For many the idea of photographing a newborn baby can be overwhelming, especially for those that aren’t experienced with handling a newborn. By spending some time focusing solely on the baby before you begin photographing him/her, you can put measures in place that will ensure you give yourself the best chance of success.

By following these 8 tips for preparing for a newborn photography session you’ll be seeing to the comfort and calmness of the baby as your first priority, which will in turn allow you to capture a wide range of poses and setups.

1. Sleep. A sleeping baby is ideal to photograph. Once a baby is in a deep deep sleep you will be able to move them into almost any pose you wish. Spend adequate time before you begin the session getting baby into a deep slumber.

2. Age. The earlier you can photograph a newborn baby, the better. Ideally any time within the first 2-10 days of a baby’s life will be the easiest to photograph. At this age they will easily fall into a deep sleep allowing for ease of posing. It’s also as this age that they still appear to have that newborn ‘fresh’ look.

3. Studio temperature. When shooting a newborn baby, having the room at a very warm temperature is imperative, especially if you plan on creating images with the baby unclothed. The room should be warm enough that the adults present feel hot so that you can ensure the baby is warm enough.

4. White noise. Be sure to have a white noise player, or a CD of ‘womb noise’ playing loudly within your shooting space. This is pivotal in creating a calming, familiar environment for the baby.

5. Time of day. Aim to hold your sessions mid-morning, avoiding afternoon sessions if possible. Newborn babies tend to be more relaxed and calm during this time of day, and tend to be more grizzly and awake in the afternoons.

6. Feeding. When the baby arrives for his/her session make sure he/she has a feed before you begin shooting. A baby with a full tummy is much easier to settle than a baby that is even slightly hungry.

7. Nappies. Most parents love images of their baby’s naked little bottom, but begin your session with the baby in a nappy. Babies settle faster and deeper when clothed so begin with a nappy and the baby wrapped loosely in a wrap, then when the baby is in a deep sleep you can carefully remove these for the unclothed shots.

8. Parents. Some babies just won’t settle without their Mum or Dad, for a variety of reasons. If you’ve tried everything above and you still can’t get the baby to settle to sleep use the parents as props for your shoot. Have Dad’s arms outstretched with the baby laying in them, or baby propped up over Mum’s shoulder and shoot from behind Mum. The baby will settle when held by its parents so use them to your advantage where possible.

Fiona Rogerson from Evoke Art Photography is a [http://www.evokeartphotography.com.au]perth newborn photographer, dedicated to create art that will speak uniquely to you. Evoke Art Photography will ensure that every wonderful emotion from those fleeting moments in your baby’s early days will remain with you each and every time that you see your images up on your wall. View Fiona’s work at [http://www.evokeartphotography.com.au]http://www.evokeartphotography.com.au. Perth newborn photography.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Photographing-a-Newborn-Baby&id=5048782] Photographing a Newborn Baby

The photography of food is a talent like no other for both the beginner photographer as well as the seasoned professional.  The food has to be kept fresh, it must be inviting and convince the the viewer of their desire to have it.  Haven’t you looked at a photograph of a bowl of fruit and realized as a result that you had to have some?   There are many techniques to be used in the preparation of the items to be photographed and decisions to be made in the use of equipment, depth of field settings, plating of the food to be recorded, and lighting as well as whether you are going to use a tripod or hand hold the camera for the pictures.

I have found that my best results come from placing the background, either fabric or paper on a larger flat surface at ground level, allowing me to stand over the subject if the result that I am looking for is of an artistic design nature.  If on the other hand I am photographing a plate with a Tuna fish sandwich on it, I find that as opposed to taking the photo from above or from the angle of the “eater” it is better to take the position of a small child’s view along side or in front of the plate.  This will make the food look grand and impressive in the finished photograph.  You can add a little pop to the item being photographed by brushing it with vegetable oil or glycerin.  This will give fruit and vegetables a fresh wet look as if they were just picked from a rain soaked garden.  The same application will make other items look piping hot from the oven even if they were just taken from the refrigerator.  Care should be taken as to what is included in the picture.  A shallow depth of field along with items naturally found on a dinner table will go a long way to making the photo look real and not staged.  Using natural light from a window will also improve the result in many cases.  As far as what lens is the one to use, there is no correct answer.  Much will depend on the desired result.  Looking for extreme close ups?  Get the 105mm macro ready.  Are you looking for a standard table shot with natural light?  The 50mm standard with limited depth of field may be the best choice.  How about real creativity? You could go with the fish eye or wide angle keeping the main subject distortion free in the center.  The choice is yours as to how you want to present the finished image. 

