I like impromptu photo shoots. Yesterday while Lucy napped, I seized the moment. I had been wanting to photograph Elliot using the yellow blanket I crocheted a while ago, because I saw a newborn photo (on Facebook?) using a crocheted blanket, and it was so cute.
I didn't manage to capture as much of the crochet texture as I would have liked, but still I like these photos. Elliot was a trooper. He was trying to go to sleep when I started this little shoot, but he perked up for a few quick moments.
These were my camera settings:
F/3.2
Shutter 1/160
Lens 50mm
ISO 200
Custom white balance
SB 700 flash bounced from behind and to the right of me -- TTL
And this was my set-up.
Gotta remember the heater. That is the key to not having a crying baby in every single photo.
I'm not sure why, but most of my images came out with blurry eyes (the three above had decently in-focus eyes, and then I increased their contrast further in PSE). Since I auto-focused on his eyes and used a relatively small aperture, I'm not sure why that was, but I'm re-considering the whole auto-focus thing. I know a lot of more experienced photographers don't use it, and maybe there's something to that. Your thoughts?
Kimie, he is so cute!!! Your kids have such pretty eyes! Hope you are doing well. Love you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kallie! Miss you so much.
DeleteI just happened to stumble upon this blog (which is so fun and exciting to read by the way!) when I was looking for a DIY cake smash setup. I have recently started my photography "business" (I'm still learning as I go but I hope to make it a career someday) which covers all types of photography including newborns. I had the same trouble with blurry eyes (I had a stubborn, non-sleepy baby :P) so I thought I would try to manual focus the next time.. Not that I'm discouraging you from trying it, but thought I would share my experience with the same problem. I found it took much longer to take a photo on manual focus (because trying to focus on the right spot took lots of concentration) and sometimes I didn't get the poses I wanted because baby would move in that time.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that if when your camera auto-focus tells you where it's focusing (like a little dot shows up on the place where it's deciding to focus) just take a little extra time to make sure that dot is in the spot you'd like it by taking your finger off of the shutter button and trying again.
Hopefully this helps!
PS. I love these pictures, they're very sweet. I really like the yellow.
Thanks so much for your comment! I think your point about manual focusing is a good one. I've tried it a few times, and you're right - it's much slower that way. After I wrote this post, I discovered the online depth of field calculator, which is AWESOME! I think part of the reason his eyes were blurry in this shoot was because my depth of field was REALLY shallow, since I was positioned only about 2 feet from him. I would love to see your work, if you want to share your blog site with me!
DeleteUnfortunately I don't have a blog site (yet?) but if you want you could check out my Facebook page! Just search "Alison Epp Photography" on Facebook! :)
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