The Cute Baby Girl

Babies and smaller kids are arguably one of the most interesting subjects for photography. Their authentic and spontaneous facial expressions, when properly captured, can give us priceless pictures.

We recently had a chance to take some pictures of a cute little baby girl. She was less than six months old. Taking pictures at this age can sometimes be a bit more challenging, as the baby is no longer “mold-able” like newborns for well-planned poses, but not yet old enough to sit by herself or take any form of instructions. Another challenge is to minimize the duration of the session, as babies this age can get tired and irritated very quickly.

These shots were all taken on location with minimal setup. Specifically, we used a “Super White” seamless paper background (by Savage Universal). One problem was that it got a bit windy and we did not have any sandbags or anything to secure our background stands. So we had to ask for extra help for holding the stands. As for lighting, we relied on outdoor ambient light together with one Speedlight Flash (Nikon SB-910) set up off camera on a light stand. In order to make the artificial light source a bit larger and get a more pleasing and softer light, we used a 24″ speedlight softbox (by Promaster). For wireless triggering of the off-camera Flash, we could either go with Nikon’s default infrared system, or with our RadioPopper Px radio trigger. We decided to use RadioPopper for increased flexibility and reliability (given that line of sight is no longer needed). In one of our future posts, we will probably talk a bit more about the various wireless flash trigger mechanisms, including the comparison between the different radio triggers (e.g., Pocket Wizards vs Radiopoppers, etc.). As for the lens, we used our versatile 24-70mm f/2.8G as well as our King of Bokeh 85mm f/1.4D.

Back to the pictures… Looking back, one problem we seem to have had is that her mom and others who were trying to get her attention towards the camera were not standing directly behind the camera. Therefore, in many of the pictures, she ended up not looking straight into the camera.

Hope you like the pictures. As always, please feel free to leave comments and critique. Thanks for visiting…