Photographing Infants: The Trick is.....

For the past few days I've focused this blog on photographing infants and today's final installment will provide you with some tips for a smooth photo session. Recently a friend of mine tired to photograph a newborn for another friend. Later when we were talking about her experience she said with some surprise, "Infants are hard to shoot!" She's right! Photo shoots have to be tailored to the exact needs of the infant and every concession must be made to make them comfortable if you wish to get the images you want. Here are a few helpful tips:

• Make the baby happy. Where ever you're shooting should be some place warm, especially if your model has no clothes on. This will help keep your baby asleep as you move them around over and over. And when I say warm I really mean hot. If you're not sweating it's probably too cold.
  
• Think about context and choose props accordingly. Babies in baskets is very classic look that is reminiscent of nursery rhymes and biblical references alike, but feel free to try other props, pillows, football helmets, gift boxes, etc.  Also think about texture and color. Choose blankets that enhance the mood of your shoot or other props that even juxtapose the soft look of an infant. This could be anything that isn't harmful to the little one. Also stability is a major factor, don't try to balance a newborn on a beach ball or anything weird. Use your head. Parents can make great props too. Close ups of parents arms, face, feet, anything really can show scale as well as convey belonging.
• Shoot newborns ASAP! Within the first 1-2 weeks babies still have some very obvious signs of their age. These include, curled limbs, loose skin, fuzz (everywhere!), and a since they lack a lot of muscle control, you can easily pose them as you wish. After about two weeks they become more and more alert, their limbs began to become stronger and straighten, they are now gaining weight to fill out their baggie skin, and the newborn fuzz is being shed. Plus they also may experience baby acne in a greater degree and dry skin as they grow and change. When exactly your child is photographed is up to you. I prefer within the first week if at all possible.
• Be prepared for anything. It might be assumed that if you are photographing someone sound asleep that it shouldn't be all that time consuming. This is a big mistake. Often infant portrait sessions are my longest and at least one hour should be set aside but whenever possible up to three hours may be necessary if a variety of shots are to be captured. This allows for the baby to eat on demand, have the accompanying diaper changes and be soothed back to sleep when fussing.
• Finally, leave expectations at the door. New parents are often not aware that smiling for the camera is not a skill possessed by newborns. I have on occasion caught a muscle reflex on an infant's face that can be called a smile but the chance of this happening is so slim that to hope for it would be setting yourself up for failure. Save the smiling photos for another shoot, don't worry there is plenty of opportunity in the future.Additionally don't expect wide open eyes. Having a newborn I know how exciting it is when they come out of their coma-like state and actually look at you, but for photos I feel it's best to show them acting natural. 

For anyone that wants to know the above photo was taken with my Lensbaby lens. The lighting was window light from the right and a large reflector for fill on the left. ISO 500 was used to get the exposure I wanted which turned out to be 1/40 at F8. I've found with the Lensbaby I tend to get better images when I use smaller apertures. I wanted to blow out most of the highlights especially in the blurry edges. There was also another white fill card placed behind Alex to give the illusion of a plain white background.

I would love to hear your stories or experiences photographing infants. Please post your comments here!

Tomorrow is our final installment with baby photos of Alex in the studio.

The Kid in All of Us: photographic toys that make great art

In college one of my professors shot an entire assignment for Starbucks using a disposable camera. The photos were fantastic, you would never have known they weren't taken with a "real" camera. Her point? She wanted all of her students to realize that photography isn't about the equipment you use, but how you use it. Even the most inexpensive camera in the right hands can take images worth publishing in magazines and on billboards. This lesson has stuck with me and I try to always remember that great art is about portraying a vision and showing the world how it looks through my eyes. Good examples of this can be found all over the internet where groups of loyal photographers come to share their images shot with pinhole cameras, Holga and Diana Box cameras, and toy lenses like the Lensbaby.

I own a Lensbaby control freak. This image was shot with it. The control freak is a 50mm that allows for swing and tilts like a medium and large format camera. The basic operation is easy.

1. Choose the aperture you want to shoot using the interchangeable aperture disks.

2. Select a shutter speed (or set the camera to aperture priority and let your camera help you find the right exposure.)

3. Bend, twist and adjust the focus until you find what they Lensbaby people call the "sweet spot".

4. Shoot, play, adjust and shoot some more.

It's my experience that the Lensbaby is perfect for shooting infants (sleeping of course so they don't move) macro photography, and very patient people. Finding the sweet spot can be challenging, especially in low light, but when it works it's worth it!

Pinhole photography is something that every kid and photography lover alike should do.  Due to the nature of photographing with out a lens the images are soft (not sharp focus) and require long exposures, oh yah, and film. I know that's a weird concept in today's world but it's results are unlike anything you can produce in photoshop. (That's not entirely true I guess- you can fake it, but why spend all that time playing in photoshop when you could be shooting?) In college I made a pinhole out of some cardboard, cut film holders, a lot of duct tape and a piece of tin. Quickly it became my favorite camera and for weeks on end I didn't shoot with anything else. It was fun to shoot the long exposures- a few seconds to over an hour in some cases. After writing this blog post I've decided to buy a Holga pinhole camera. Winter in Western Washington is probably not the best time or place to be playing with a camera that needs tons of light to expose anything but if I get something good, the followers of this blog will be the first to know.

Want to make your own pinhole camera? Use the links below for information on making a variety of pinhole cameras, where to buy a Holga like me, and where on earth you can still get film processed.

• How to make a pinhole camera. (this is just one of many ways- search Google for all sort of varieties. I heard of one being made out of an old refrigerator once.)

• Holga Cameras for sale and B & H Photo Video . Swan Labs is one of the only ones I've found that processed and prints true black and white specifically from the Holga cameras. I haven't tried them yet, but when I do, I'll let you know. If any readers have better suggestions please enlighten me!

Next up: We're taking it back to basics and discussing the power of perspective.