This is a fun and lucrative area of photography but it does not come easy.  As has been said, if you can photograph food, then you can photograph anything.  I am including an excerpt from a great article that appeared in After Capture magazine recently, written by Ethan G. Salwen. The article is the result of an interview with a New York City based photographer named Nicholas Eveleigh.  There are many examples of his very creative work which is as interesting as any you will see.  This a great example of the many pieces that have been written on this subject and you will realize very quickly that there are as many opinions and techniques as there are articles.  Mr. Eveleigh is an example of new, innovative and fresh and in an area that is easily caught up in old style.

Nicholas Eveleigh
B y E t h a n G. S a l w e n
“I try to keep my food photography
as clean and natural as possible,”
say Nicholas Eveleigh, a New York based
editorial and commercial still
life photographer. Indeed, the hallmark
of Eveleigh’s images is uncluttered
compositions that are graphically
engaging, bringing out the best
in the inherent colors and forms of
his subject matter. Eveleigh’s fresh
visual approach is particularly flattering
to foods, which he captures in
a way that entices the senses without
overwhelming them. “We eat food
three times a day,” Eveleigh points
out. “And they say you eat with your
eyes. We know what looks fresh in
a photograph.”
Eveleigh says that he works methodically
but that he tries to give his
images an edge. He calls his method
of working “ordered chaos.” Looking
closely, one does discover a soft edge
of disorder, if not chaos, in Eveleigh’s
images. There is definitely a solid,
controlled order, but the images feel
spontaneous, even when they have
clearly been highly orchestrated. In
one of his food stills Eveleigh captures
three bright, perfect white eggs
lined up to the left of a single leaf of
deep green spinach [see below]. To
the right, Eveleigh has arranged six
bright, glistening raspberries in two
columns of three, balancing the visual
weight of the eggs. The composition—
popping forward off a black
background—with the eggs, leaf and
raspberries are each just slightly off
kilter, creating a compositional energy
that is soft and rich and lingers in
our visual memory.
In a time when hyperreal photographic
aesthetics can overwhelm
us like excessive junk food,
Eveleigh dishes up images that taste
like fresh, delicious home-cooked
meals. His ordered chaos seems
to be similar to what master chefs
employ when cooking up delicious
foods accented with a light, perfect
touch of fresh spices.

