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Photographing Infants – A Cry For Help

Friday, 4th September 2009

Written by: Tiffany Joyce

I have to shoot a baby.

Okay, that came out wrong. I don’t have to shoot shoot a baby, I have been asked to photograph my friend’s newborn.

This request comes in two phases. Phase One will take place in the actual hospital, in the actual birthing room, moments after the baby is born. Phase Two will follow about one week later, in the couple’s home, under much less hectic (and messy) circumstances.

Fortunately, I have a couple of months to prepare for these photography sessions – the baby isn’t due until mid-November. So, I have about two months to fret over this. Two months to agonize over lighting, and lenses, and angles, and how to successfully maneuver around the doctors and the nurses and the proud papa and the birthing mama and take all the photos desired while keeping her modesty and my sensibilities intact.

That last part is key, there.

Immediately after I agreed to this, I hopped on-line and found several excellent articles with lots of advice regarding the very pictures I want to achieve:

- Purple Stork reminds us to use solid background colors, and practice on a baby doll first to get the shots set up.
- Best Family Photography Tips warns against the use of a flash, and extols patience.
- Digital Photography Tutorial recommends limiting the range of colors in the photo, and also has some great suggestions for different, non-standard poses and angles.
- The Digital Photography School has two great articles – Baby Photography 101, and 10 Tips for Photographing Babies. They both cover a range of subjects; from timing, to props, to a reminder to heat up the room, and they include some great post-production tips.

Here is where I ask for your help. I’m really agonizing over this. It’s important, this memory and these moments that I’m expected to capture flawlessly. I don’t want to mess this up. So, in my opinion, the more information I have, the better prepared I will be. Do any of you have any recommendations or experiences you’d like to share, related to photographing infants? What worked for you, and what didn’t work for you? Did you achieve the end result you were looking for, and what would you do differently if you had the chance to do it all over again? Do you have any advice for a poor photographer lost and confused in a hospital and trying not to get in the way?

Thank you. You have my utmost gratitude.

Photo Credits (in order of appearance):

- “Sleep Like a Baby”. Photo by peasap on Flickr Creative Commons.
- “Baby Feet”. Photo by christine on Flickr Creative Commons.

Related posts:

  1. Photographing Infants – An Update
  2. 8 Tips for Photographing babies
  3. Three Things I Wish I Knew Then
  4. Elsewhere
  5. Monday Miscellany

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  • Hi,

    Go for soft soft soft, no flash, high ISO if you need to, use only aqmbiant light. They are easy sleeping, less easy not sleeping, get a wide aperture to get a lovely bokeh for the backgrund, possibly if you can capturesof colours in the background, if need be use blankets , towels with the right colours, of crumpled jumpers.
    Don't be nervous, you'll be fine :)
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/cvail73/3224020450...
  • Jen
    I love the feet picture!
  • I can't help with phase one (I really don't envy you there), but for phase two, you must go study this girl's work:

    http://www.kelleyryden.com/

    Baby photography usually leaves me lukewarm at best, but Ryden's downright gifted.
  • Nick
    I don't think you can't even screw up, pictures from a new born could even come from a point and shoot and would be adorable ;-)
  • You have been asked by the couple. So they must think you have the skills to take a photo of one of the most memorable moments in there life. I have 3 step daughters the eldest is having her baby in Febuary, I have been asked to be a birth partner. The photographer in me thinks what a great photo op. The parent in is thing OMG I gonna to see the birth of my grandchild.

    So take a depth breath. Check your lens, check your memory card, check your settings, take a snap review. Then let the moment unfold
  • Don't worry, babies are actually easier than big people! Here is a link to a shoot I did a few weeks ago with a 4 week old. I did it an a large room with west and south facing windows and shot in early afternoon so I had nice natural light. I helped the light out a little by aiming a 5 bulb cool flourescent (I use Impact lights) at the white ceiling, angled in a way that it bounced back down and just raked over the baby's head. I shot on a tripod with a remote so I had the flexibility of shooting at any speed, because I knew I didn't want to have the aperture any wider than 5.6. I had the mom right over the lens talking, which got the baby looking at me for many of the shots. I covered the surface (a big bed) all in white and had the baby in a white onesie, which added to the overall light and dreamy atmosphere. In post-processing (using Photoshop) I used a very little bit of Guassian Blur on the skin surfaces to smooth out the little flakiness that babies sometimes have, and then did a tiny bit of sharpening on the eyes, since newborn eyes can look a little hazy. The lighting set-up and test took about 2 hours, and the shoot itself was about 90 minutes -- perfect as he fell fast asleep at the end! There were definitely times when he was squirming around -- I just sat back and waited for him to settle. I shot about 500 images and got a good 30 for the parents. One last piece of advice if you are not shooting tethered -- bracket, bracket, bracket! You never know. Here's the gallery of the final shots, and good luck!!

    http://katescasualportraits.smugmug.com/Other/L...
  • For the shoot in the birthing room, some advice is kind of obvious. Take lots of pictures - I'd suggest using burst mode a lot, especially when capturing the parents' facial expressions. Before the actual birth, take photos of the equipment - we have some interesting shots of my contractions printing out on reams of paper tape! If you're there well enough in advance, you can ask a nurse about what the lighting will be like shortly after the birth - they typically roll in a portable spotlight, so that could change the lighting situation drastically. I would say that you can best preserve the moment *and* modesty by shooting the scene, rather than just the baby. I've seen some great birth photos that show the new gooey baby at the center of the frame, but the shot is made awesome by the body language and facial expressions of everyone else. Finally, if you stay near mom's head, you can be in a great position for baby shots, because the doctor will "present" the baby to the mom right after birth, and you'll also stay out of the way. Make sure to get pictures of the baby on the scale, too - that seems to be a "pose" that everyone has in their baby albums!
  • Monica Borodi
    www.Our365.com for ideas & tips on Newborn or infant Portrait photography. Typically, I find newborns and shortly there after extremely easy to do a shoot on.. it's usually the parents that screw up the picture.. lol.. fed baby, but not super full tummy, well rested.. dim the lights (babies will be more likely to open their eyes when lights are dim). If mom says baby is due to eat at noon, set everything up, wake baby up half hour to 45 minutes before next feed.. aka, 11:15-11:30 for example. Undressing & changing baby's clothes will usually wake them up. Keep air temp slightly cooler, babies will always sleep deeper in warmer climates. Tickling bottom of baby's feet, sides and arm pits will also wake them up. Changing a diaper typically will do the trick as well.. have mom or dad do this.. picking baby up, and holding upright in one hand and patting their back gently will also get them to open up. If you want to do any "sleeping" baby pic's, start the wake up process after you've done some sleeping shots (fav sleeping shot, place baby on it's side, turn head so chin is in line with upper shoulder, take background fabric and run it up between baby's hands so as if the baby looks like it's a precious bundle all snuggled in with the blanket. Mom & Grandma usually lose it on this shot. Keep in mind, for baby girls, a pink blanket background might show too many shadows.. and of course, solid colors best.
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