re: Photography Corner- TOGs

Blah. I was so excited to take pictures of my cousin's newborn little boy, and I am just not happy with them at all. I feel so bad. It ended up being dark out when I took them, so I had to resort to using my "backdrop" and they just don't look how I wanted. I'm going to offer to reshoot them.

I would love some feedback on them, and some tips on how to make them better. Keep in mind that this is the first time I've ever taken pictures for someone that doesn't involve my kids. Here is the link to my PB where I uploaded them (the password is: helpme) Help!  
http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc118/hmm1818/Isaiah/

Quoting mommybrain:“ Blah. I was so excited to take pictures of my cousin's newborn little boy, and I am just not happy with ... [snip!] ... link to my PB where I uploaded them (the password is: helpme) Help!   http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc118/hmm1818/Isaiah/”

i kinda like 6
7
8
10 is kinda cute i think it'd look better with his legs tucked tighter

IMO not a fan of the paci photos, simply because i think soothies make babies look really weird. if i had to like a paci shot i'd pick 14, but he loooks much better without it
15 is cute
so is 16
17 is ok...his fingers in the foreground look almost translucent
i think 18 is great

Quoting mommybrain:“ Blah. I was so excited to take pictures of my cousin's newborn little boy, and I am just not happy with ... [snip!] ... link to my PB where I uploaded them (the password is: helpme) Help!   http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc118/hmm1818/Isaiah/”

I think they're really good, the only problems I saw was the color ones. Newborns are really hard to get a good color but I would probably try to take some of the red out. I found a tip from someone's blog AFTER I did my last newborn shoot to always shoot slightly down their face for face shots and when I went back and looked through my pictures the ones I did that the baby looked so much better.

I've been meaning to ask you about that download to view how many times my shutter has been released. What do I do after I download it? I feel like it's just there now and I don't know what to do with it. lol(the Nikon one)

Quoting mommybrain:“ Blah. I was so excited to take pictures of my cousin's newborn little boy, and I am just not happy with ... [snip!] ... link to my PB where I uploaded them (the password is: helpme) Help!   http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc118/hmm1818/Isaiah/”

Some of them are cute! I like the hand and feet ones- but moms green nails wayyyy too distracting. If you can clone them out somehow- you might want to do that. Or turn the picture black and white. The back background is not going to allow you to mess with exposure too much in the brighter direction because it will show the noise that I see a little more. I would soften these a little - which will probably help with the noise a little bit- orrrr if you hav a good noise filter use that on a seperate layer and lightly erase around the eyes and then play with opacity of that layer until you get softness that softens baby's skin while helping with some of the noise.

The one of baby in the basket with toes peeking out is super cute. I'd try again but use natural light- the light just isn't soft enough for baby. The black makes baby look alone...do you have a white backdrop? That will help a lot with the noise, light everything. Try getting baby nekky and creatively using the blanky to cover up his boy bits. (these are just ideas) Maybe try some more poses but belly ones...it takes time to get baby asleep and slowly start posing them into the cute poses you see. I mean....sometimes hours to complete a shoot of a newbie. If you can mask the diaper- I'd try - it can be distracting. If you ror someone you knowhas a diaper cover to go over it or just use the blanket creatively to mask it.

Now all that said- you did a REALLY good job. I mean it!! When you start moving into the 'abstract' your skills start showing... like the feet and hand shots and the angles- really good. I am very impressed for your first shoot ever!! And indoor studio setting at that!!   

Go for a theme to get your creative juices flowing...my friend does a 10 fingers and 10 toes and 10 parts...she gets pictures from all the angles...some really cute ones on the belly, side view with baby posed sorta facing the camera on his side...then she gets more abstract...toes, fingers, butt (yes butt no other parts tho- gotta be crafty here), feet, hands, nose, lips even chin! She put it in a collage and it was BREATHTAKING.

