From a recent newborn shoot

[Geoff]

It's been a little while since I've posted an image...so here's a few from a recent newborn shoot I did.

Comments/critique welcomed:

[antman]

These are nice Geoff and I'm sure the baby's parents will enjoy their photos.

Just a few comments -

Image 1. I'm wondering if a bit more separation between the dad and baby might improve the image. Also a bit of eye contact between the father and baby (I can imagine how long that might take to achieve !). Is it worth considering removing the nappy, bearing in mind the consequences. It seems is a little distracting.

Image 2. The composition feels akward. Baby's body seeems a bit twisted in relation to ?his head. Seems like you have captured baby from a similar but better angle in image 4. Also the nappy again.

Image 3. Nice DOF and B&W conversion.

Image 4. Again it would be nice to have baby looking up towards where Dad's face might be. Which is what looks to be happening in image 2.


Cheers.

[Geoff]

Thanks for the comments Antman!
All of them are really useful. Shooting newborns is a real challenge, which I love and you have to go with the flow and the 'mood' of the bub. This shoot went for just over 1.5hrs and I came out with about 60 images I'm happy with.

I will take on board your (great) suggestions for next shoot and possibly play around with cloning out the nappy in the appropriate shots. During the shoot I had to wait for a feed, a cry session, a burp session...and...and...but I do love the challenge!

Cheers for taking the time to coment, most appreciative.

[surenj]

One could consider soft focus and maybe a bit of skin softnening for the baby....

Love the hand/foot image. Never have enough of these.

You have done well to capture anything good as some of my recent newborn attempts have turned out to be just snaps. Nothing even worth posting!

Well done. Could I ask the time frame spent to capture these?

[chrisk]

geoff, i agree with most other comments here. very much like the foot/ hnd one. i've done my fair share of these and its difficult and sometimes you cant hit a home run for a while. some of my personal preferences and tips...

eye contact with parents or camera are quite important.
framing is crucial cos there is little going on with the newborn so the way you compose "makes" the picture
no nappies...ever. either nekkid or some nice sort of outfit.
try and get both parents in the shot. if they hold the baby in a cradled position, the baby will be looking up and they looking down so you can compose using the parents postions as opposed to the baby itself.
wait till the babies asleep and then you can manipulate them a little more and are more free with props and backgrounds. (yes i know that sounds evil !)
if you are going to take a shot with the parent holding the baby, provide more instruction to the parent on where to place there hands. the fist looks quite awkward and his finger is over the babies ear.
dont be afraid to get in tight with babies to show off little features. i find this really helpful if the parents think that some part of the babies body resembles them or thier family. you often hear parents say "oh..he's got grandpa joe's ears !" so make the ear a prominent part of the image. its a great talking point and gives a story to the image as opposed to it being a baby shot.

imho, and i include my own kid when saying this...newborns are ugly little buggers. so imo, just the newborn without some sort of careful moment captured, framing, theme etc, the shot wont hold its own.

[Reschsmooth]

Geoff, I think these are great images, and you have received some excellent feedback. I agree with the nappy and where the baby is looking, but can attest to the difficulty in getting a child of any age to follow instruction.

Top stuff.