Newborn shoot (Pic heavy) - New ones added

I'm kind of reluctant to share these here, as I'm really disappointed with how poorly I did at this shoot. I was having so much trouble with my metering. I tried shooting in manual and things were all over the map, so then I switched to AV and ended up dialing in some exposure compensation most of the time because things were still crazy. I spent the morning today experimenting with metering on my new camera and learned a couple of valuable things I wish I'd known yesterday! Also, I relied on the parents to have soft blankets to use, as I don't have much in that vein, and they only had a wrinkled flannel sheet and two quilted blankets (one lumpy and old) with lines that were really distracting. I tried to clone things out or do a bit of blurring, but it really messed things up. I wish I could do it all over again. :( But anyway, since I said I'd share, here are some images. CC is always welcome. I'm having a heck of a time with skin tone on these, so any input on that you can offer would be helpful. I'd sure like to know what methods people use to get consistent skin tones across a shoot like this. #1 - My favourite, and the only one I'm pretty happy with. ISO 2000, f5.6, SS 1/50, EV -.67, FL 120mm http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8028/7...1036ebd2bb.jpg #2 - ISO 2000, f5.6, SS 1/200, EV -1.33, FL 106mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7236/7...1b5e46f661.jpg #3 - ISO 1250, f5.0, SS 1/400, EV -.33, FL 42mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7213/7...b804036c2f.jpg #4 - ISO 1250, f5.0, SS 1/640, EV -.33, FL 45mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7222/7...efe636197a.jpg #5 - ISO 1250, f5.0, SS 1/640, EV -.33, FL 42mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7080/7...b01e59c0e5.jpg #6 - ISO 1250, f5.0, SS 1/500, EV -.33, FL 48mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7103/7...2b7da04800.jpg #7 - ISO 1250, f6.3, SS 1/50, EV -2, FL 38mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7101/7...c3711d9fcd.jpg #8 - ISO 1250, f6.3, SS 1/250, EV -.33, FL 135mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7231/7...bd165e63d4.jpg #9 - My least favourite of the ones I'm posting, but the only full-body shot. ISO 1250, f4.5, SS 1/1600, EV -.33, FL 26mm http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/7...49f31200c9.jpg There are more in this Flickr set.

Tracy, #1 is really sweet and also my favorite! Looks great.

I also love the concept of #2 and you did a great job capturing focus on the hand...I tried some shots like this and could never get the comp right. Might need a little more light in this one?

I like #3, but understand your frustration with the wrinkles. Maybe somebody with pp expertise could weigh in and give us some hints here!!!

I LOVE #7 and think I would like to see it in black and white. Baby's face looks a little blown, but mom's expression is so sweet...such a lovely smile and she adores the baby. She will treasure #7 and 8 ... I don't think it takes away at all in #7, but hand chop is a little bit distracting in 8.

For the others, I think I tend not to like newborn shots with eyes open because that usually means they are awake and flailing and hard to capture in a good pose...the exception for me are the ones with mom.

Just FTR, I also really struggle in manual and shoot AV a lot of the time and mess with the exposure compensation also. I think you did a pretty good job with it and the good news is, you will get better and better. :)

Thanks for sharing these!!

Newborns are hard, aren't they?! I'd like to see if I could do one more newborn (would be my 3rd) to see if it's something that I would like to offer to people, or something that I'd just run away screaming from. ;)

#1 is my favorite as well. Skin and exposure looks great. It might be a little tight, but that's ok.

I definitely see what your'e going for with #2, but there's just not enough light. There's enough light on the face, it seems, but the hand is underexposed, unfortunately. I think that just rotating the whole setup for baby would have done the trick.

#3 is my next favorite. Lighting is very nice. I think that backing up would have helped this one "pop" even more. I feel like it needs just a little more space.

I think you've done a great job on getting lots of different angles. I feel, though, that #4 needs a little more shallow DOF, but I don't think that's something that you could help with your current lens. Maybe if you would step back further, and zoom in more, that would have done the trick. I envision this one more like #2. Not sure if that's what you were going for or not, though.

