Baby Eva

I took some pictures for some friends of ours, of their newborn daughter Eva. I was hoping to be able to do it on a weekend when I would be able to relax and take my time (I've found being flexible with your schedule is a must for photographing babies). Unfortunately, for one reason or another, I had to get the shots after work one night. That means I was in a race against time, to get there before I lost what little natural lighting was left of the day. Not to mention it was super cloudy, and pouring rain that night. All things considered I think they turned out well.
What do you think?

One of the things I'm still working on is making sure things look as natural as possible. Usually pictures like this, for me, are just friends children. And I think they're always expecting to have to pose for their pictures and "say cheese". I need to work on making people more comfortable, and helping them to relax and just enjoy that time with their children. Instead of worrying if what they're doing is going to look good in a picture.

That's another reason I like to have a little extra time during a shoot like this, not only do you have to work with the kids but the amount of work you have to put into the parents can take just as long.

What I really like about shooting little babies, is trying to find their personalities. I'm not sure I was effective at portraying Eva's personality in these images, due to the lack of time, but I had fun trying. This shoot was also a learning experience for me, I "grew up" in photography shooting with an Olympus OM-2. This camera was an Aperture Priority camera, and because of this I've always been a little intimidated of shooting in any other mode. This shoot was done entirely in Manual mode with my Nikon D-70 (with an SB-800 speedflash).

Some were exposed properly, alot weren't. I'm still working on it. I still fall back on Aperture priority when all else fails. All I can say for now is "Thank God for Photoshop"! Which is funny because I never used to like altering my images. Then my Dad showed me how much more dramatic your images can be with a little bit of "touching up". I have to try and not depend so much on this though, and really aim for proper exposures. That's were I'm at right now with my pictures. I'm constantly wishing that I could spend more time taking pictures, and studying these things, instead of going to my real job...

Well, thanks for the time Nikki, Joe, and Eva. Hope you like the shots. Next week we're heading to Mexico for a little R & R, and I'm looking forward to taking alot of pictures of Lauri, and maybe some other stuff. I've never done a photo shoot with her. And after Mexico, we're making a stop in Scottsdale, AZ for a friends wedding. This will be my first Jewish wedding! I'm looking forward to getting some shots!

Well until next time, take care and God bless.

John