Baby Photography: Minimal Materials, Large Results

I have a new born baby, actually he is already three months (!), and today I decided I really need to get some images of him before he gets all chunked up like my other children did (if you know my other children, you know what I mean)

Lincoln is the perfect subject - always smiling!

First off, I took this photo in our guest bedroom on the bed. I took a white tablecloth and draped it on the bed. I then used a white blanket for Linc to lay on. (this adds texture to the photo)
There was natural light coming in from two windows from camera left and I used a flash on manual @ 1/8 power pointed to the ceiling.

After setting up my camera, ISO at 300, Shutter at 1/200, and at F 2.8 (I also used a 50mm at 1.8), I started shooting away. I probably took only 100 shots and came out with about 5-7 that I really liked. (see more below). The key with baby photography is to have more than one person. I had my wife, Jessica, making Linc smile and position him. It would not have worked if I had tried to position him, make him smile, AND take his picture.

Hugh Williams asked me to do this next part. He wanted to see some of the outtakes in a photo shoot. Below are just a few of the outtakes from this photo shoot. There were lighting issues, posing issues, weird facial expressions, and bad angles.

Below are a few of my favorites. I LOVED that the tie matched Lincoln's eyes! Take some time in the next week and try to do a photo shoot. Use lamps and plug in lights if you don't have any strobes or speedlights. The main thing is to get creative, try using manual modes, and actually press the shutter button!