• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Problem baby photos

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Everyone

Here are some of the shots mentioned in another thread, just to reiterate, this is the 5 week old first born of our friends and they are typical anxious first time parents, and did not want any flash used on her..... It was a rainy gloomy day so these had to be taken inside, using Canon 5D ISO 400 (didn't want to push it any further, I was concerned about grain) 100mm macro lens @ f4.5. I know they're not very good, but I did the best that I could.... I seated them near a window and used a gold reflector, to try and push some light back in, but they are all a little soft as I couldn't get a fast enough speed to cope with a wriggling baby with no flash, all a bit of a compromise, but they are dear friends and I wanted to try for them, so here they are, I have used PS Shadow/Highlight to try and correct some of the shadows, she also has a little rash and mottled skin.....

I am going to try again the next time we see them in a few weeks time, hopefully they will feel more comfortable about using some bounced flash then......

IMG_0096.jpg

Before 1/30 f4.5

IMG_0096after.jpg

After some shadow/highlight correction

IMG_0171shadowcorrected.jpg

1/60 f4.5 I have already appiled a little correction to these two

IMG_0140shadowcorrected.jpg

1/25 f4.5

Any more suggestions please.....
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Janet,

I'd pull back in the framing and set things up first to get things comfortable. The mother and child on the floor and then white card reflectors. I'd use the 50 1.4 at 1.6 or the 85 1.8 at 2.0 or the nearest to that with wide aperture to keep the backgronds soft. Have some light colored objects in the background that will give a nice out of focus glow pattern. Sit on the floor and just talk to the Mum and get relaxed. Little tricks like peek-a-boo (not with infants) or one of the family can bring out a smile.

When the picture is pressured the result is obvious.

Photographing children can be very difficult or a simple breeze.

So if you have frustrations and need to come back to the child, that's part of the package. Charm and personality and chance are sometimes more important than having the right camera.

Paul showed children (? twins on the bed or floor and there was a lot of space. That really works.

Some children are always happy and some are hurting from gas or bewiderment and are very hard to please so one just has to persist trying for the magic moment like a surfer who waits for the perfect wave,

Good work and good luck!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Janet,

I'd pull back in the framing and set things up first to get things comfortable. The mother and child on the floor and then white card reflectors. I'd use the 50 1.4 at 1.6 or the 85 1.8 at 2.0 or the nearest to that with wide aperture to keep the backgronds soft. Have some light colored objects in the background that will give a nice out of focus glow pattern. Sit on the floor and just talk to the Mum and get relaxed. Little tricks like peek-a-boo (not with infants) or one of the family can bring out a smile.

When the picture is pressured the result is obvious.

Photographing children can be very difficult or a simple breeze.

So if you have frustrations and need to come back to the child, that's part of the package. Charm and personality and chance are sometimes more important than having the right camera.

Paul showed children (? twins on the bed or floor and there was a lot of space. That really works.

Some children are always happy and some are hurting from gas or bewiderment and are very hard to please so one just has to persist trying for the magic moment like a surfer who waits for the perfect wave,

Good work and good luck!

Asher
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Asher

Thanks for the tips about alternative lenses, you're right, mood is so important, we were all in a nice relaxed mood but sadly she was not a happy baby on the day and had been a little unwell, she started crying just after these were taken.

I have no aspirations to become a baby photographer, this was just a favour for a friend, some people seem to think that baby photography is easy, but I found it difficult, being used to photographing flowers and landscapes, that keep nice and still!

Thanks again for the tips.
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Hi Janet
used your 1st "untouched" version
applied Noise Ninja for the skin
used a bit of "light/shadow"
and for the fun add a little smile to the baby:

IMG_0096_NC.jpg
 
Last edited:

Kathy Rappaport

pro member
Maybe try black and white

I think that you could turn these into black and white and you would fix the skin color easily. If I were at home I'd have played with contrast a bit more.Actually, i did this in Paint Shop Pro - i am at the office and I don't have my photo laptop

medium.jpg
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Nic

Amazing that you have created a smile before she's started smiling! I haven't a clue how you have done this, it's a bit of a shock to me having never seen her smile before!

I'm going to have to check out Noise Ninja, I've heard it mentioned on here before, but know nothing about it, so it's going to be something else for me to learn.

Again I am reminded of how little I know about digital imaging, thank you for this demonstration, as always much appreciated....
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Kathy

How very kind of you to do this while you're at work, it's very much appreciated. Yes, we're on the same wavelength, I tried them in black and white as well this afternoon, I think your version looks really nice.

I'm holding off giving any of them to her Mum & Dad until I've finished working on them, but I know that they like black and white, may be the best way to go. Hopefully baby Daisy will be in a happier mood the next time I see her and I'll be able to show some better results.

Once again thank you for your time and input.....
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Amazing that you have created a smile before she's started smiling! I haven't a clue how you have done this, it's a bit of a shock to me having never seen her smile before!

Hi Jan

happy you enjoyed it!

this is a transformation:

select the area you want to transform
in this low res case, do a 15 pix feather of your selection
copy/paste, creating a new layer
go to edit/transformation/transform
pull/push on the handles…

Deform.jpg


I did the same with her left eye (the one on right)
 

Barry Johnston

New member
Hi Janet...

Well done Jan, I think your first attempts are really great. Asher has given you some really good advice and I like what Nic has done as well, although I'm not completely convinced about the smile yet :p

I am not a baby photographer at all, but always think it is nice to see comparisons between Mum and baby's hands and feet. When they are photographed alone you don't really get any idea exactly how small everything is. This is what I would be concentrating on I feel. I would also concentrate on those beautiful baby blue eyes.... get them as sharp as you can !!

Good Luck and hope to see the results of your next photo shoot.

Barry.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Great job Nicolas!

You are very helpful as usual and the demo is perfect. Maybe you should be doing child photography too!@!!

Asher
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Nic

Amazing!

It's so kind of you to take the time to show me this, I'll be printing this off and showing it to her parents, and will have a go at recreating this myself, lets hope for a real smile from her next time!

Have a lovely day, and as always, thank you.....
 

janet Smith

pro member
Hi Barry

Thanks for the encouragement, yes I agree with you I wanted to try and show how tiny her hands and feet are, she is a very small baby, but growing rapidly!

I've loads more of her to work on, hopefully, I'll be able to give them something that they'll like.
 
Top