LightingStudio In A Small Space; Big Studio Effect Without The Cost  By Joe Farace   •   October, 2009Much of my portrait and fashion photography is done on location, but living in a place like Colorado the models (and the photographer, too) just aren’t always in the mood to stomp around in the cold weather and snow. That’s when a studio comes in handy. Some photographers just prefer having complete control over the lighting. Instead of the hassle and cost of renting a studio, why not create one using a room you already have? The real secret, if there is any, of making portraits in limited spaces is having the right equipment with gear that doesn’t have to be expensive.Space: A Final Frontier In Lighting, TooThe first thing you need for an in-home (or in-apartment) studio is space. You don’t need much, but more is always better than less. You can put a studio in a basement, if you have one, garage, spare bedroom, or just use the living room, as Mary and I did when we were getting started many years ago. Back then, we set up the lighting equipment and background for each shoot and then had to knock it down and pack it away afterward. That’s not the best way to shoot but it worked because in creating a studio from existing space you need to be both inventive and flexible. Some of the images accompanying this article were made in my basement using an 8×9-foot space sandwiched between my model train layout at (what would be) camera right and an old sofa on the left. In the illustration showing my original setup (top, left), you’ll even see a water drainpipe on the left edge of the frame. No matter where and what kind of space you use, some compromises are inevitable. Using the basement the way I do now means the gear can remain set up from shoot to shoot, saving time, but it also means I have to deal with low ceilings. Shooting in the garage (photo top, right), which I’ve also done, offers high ceilings, providing more flexibility in lighting setups, especially the ability to use booms and hairlights, but that is not a viable option for me because of the local weather in the winter. In more temperate climates, this could be an ideal solution, if your cars don’t mind being put outside. (You can see some of my garage shots in “Quantum’s Leap,” December 2004 issue of Shutterbug or online at: www.shutterbug.com.)Another ceiling-related issue is its color. In my basement studio, I have joists and subfloor above the subject that creates a light trap, avoiding reflecting any unwanted light falling on the subjects. Some photographers who have finished drywall ceilings in their studios paint them black to avoid reflections, but that may not be a permanent solution if you occasionally have to convert that space back for living. In that case, you might consider using Westcott’s (www.fjwestcott.com) Scrim Jim (see the “What’s a Scrim Jim?” sidebar) covered in Black Block fabric and strategically placed to avoid unwanted reflections that would ordinarily be caused by a light-colored ceiling.This year, I decided that I wanted to shoot full-length shots and the answer was to clean up some of the junk on the opposite side of my basement from my original studio and pose the models in the space where I used to stand. This produced a clear space of 10×10 ft. Not a huge increase in space but bigger than my first try and one that will have to work for a long, long time. I am using that space to test lighting products for Shutterbug as well as shooting glamour photographs for my 2010 book on the subject from Amherst Media. Full-length poses require wider-angle lenses than I might prefer or would have used outdoors, but when working in smaller spaces, as I said, compromises are required. Tip: Making wider-angle lenses work requires more close attention to camera height and sometimes I find sitting in a chair to photograph the model works best. You can use whatever contortionist trick works for you as long as you are not shooting down on your subject with a wider-angle lens. If you do, it will create unflattering foreshortened and distorted portraits with disproportionate head sizes.Putting It All TogetherHere’s a list of all of the gear I’m currently using for portrait sessions in my 10×10-foot basement studio: LightingIn my basic setup, lighting is provided by three monolights. The main light is a Flashpoint II 620A (www.adorama.com) monolight that produces 300 ws output. It has continuously variable power that lets me tweak exposure by adjusting the flash power instead of my camera’s aperture so I can control depth of field. Fill light is another Flashpoint II 620A that produces 150 ws that also features stepless power output control from Full down to 1⁄8 power. A Flashpoint II 320A monolight is used as a hair or background light. If you’re just getting started, Flashpoint offers a lighting kit that includes a 320A monolight, umbrella, and stand for only $129.95. Light ModifiersUmbrellas and light banks can have a big effect on the quality of the light produced in your temporary studio. For the later portrait sessions shown in my 10×10 studio, my main light was fitted with a Plume Ltd. (www.plumeltd.com) Wafer light bank whose slim profile makes it practical for use in small spaces and on location, yet produces amazing light quality in a compact package. Plume does not make a speed ring to attach the Wafer to the Adorama monolights, but does for many other brands. The one I use was custom made by sawing off the mount of a Flashpoint II’s reflector and adapting a Photogenic speed ring. I use a 45” Westcott Optical White Satin Umbrella for fill and an inexpensive Flashpoint II Snoot ($39.95) on the hairlight. Light StandsOne old studio rule of thumb is that you can never have too many light stands. Most of the heavy lifting in my 10×10 basement studio is done with two Flashpoint Heavy Duty Pro 10-foot ($54.95) and two Flashpoint Heavy Duty Pro 9-foot Air Cushioned light stands ($49.95). I have probably another half-dozen stands that I use to hold reflectors and scrims but the Flashpoint stands are my workhorses because of their rugged construction—even though I can rarely extend any of these stands to their full height because of the low basement ceiling. Backgrounds And StandsI use Adorama’s affordable Belle Drape backdrops. For a background stand that perfectly complements Belle Drape muslins, JTL’s (www.jtlcorp.com) $139.95 B-1012 stand is perfect. It expands to 12.6 ft wide using the four extension poles provided. For the 70” wide scenic background shown in the setup photograph, only two of the support sections were required. When I set up a 10×12 or 10×24 Belle Drape, I use three or four sections. Digital Darkroom To The RescueMany problems of shooting full-length poses in my basement studio were partially solved when I cleaned and flipped my basement studio space, but not all of them. While muslin backgrounds can be softly shaped to fit the available space, seamless paper backdrops firmly resist such treatment, so while a 53” paper background fits my space, the 107” version won’t. I could shoot on the narrow background but the images would have to be rescued later in the digital darkroom. So, here’s what I did: Step 1: I photographed Haley standing in front of a Savage Soft Gray seamless paper background using three of Adorama’s Flashpoint II monolights. Because of her full-length pose and the narrow 53” seamless paper, I was unable to capture a full background in the same frame as the model. LightingStudio In A Small Space; Big Studio Effect Without The Cost: Page 2Step 2: I used Photoshop’s rectangular Selection tool to select an area between the left edge of the seamless paper and Haley’s elbow. Then, using Photoshop CS4’s Content-Aware Scaling feature (Edit>Content-Aware Scale), I dragged one of the selection “handles” until the original frame was filled with gray background. I clicked Enter and was finished with this part of the background.Tip: If you have an older version of Photoshop that lacks Content-Aware Scaling, select and drag one of the handles and it will work with a solid color background like this one, but forget using it with anything more complex.Step 3: Next I used the rectangular Selection tool to select an area between the right edge of the seamless paper and Haley’s other elbow. Then, using the same technique as the left-hand edge of the seamless background, I used Content-Aware Scaling (Edit>Content-Aware Scale) to drag one of its “handles” until the frame was filled with gray background.Photo © 2008, Joe Farace, All Rights ReservedBuilding a studio of your own using a small space begins with an attitude that says you can do it! All of the tips, tools, and techniques that I have shown here are just the beginning. Use them as a springboard and expand these concepts to fit your space, your gear, and your imagination. It all begins with clearing space for your in-home studio today!© 2008, Joe Farace, All Rights Reserved reprinted from SHUTTERBUG magazine October, 2009