Quoting NikonGirl_SASM:“ Some of them are cute! I like the hand and feet ones- but moms green nails wayyyy too distracting. ... [snip!] ... no other parts tho- gotta be crafty here), feet, hands, nose, lips even chin! She put it in a collage and it was BREATHTAKING.”

   on the green fingernails, i forgot to mention those...icky  

Quoting NikonGirl_SASM:“ Some of them are cute! I like the hand and feet ones- but moms green nails wayyyy too distracting. ... [snip!] ... no other parts tho- gotta be crafty here), feet, hands, nose, lips even chin! She put it in a collage and it was BREATHTAKING.”

I definitely agree about the natural light, I think a picture of a baby in natural light speaks more to our emotions than with a flash.

Quoting pooskie ™:“    on the green fingernails, i forgot to mention those...icky  ”

My eyes almost couldn't look at the rest because of those green nails...red would be bad too...any color really that was noticable.

Quoting NikonGirl_SASM:“ My eyes almost couldn't look at the rest because of those green nails...red would be bad too...any color really that was noticable.”

personally i dont paint my nails...if i do its clear just for the shine...a friend just painted her 2 wks old nails red. i was like, are you serious? lol

Quoting northwind:“ I definitely agree about the natural light, I think a picture of a baby in natural light speaks more to our emotions than with a flash.”

I agree.Some studio photographers will sometimes use natural light because...it's manipulating (hehe)- gets our little mama heartstrings every time! Or at least me. *sniff* And then we have to spend spend spend. rofl

Quoting pooskie ™:“ personally i dont paint my nails...if i do its clear just for the shine...a friend just painted her 2 wks old nails red. i was like, are you serious? lol”

It's too much for me to upkeep so I don't paint mine either. But my 3 old has some pink polish she gets to wear soemtimes. It's picked off in a day though. But I have a no red rule on her until she is ..shoot...at least hitting puberty. hehe

Quoting NikonGirl_SASM:“ It's too much for me to upkeep so I don't paint mine either. But my 3 old has some pink polish she gets ... [snip!] ... It's picked off in a day though. But I have a no red rule on her until she is ..shoot...at least hitting puberty. hehe”

My 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son both wear blue on their toes. haha

Quoting northwind:“ My 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son both wear blue on their toes. haha”

hehe I put clear on the boys when they beg. Or pink on their pinky. They thinks that's awesome! hahaha But I have some of that nail grow stuff (it's not apolish more like a conditioner that soaks in) and they usually get to wear that and it satisfies their...it;s not fair Elektra gets to wear nail polish. hehe

Quoting NikonGirl_SASM:“ Some of them are cute! I like the hand and feet ones- but moms green nails wayyyy too distracting. ... [snip!] ... no other parts tho- gotta be crafty here), feet, hands, nose, lips even chin! She put it in a collage and it was BREATHTAKING.”

Maybe I should just forget shooting people and stick to objects.   lol

I hated the fact that by the time we were able to get started we had lost all natural light. I originally had ideas of mommy/baby pictures on our window seat, but it would not have looked right at all with having to use flash (I tried it, it sucked even worse than these). I hate the black background with them too. I was trying to search everywhere for something lighter and softer to be able to use, but couldn't come up with a thing. I'm going to see about those green nails. hehe I didn't notice them so much, but I was trying (and failing) to fix the other color which just couldn't be salvaged. We did spend about an hour and half doing them, but out of the 108 images I took, these were the only ones worth editing, and even then I'm not happy with them.

Thank you so much for the feedback! I feel a little more confident in my abilities now, but I definitely am going to offer to reshoot for her, and make sure it's during the day when we can get lots of natural light.

We're off to our 4th activities. Hope everyone has a great day!  

Here is a picture I took of the "cupcake bites" I made today for a bbq. Is it any good? Any ideas for a better pic?

Quoting Holly: Ava's Mommy!!:“ Here is a picture I took of the "cupcake bites" I made today for a bbq. Is it any good? Any ideas for a better pic? ”

i think they are cute! i would have pry plated on a white plate for the picture, just because the cupcake picks up alot of the blue, and the cupcake on the left is really dark...kinda distracting.