Photography Challenge #3: Photographing Babies

Our church is getting ready to have its 50th anniversary homecoming next month, so there have been a lot of projects going on to spruce up the building and grounds. To fix up the nursery, a deacon's wife had the neat idea to blow up and frame pictures of the babies at church for the nursery walls.

When I was preparing to take these pictures I read this book. There is actually a new version out now that deals more with digital photography (since this book talks about taking pictures with film), but the basic tips of composure are the same. There were three major things I took away from this book. 1. Get close to your subject. Try to focus on the baby's eyes when taking the picture. 2. Good lighting is key! Good lighting makes for a good picture. 3. A "good" picture of a baby doesn't have to necessarily be a smiling baby. In real life, babies are not always smiling and happy; they exhibit a range of emotions, so why not capture those emotions? This book has a lot of other great, practical tips and it is written in 'layman's terms' so it is really easy to read. Without further ado, here are the babies!

Jackson:

I am happy with the lighting in both of these pictures, although the second picture has more of the side-lit effect that the author described in the book. I like that first picture draws the viewer's eyes to Jackson's eyes, and he has a cute little expression on his face. The second picture is fun because he seems pleased with himself, and a little puzzled, about finding his foot.

Lewis:

Lesson learned: when the baby is mobile, all the rules of composition and ideas in your head fly out the window. Your goal becomes getting a picture of the baby's face, and not the back of his head as he turns to run in the opposite direction! Lewis was on the go and did not have time to be slowed down with picture taking! The first picture definitely captures Lewis' happiest expression, although the lighting is bad and the picture is not super sharp because I had to crop a lot of the background (the contrast could be adjusted somewhat in photoshop). The second picture is technically better, and I do like his inquisitive look; it makes you wonder what he was thinking about at that moment. However, I still like the joyful expression in the first picture.

Caroline:

This little girl just may be the happiest baby ever! Would you ever guess Caroline was getting fussy when we took these pictures? She is so fun to make smile and her expressions show up so well in pictures; you can almost hear her laughing! These photos have too much contrast...we needed to move a little more out of the sun. The second picture is better as far as contrast goes, but I kind of like her sweet expression in the first picture. I could have photographed Caroline all day, but she was really getting over the whole thing pretty quick (I know, you could never tell it by these two pictures!). I tried to take the author's advice and take some pictures of Caroline's other emotions besides her sunny smile, but I couldn't bring myself to post them - they just made me sad! However, I have heard that the mark of a good photograph is its ability to evoke an emotional response in the viewer, so maybe I will post them at some point...after I dry my eyes!