Thanks to  Mr Farace’s lead which I  followed to the letter, I purchased all of the Flashpoint equipment from Adorama in New York City, http://www.adorama.com/. As a result of Mr Farace’s  terrific information I was able to  successfully assemble a very usable studio in a 10 by 13 foot space.

Your approach to product photography will vary with each product.   Shoes, jewelry, stamp collections all differ widely in design and require a different setting and a different mind set,   however there are those commonalities that are maintained for every item.

Background:  You will want to use a light or white background or a table top studio in which to place your subject.  This will present the subject in the best possible surrounding to show its attributes.

Fast lens:  You will want to use the fastest lens available.  This will enable you to use the widest aperature available resulting in an out of focus background.

Exposure:  It is important to bracket your initial captures in order to be sure that you have a bright subject that has not been darkened because your camera is fooled by the light background.

Focus:  Be sharp.  There is nothing worse than a fuzzy look.  Use a tripod.  Don’t trust handholding the camera.  What may look sharp in the view finder will fool you when it is enlarged or published.

Lighting: Use soft lighting.  If you hold a pencil 2-3 inches above your hand and take an image resulting in a dark shadow projected on your hand then this is not soft lighting.  You will hardly see a soft shadow.  Use a diffuser on your light source or shoot through a light tent.

After Capture: Make use of one of the many available photo processing tools such as Photoshop.  Review your images for sharpness, for noise, for color balance.

I completed my work.  I had constructed a glass platform so that I could have a certain amount of reflection at the base of the cookies.  I used two strobes with umbrella reflectors.  The lighting was soft with no harsh shadows and allowed the detail that I was looking for.  I shot primarily with a 35 to 70 mm F2.8 Nikkor lense which gave me the subject sharpness as well as the out of focus back ground which resulted in the cookie standing out.  It was a fun assignement albeit a little fattening.

About a week ago while walking on Canal Street in lower Manhattan, I watched as a NYC police cruiser stopped, the officer stepped out of the car and held up traffic in all directions.   I did not immediately notice the poor lady walking with only a fabric head cover. It seems that the ladies wig blew off of her head and was rolling across the street and under the police car.  The police officer kindly reached under the car and grabbed the wig in order to return it to its rightful owner.  The  officer returned t0 his car, the woman quickly replanted the hair on her head and the traffic commenced.

A kind gesture of humanity by one of NYC’s  finest.  Thumbs up to the officer and another great  reminder to all of us to carry a camera.

This was stated during  the latter part of the 19 century.  One has to wonder today how distant the dream is from the reality.