For #5,6, and 9, the pose just really doesn't work with the baby awake. :( When they're awake, they're so darn squirmy, that you can't pose them. The hands need to be up under the head to keep the face off the ground so we can see it better. Looks like you tried to do that, but baby moved their hands away. Even when they're sleeping, it's hard to get them to do it, and takes a lot of patience, but it's about 100x harder to do it while they're awake. So, don't frown upon yourself for these if you're unhappy. It's just that baby had another idea in mind ;)

Were 7 and 8 the ones you were having the most trouble with on skin tones? Work these a little more and see what you can come up with. The baby's face looks a little bright and white in #7. Looks much better in #8, but still looks a little off to me. Not sure what to suggest to fix it, though. I think that maybe the lighting had something to do with it. Were they really close to a window? It almost looks like the lighting isn't soft enough. I LOVE mom's dimple in #7! Great job on getting that side of her face :) I think that #8 could have benefited from you backing up just slightly to avoid the chop.

I think that you did better than you thought you did, Tracy. Newborns are tough! Then, add to that, you're just learning your new camera, and it was your first "real" shoot! So, give yourself a pat on the back :)

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Originally Posted by StateChick

I LOVE #7 and think I would like to see it in black and white. Baby's face looks a little blown, but mom's expression is so sweet...such a lovely smile and she adores the baby. She will treasure #7 and 8 ... I don't think it takes away at all in #7, but hand chop is a little bit distracting in 8.

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Thanks for the helpful comments! I was so focused on getting the fingers touching (they had been a second prior, in #8, like an "ET" finger touch!) that I just completely didn't realize I had chopped the other hand. Darn.

Re: #7, I tried a conversion on it, and it just didn't look great. But I will try it again. It seems like it would make a good B&W if I could get it right. Maybe I'll post later. Baby is definitely over-exposed in that one; I had to bring down levels a fair bit. Fortunately baby wasn't blown, but was pretty close to it.

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Originally Posted by Ladybugsteph

For #5,6, and 9, the pose just really doesn't work with the baby awake. :( When they're awake, they're so darn squirmy, that you can't pose them.

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Yeah, I did try to pose the hands a few times when baby was awake or just lightly asleep, and it never worked. We need to get baby into more sleep than just letting him doze off for a minute, because nothing I tried with the hands worked well. It was also stressful in that I had my own two kids there (usually they play with this baby's siblings over there), it was approaching lunch time, etc., and there was only so much time I could wait for the baby to really fall asleep. But the mom emailed today and she thought the pics were "fantastic" but when she heard I wished I could do it all over again, she offered to let me. So maybe I'll get the chance!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ladybugsteph

Were 7 and 8 the ones you were having the most trouble with on skin tones? Work these a little more and see what you can come up with. The baby's face looks a little bright and white in #7. Looks much better in #8, but still looks a little off to me. Not sure what to suggest to fix it, though. I think that maybe the lighting had something to do with it. Were they really close to a window? It almost looks like the lighting isn't soft enough. I LOVE mom's dimple in #7! Great job on getting that side of her face :smile: I think that #8 could have benefited from you backing up just slightly to avoid the chop.

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Yes, my mistake on that one (see above comments), for sure!

#7-9 were my most troublesome ones. Mom is Asian, as you can see, but baby is that purpley/reddish newborn colour! and together I couldn't seem to get the colour balance right with #7 and 8. And #9 just looks off to me.

Thanks so much for the really helpful comments!

OK, I played with #7, but adjusting the levels I clipped the blacks. I don't know if this is better with clipped blacks, or worse. I did a little work to edit the colour in baby's face separately from the rest of the image.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/friesen4/7186902077/" title="21 by friesen4, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7243/7186902077_411e04ea6e.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="21"></a>

Also a black-and-white attempt:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/friesen4/7372128492/" title="20 by friesen4, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7075/7372128492_a3413e92ec.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="20"></a>

I sure do know why it's best t oget exposure and colour right IN CAMERA, because it sucks trying to fix it after the fact. I also tried a couple of RAW shots for the first time this morning, in case I get another chance to do some more shots with this baby!

I definitely like the crop better in your re-edit and I think as a whole it looks better. Is there any more of her right shoulder or is that an in camera crop? Either way, I like it better in the updated edit.

I am not sure about the clipped blacks...

I can't believe you haven't been shooting in RAW...makes a world of difference!

Tracy, for your first newborn you did a great job! My fave is #6! I would blow it up and hang it on the wall if it was my baby. I love how you got all the little hair on babys back and that little mouth is so sweet!

I think you have some good cc already. My fav is #3! I like everything about it!

Didn't read through all the comments, so I hope I am no saying what everyone else has said. I like #3. I think you captured the baby well here. The thing I learned is, if they are laying flat, it's too difficult to capture the baby. I laid the newborn I did inside or on a bobby covered with a blanket. It made a huge difference.