I’m baaaaack! Sorry for the delay in getting this done, I have done over 40 sessions since October 1st so needless to say my free time has been minimal. I got lots of awesome questions and will try and answer most of them so here you go!
1. I was wondering if you could rank what you feel is the most important as a photographer; exposure, camera, lenses, post processing, custom white balance. You are amazing, I am a big fan!
EXPOSURE for sure. I started out with a Canon Rebel XTi and used it my first few months in business and got some awesome images out of that little camera all due to the fact that I’m pretty good about nailing exposure. I was even shooting in JPG back then so there was really no easy fix for blowing it. People always laugh at me when I say this but I’ll say it again, you can’t polish a turd. It’s kind of been my motto throughout my photography journey. I’d rather have a perfect SOOC and then ENHANCE it in photoshop than have a turd SOOC that I have to FIX in photoshop.
This photo was taken with my little old XTi when I just started out:
Did very little processing to it and I still love this shot. While having top of the line bodies and lenses will definitely ADD to your photographs it’s not the end all be all exposure is.
2. I follow your blog and I had a question for you 
I am just starting to get into photography, newborn photography, and I love your site!!! You take some amazing pictures. How do you get your pictures so crisp and clear? Is it the setting you have set on your camera or is it your editing software? I feel like my pictures come out good but it seems like they still have that light film on them like not perfectly crisp. Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, I look forward to your answers.
Sharp photos with good clarity are achieved by good light, exposure, focus and experience. I am also a HUGE fan of Canon’s L Series prime lenses. My favorites are the 50 1.2L (my latest lens purchase) and the 85 1.2L. The sharpness these lenses produce in low light situations is amazing as well as the creamy skin you get. I LOOOOOOVE the 50, it’s perfect for the cold winter season and shooting inside. Here is an example:
This is a straight out of the camera shot from last weekend, I didn’t even sharpen it for web. As you can see I nailed exposure and it’s super sharp.
And here’s the edited shot, I pulled some magenta out, did a curves layer, cropped, ran portraiture on a low opacity, added contrast and did a high pass sharpen:
I loooove warm photos so I always do a custom white balance. I find that most camera’s AWB setting gives you super cool photos.
3. I notice you do alot of outdoor work – do you use natural light only? Do you use reflectors? I find it hard to avoid shadows.
Outside I never use a reflector, it’s just not convenient when you are chasing after a toddler. I DO use one inside for smaller babies and newborns.
I LOVE side lighting and for babies that can’t sit yet and don’t like being on their bellies I lay them down parallel to a window on a blanket and then have a parent hold my reflector on the other side of the baby so get nice side lighting without the harsh shadows. To change up the photos and give more variety I switch up the blankets, rugs, etc and add hats and stuff.
Here’s a ghetto diagram of what I’m talking about, go head and laugh if you want.
And here’s an example, this baby was 3 months old so could not sit up yet:
The window was on the right here and the dad was holding a reflector on the other side. There is still shadowing which I like but it’s not as drastic as it would have been without the reflector.
4. I have crispy clear photo envy. All your photos are tack sharp. Is there a technique for this that I’m missing? Do you manually focus? Use center AF only? Etc. I want the eyes to be as sharp as yours.
I toggle my cameras focus points! I’d rather choose where I want to focus (the subjects eyes) than let my camera choose it for me. When I first started doing it I wasn’t a fan but now I can do it without even looking at the buttons and I’m fast.
I recently starting shooting in RAW format and my pictures are worse! I thought they should be better??? The main problem is they look dark and grainy. I also recently invested in the 85 1.2L! Am I missing something that I should be doing in PP? Am I a moron? Some days I think I should just stick to finance. Ha-ha.
Are you underexposing? When metering I always ETTR (expose to the right) meaning I meter and bump down my SS a bit to “over expose” it a smidge according to my camera. Also a raw file is just that it’s raw, when you shoot JPG your camera ADDS some sharpness, contrast etc. When you shoot raw you add that stuff in ACR or Lightroom. If you underexpose you are going to add noise to your photo when you fix it in photoshop and that just looks yucky.
What lens do you typically use when shooting newborns?
LOOOOOVE my 50 1.2L, it stays on my camera for newborn sessions. I also always use my 100 2.8 macro for those close up smooshy shots.
(Canon should pay me, I’m an L Glass pusher, lol)
5. Wooo, a 5 part question from one of my favorite blog commenters Michelle Kane!
Where did you find your bean bag? How big is it and how full do you prefer that it be?
I’ve struggled to find a decent sized one.
I have two from Target and they have served me well but I just ordered a large one from here and I’m excited to try it out.
How long do your newborn sessions generally take?
Two to three hours but I’ve had one as long as 4.5 hours. It depends on the baby, the younger they are the shorter the sessions seem to be for me at least. I find 6-10 days to be the best.
Do you go with a “list” of poses you want to do or just let it unfold naturally during the session?
I am constantly thinking of new poses I want to try as I’m falling asleep at night. I usually add a few I want to do in the notes application of my IPhone and refer to it during the session.
What do you do if the baby just won’t go to sleep? Do you reschedule?
I usually can wait them out but this baby would NOT sleep as hard as we tried:
So I went back a week later when she was 21 days old and she was SO sleepy, so you really NEVER know.
I’d prefer to get it over with in one session and I do like awake shots as well but when a parent wants the sleepy shots I will go back if I need to.
How do you balance work and home life? Do you feel like you are always working?
My photography business is my full time job and my son goes to daycare during the weekdays. That helps a LOT because on days when I don’t have sessions scheduled I can catch up on editing and packaging and mailing orders out. I do find myself working at night when he goes to sleep. It’s hard when you own a business because it’s you put your heart and soul into it and work a lot of hours but luckily my husband is used to me being behind my macbook at all hours, lol.
6. First of all, I LOVE your work! My question is in regard to light. I live in Seattle & we have a lot of dark, gloomy days in the winter. How do you go about finding the light when there isn’t any? My problem is when I’m trying to take family pictures (where there’s 4 or 5 people). I need them to all be in focus, and not grainy. I have a 50mm, 1.4. What settings would you typically use in a situation like this? How low of aperature can you use & still have everyone in focus? Please help!
That’s tough, I definitely don’t shoot 3 or more people wide open because I want everyone to be sharp and the image to look awesome when blown up large on their walls. The MKII handles noise nicely but if at f/4 I need to go above ISO2000 I’ll pull out my speedlight. I’m not a huge fan of the flash but I’ll use it when I need to and will just bounce it off the ceiling so my photos don’t look flashy. When I shoot 4 or more people I usually shoot at f/4, I can get everyone sharp and still get some nice DOF.
This was shot with my speedlight, I was able to get the shots of the baby right next to a window with natural light but the family shots were impossible it was pretty dark in their house and outside.
7. How do you get such great skin tones? Some times the newborns I shoot are quite jaundice or when the get warm from having the place heated up, they get a bit red. Any tips?
Again, good exposure and doing a custom white balance will cut down your processing in photoshop a LOT.
Here’s a newborn straight out of camera shot, the baby is pretty red (due to being warm and my camera seems to enhance reds a bit:
And here’s the processed shot, I did a curves layer, ran portraiture and reduced the warmth and reduced the opacity to about 35%, in selective color selected the red channel and reduced the magenta within that channel, then went under neutrals and also reduced the magenta and added yellow. I also added some blacks. I prefer my newborns to have some warmth in them and not look cool or blue.
Hope this was helpful! I’ll be back in the new year with another FAQ so keep on sending in your questions to amber@littlemoonphotography.com. I have a TON of newborns in the next weeks so keep coming back to the ol blog.
