do then it looks good

maybe two other things I would suggest is..
1)If it were me I would work a little on the moms arm hair.... to me its a little distracting
2) in pic with both parents, I would have maybe put mom behind dad so that she looks a little tinier. Not that she is a big girl or anything, quite the opposite, but every woman prefers to seem small. Anything that is straight on in the camera tends to look bigger. Even if it's not the intention....

Other than those 2 things along with the lighting, I think you did a good job! Keep up the good work!

burntpixel wrote in post #5828410
Hey Gator,
I will agree with the others on the light being a touch harsh. The best one (in my eye) is the one of mommy, daddy and baby.

How far away was the softbox on camera right from them?

By the way, if this is what you were looking to do then it looks good

It was fairly close... probably 4 feet. Had to work in their living room, which wasn't that big. I probably could have gotten it another foot or two further away, with some additional furniture re-arrangement, which I guess I should have done.

luv2sign20 wrote in post #5828794
maybe two other things I would suggest is..
1)If it were me I would work a little on the moms arm hair.... to me its a little distracting
2) in pic with both parents, I would have maybe put mom behind dad so that she looks a little tinier. Not that she is a big girl or anything, quite the opposite, but every woman prefers to seem small. Anything that is straight on in the camera tends to look bigger. Even if it's not the intention....

Other than those 2 things along with the lighting, I think you did a good job! Keep up the good work!

Yeah, I was really surprised when I saw that dad looks pretty small compared to mom after seeing the image. I stopped and tried to think if she was taller than him or what, but I guess it was just the angle.

I had to do a lot of work on fixing stray hairs from mom, so I didn't even notice arm hair Thanks.

Try having both parents wearing dark clothing so to highlight the child much better. I agree about the lighting, but with one exception. It appears your using dual lighting in your studio. Try using only one light with a diffuser or White box!

DigitalSpecialist wrote in post #5829502
Try having both parents wearing dark clothing so to highlight the child much better. I agree about the lighting, but with one exception. It appears your using dual lighting in your studio. Try using only one light with a diffuser or White box!

Hmm... they are both wearing black shirts here. Not sure how using only one light would change things, besides making MORE contrast, which I definitely don't want.

I agree the lighting was a bit harsh. Too close to the subjects maybe? or too much power? The second to last one would be great ( I love the dad in this shot) but the position of your light has the baby's eyes dark and it really ruins the shot unfortunately. You probably could of turned them a little CCW or brought the light closer to you and camera.

yeah, I think that next time I'll try a more traditional lighting setup. Overall it doesn't seem to be flying for folks. Although mom loved them of course, but she woulda loved them either way I'm sure

Off topic just a bit here Gator; are these friends of yours? Just wondering how you just moved to a new area and already getting clients?

stay with the one light- turn it down and add a reflector to the front so that the shadow in front are not quite so harsh. Watch the pic of just dad and child he looks like a floating head ( could be my monitor . I do like your poses and yes any momma will love these of her new baby