Trouble with baby photos

[Love Photos]

Hi Everyone, this is Jacky.

My sister just had a baby girl, and I am trying to take some wonderful pictures for her to keep as a record to keep.

I have a Nikon D90 and a 17-55mm lens, I took a lot of photos of the baby girl today, but looking at it today when i got back home, i can hardly pick any of those photos that i actually feel "wow, this is pretty good".....

For those who have taken photos of people, any chance i could get some advices from all of you, such as what mode is best to take photos with, things i should watch out for.

The baby is only three days old, the only time to photo her is when she was sleeping or when she is feeding. I was hoping to take some Black and White photos of her, where i just focus on her little feet or little hand, or part of her face, and the area surrounding her is completely black. But have no idea how to achieve that.

I have try to shoot in A mode and P mode. Photos just not that great....

I need some advices please please...

many thanks
Jacky

[Redal]

Hi Everyone, this is Jacky.

My sister just had a baby girl, and I am trying to take some wonderful pictures for her to keep as a record to keep.

I have a Nikon D90 and a 17-55mm lens, I took a lot of photos of the baby girl today, but looking at it today when i got back home, i can hardly pick any of those photos that i actually feel "wow, this is pretty good".....

For those who have taken photos of people, any chance i could get some advices from all of you, such as what mode is best to take photos with, things i should watch out for.

The baby is only three days old, the only time to photo her is when she was sleeping or when she is feeding. I was hoping to take some Black and White photos of her, where i just focus on her little feet or little hand, or part of her face, and the area surrounding her is completely black. But have no idea how to achieve that.

I have try to shoot in A mode and P mode. Photos just not that great....

I need some advices please please...

many thanks
Jacky


I have found when taking little kids photos and they will be used for Black and whites, especially feet and hands , i shot them in direct sunlight to get contrasty images, an easy and effective shot is to place the childs so it is grabbing mum or dads finger to show the scale difference .

I will try to explain how i would do it.
Find a window where to direct light is coming through, move a coffee table into the area , get the cushions for the lounge seating and build them up to about 10 -15 cm below the table ( i use this method for all my kids pics ) for safety just incase the baby moves, at 3 days old this wont happen, but for piece of mind i do it anyway. Then place baby on it so one hand can reach over the edge.
Sit with your back facing the window and you are looking into the room, then you move mum and the coffee table around till the light is giving the lighting you want. I then usually place dark material between the babies arm and the table.

Regarding the camera set up, zoom your lens to 55mm and put your camera into Manual (M) ISO at 200 , f11 and your shutter to around 1/400 and your white balance to daylight(the little sun) , shoot in RAW and get as close as your lens will let you ( minimum focus distance) most lenses have a little measurement scale on them.

If you are in direct sunlight 1/400 should be quite close, you might want to bracket exposures ( one shot at 1/320 one at 1/400 and one at 1/500) then check which exposure is best, babies skin is very white so check your info histogram to see if the babies skin is flashing. The histogram should have in a M shape with a lot of info at either ends of the scale , without much if any hitting the right hand side.

Babies are so easy to work with till they are about 4-6 weeks , as you can place them how you want and they are happy if they are fed and warm , when they get to 6ish weeks they start to move and get noisy about what is happening .

Good luck and have fun getting some shots for yourself and sister.

[Love Photos]

Redal:

Thank you so much, this is a very detailed instruction and easy to follow... Will try them out when i am seeing her this Christmas..

Again, thank you very much..

You have a great Christmas...

Many Thanks
Jacky