Need advice on baby photography

[indrajit]

<p>Hello!<br>

I have to take some pictures of a baby of about 3-4 months old. The equipment i have is nikon D3100, 18-55mm and 55-300mm lens and a auxilary flash unit (sunpack). Though, I am not new to photography, I have never taken pictures of babies. my specific question is:</p>

<ol>

<li>What lens should I use: the 55-300mm set to near 80mm of the 18-55mm?</li>

<li>Should I use flash or boot ISO because I think it is not good to through the flash light directly towards the eye of the baby (unless I bounce)</li>

<li>the the most important is what should I do if the baby does not look at the lens at all. We both are new to each other. of course I will be shooting at the home and the parents of the baby will be present there. but I fear the baby may feel disturbed by the camera and the and the new man (me) and reject me. In that case the whole effort will be spoiled.</li>

</ol>

<p>If somebody can advice me on these issues, it will be a great help to me.</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

IC</p>

[jaydesi]

<p>I recently did a shoot of my friend's baby. I did all my work with a 17-50, so you should be ok with the 18-55. However, if the infant is sensitive to your presence, staying further away and using the 55-300 seems like a solution.</p>

<p>Bounced flash or a quality diffuser are definitely the way to go.</p>

<p>Be patient. It may take a while for the baby to get used to you, but if you and the parents aren't trying to just grab all the shots and be done, it will go much easier for you all. The mother in my shoot took regular breaks over the course of about 2 hours to feed the baby whenever he started getting fussy, and that gave us more fuss-free time. Not every shot needs the baby looking at the camera, too...he/she can be looking at the parents, be asleep, etc.</p>

[mark_drutz]

<p>Your lenses are probably too slow to shoot indoors without flash and without raising the iso higher than advisable. I agree that bounce flash is the way to go as long as the ceilings are white. If the ceilings are not white use a diffuser like one of the Lumiquests. I would use the 55-300 VR at 60-80mm for a nice perspective. Try to find a nice background that will not distract from the baby.</p>

<p>If you do a lot of this kind of shooting consider the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G or new 85mm f/1.8G. They will allow you to blur the background more than your slower lenses.</p>

<p>Shoot on the baby's level. If you have the parents trying to get the baby's attention, have them right behind you and at your level so the baby is looking at you and looking upwards at them standing behind you.</p>

[indrajit]

<p>thanks you all for your advice</p>

[nanc1]

I've done a few baby

shoots.I love it.

Try and use natural light

as well. If not bounce or

diffuse.

- Don't ware Colognen, baby

may be sensative to it.

- make sure the room is

warm(for the nude shots)

- take close ups of the

toes,finger, ears, nose

etc...

- bring or use one of their

baby noise makers :) to get

babies attention.

 

The baby photo(daddy

holding) that I have in my

album was taken with natural

light and Canon 18-55 lens

Good luck and have fun...

Lots of Patience will be

needed :)