This guy is 4 months old (was a little late with the 3-month pictures). His eyes were wonderful. I was going to do the first ones in BW but then the iBook decided it needed a new hard drive.
Owen

These are wonderful! I like the way that you were able to give the sense that there was action or things going on, despite the fact that a 4M old baby doesn't do a whole lot - if you know what I mean! Love the naked baby shots.

For this kind of work, I think you mentioned before that you use a diopter for the close-ups? At the risk of sounding *really* stupid, can someone educate me on the difference between using a diopter and a macro lens? I'd like to do more work like this, but often feel like I'm not getting close enough.

When you're working with a little one like this, do you try to keep the session short? Or does it turn out longer than usual to accommodate changes and feedings and such?

I LOVE baby pictures! It's so hard for me to not shoot babies all the time at weddings when I see one. Oooooo.... I just want to pick him out of the computer and squeeze him!

Thanks for the comments. I really love doing these. They're so much fun. Of course, I've been taking the backdrops to the laundromat after each one!


A diopter (or closeup filter) is basically a magnifying glass. You can get kits of three of them for about $50. But the quality of them isn't so great. That's why most people don't like them. The one I use for these is a Nikon 5T on an 85mm/1.8 lens. I don't remember what it cost but I want to say $60 or so. This is a 1.5 power, 2-element diopter. There's also the 6T, which is about 3 power, but it's a little too much for these shots on an 85mm lens.

Now, having said that, a Macro lens could be better. You don't lose infinity focus (with the diopters you can't be further than a couple feet away or it won't focus). I'm sure the image would be sharper, but that's not really what you want for these. It's also more than a stop slower (if it's a 2.8 lens) and when you're using window light, that makes a big difference. On these I used studio flashes turned way down to keep the aperture at about f/5 or so. With window light it's usually at f/1.8 or 2.


I go as long as they'll let me. I do take breaks to change backdrops and to let them be fed or have a diaper changed. Usually I end up taking about and hour and a half if I set up at their house (like this one). If it's here, it's usually just over an hour.

But really, it seems like 20 minutes!