Baby Photographs

Recently I have taken some images for friends and acquaintances who have newborns and have done the photography at some christenings.  I largely used the D700 body for its tonal control and high ISO capability.

For the first christening the minister did not want any photography during the service, but was happy to recreate the alter part afterward.  I was asked with little notice and didn't take a flash so shot everything in ambient light and the service was shot on the Nikon 24-70 f2.8.  There was serious contrast near the alter owing to sun streaming in but the main exposure was ISO 1600 at f4.  This also created white balance issues with the mix of tungsten, candle and daylight.

I tried to turn the lighting to advantage and took a couple of shots with the narrow beam of sunlight falling on little Toby but trying to keep the other persons visible within the shadows.  These worked better in mono probably because the effect was largely tone based.

At the reception the church hall had horrid muddy yellow walls and the lighting wasn't great.  As a result I converted lots to mono.  Little Jessica was shot on the Sigma 85 f1.4 at ISO 1000.

Same little girl, same lens, this time showing the wall!  It wasn't too bad in this shot.

Although the venue was cluttered and the walls that lovely yellow, I took a lot of snaps of the babies for people for them to remember the day.  Here is Henry

For another job I took some images of little Harry at his home.  It was a nice, bright day so I went for high key look using light in the conservatory and bouncing flash from behind and to one side.  I used a knitted blanket to keep tones high but keep the baby theme.  The following were shot on the D700 and Zeiss 100mm f2.

Back to the 24-70 for mum and baby shots.  I used an ambient exposure locked in manually and bounced flash from behind and to the side where the natural light was coming in.

At Jessica's (not the same Jessica as above!) christening I had more notice for and knew what to expect at the venue.  This time the minister agreed to natural light limited photography in the service and I tok some with bounced flash afterward.  Again I used the Nikon D700 with 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

Now to some more baby shots in the home, this time of Jake.  This time I shot in a nursery with modest light coming in through the window and bounced flash to get more light in.  Jake is a real little wriggler so it was hard focusing the Zeiss 100!

To the 24-70 for the family shots.

And finally, not forgetting that we have our own little boy, Theo!  Strangely I haven't taken many formal shots of him, rather tending to take family snaps instead, as it not a "job!"  I have lots I love but here are a few recent ones.

Exposed for ambient light in the background and fill flash used to kill the contrast