Tips >
Baby Photography Tricks >
Planning Before the Session
You need to plan ahead.
1 - Mood
Your baby's mood makes or breaks your photography session.
1) The best location is one that the baby is familiar.
If your baby is bored with the space, he or she will be less
likely to want to scurry in all directions exploring—or—withdraw
into concern about a novel place.
You may want to limit your babies movement.
Corral your son or daughter in an office chair covered with a
quilt, or ?
2) Get everything ready ahead of time.
3) The best time is after being fed, after a bath, or ?
4) The best session is brief.
Plan on photographing for five minutes.
5) Have your son or daughter doing something.
For example, your results may be better if your baby is sleeping, bathing, eating, after dinner contentment, being held,
or ?
2 - Light
The lighting is the second factor which makes or breaks your
session.
6) Use a large light source.
The guideline of using a large light source applies to any location.
Outside Light
The sun is a small light source.
If you're outside, avoid photographing your baby in the sun.
The shadows will be distracting.
They'll be dark with sharply defined edges.
Instead, photograph on an overcast day or in the shade.
The light source is large, the entire sky.
If there are any shadows, they'll be bright with fuzzy edges.
In the Sun
If you must photograph in the sun, pop your flash up to
brighten the shadows.
On a point-and-shoot camera, press the lightening bolt icon
until Flash On appears on the LCD screen
On a digital SLR camera, set the exposure mode to P, or to S
or Tv.
Press the button near the flash to pop it up.
Indoors - Existing Light
A large bright window is an excellent large light source.
Position yourself, if you can, with your back to the window.
The light is coming over your shoulders from the window, past
you, and on to your baby.
You can also have the window to one side of your baby.
Indoors - Flash
Avoid using your pop-up flash.
The light is small.
This small light source produces glare on your baby's face, and
often, red eye.
Instead, use a separate flash that you can bounce off of the
ceiling.
The ceiling becomes like an overcast sky, a large light source.
Is a Flash Safe?
Can a flash damage the eyes of a baby?
Consult your pediatrician.
Dr. Don Bienfang
Dr.
Arun K. Mishra
Dr. Jo Lee
3 - Lens
If you're using a digital SLR, consider purchasing a 50mm lens.
This non-zoom, fixed focal length lens, lets in more light than
a zoom lens.
You won't need to use flash.
Also, when used at f/1.4 or f/1.8, the backgrounds will be very
out-of-focus.
Go to 50mm Lens: Good for Low
Light & Less Depth-of-field.
4 - Color of the Light
The color of the light is also important.
Many people are unaware of how adjusting the white balance to
match the color of the light in the scene, will improve the results.
7) Set the white balance to one of the following icons.
|
Overcast
|
Cloud icon
|
Removes blue |
|
Shade
|
House with shadow icon
|
Removes blue/green |
|
Window (No sun) |
On a sunny day, use the house-with-shadow icon.
On a overcast day, use the cloud icon. |
|
|
Flash
|
Lightening bolt icon
|
Removes blue |
Be sure to switch the white balance back to automatic after the
session.
5 - Brightness of the Light
The ISO setting changes the sensitivity of the sensor to light.
A higher number makes the sensor more sensitive.
8) Use the following ISO settings.
|
Shade or overcast
|
ISO 400
|
|
Window (No sun)
|
ISO 400
|
|
Bounce flash
|
ISO 400
|
6 - Exposure Settings
Your camera may have a scene mode called Baby or
something similar.
The camera will try to use a fast shutter speed so there's
less chance of camera shake or blur from you baby running
around.
If you're familiar with shutter speeds, use the S or Tv
exposure mode.
Set the shutter speed to 1/250th or faster, if there's enough
light to do so.
7 - Shutter Lag
When using a point-and-shoot camera, there is a lag between
when you press the shutter release and when the shutter opens.
Shutter lag makes it difficult to capture a fleeting
expression.
You can reduce shutter lag somewhat by pre-focusing.
Fill the frame with your baby, and press the shutter release
slightly to engage the focus.
8 - Vantage Point
Most often, you should photograph at baby-eye level.
9 - Burst Mode
Li Ward
Pet photographer Li Ward's advice applies to babies, too.
Like I mentioned previously, I shoot
mostly in burst mode. That, and the fact that I just keep
shooting. The camera never leaves my face until I feel I have
captured what I want for that particular moment. My eye is glued
to the viewfinder.
Back in the day when I was obsessively
photographing just my own cats, I'd wait for them to do
something interesting or cute before I actually brought the
camera up to shoot. Of course by that time, 1 or 2 seconds
have elapsed, and they're doing something less interesting,
and I've missed the shot.
Now, I sort of treat my still camera
as a video camera. Even if I'm not actively shooting, and
even if the subject is not doing something "capture-worthy,"
I continue tracking through the viewfinder and recomposing.
Because soon enough they will do something capture-worthy,
and I'll be ready to press the shutter the second it
happens.
Expert Tips on Photographing Your Pets
Rik Fairlie
9 - Practice
9) Before you photograph your baby, practice using a toy or spouse as a stand
in for your baby.
