Baby Portrait - What could I have done different?

[Mindy H]

Well, maybe it wasn't the window light...were you maybe bouncing the flash??? Are you using any kind of modifier on your flash?? Umbrellas are cheap and you can use those with your flash without having to bounce. Or, if you have a reflector, use that and point the flash directly into the reflector using the reflected light to light your subject. With babies, you are shooting them down at ground level, so light bounced of off a ceiling will generally leave you with no light in the eyes.

The top one of the baby close up is probably the strongest image out of all of them. She has just a bit of light in her eyes that livensup the portrait. But, she could still use more. Bring the subject closer to a window, in an open doorway or something and utilize the natural light more.....turn the babies head so that you see light in the eyes better. Keep shooting it and eventually you'll start being able to see the light direction better.

[DeLeon]

Thanks for the help! I was using a shoot through umbrella, but maybe I had it up too high? or too far back? Next time I will shoot a photo of my set up. Thanks again, I really do appreciate the help.

[Karebear98]

Oh and those prints I posted were scanned images of the pics if they aren't looking like the best resolution or quality. Just FYI.

[Alyfaye]

In the original picture, the baby is a little red and I agree with others about the BG. A reflector might have helped too. As for the blanket, moms want what they want whether the blanket will photograph well or not. With a busy blanket like that one, I would have taken the picture much closer in like Mindy suggested. The less that's in the picture the better, since the blanket is already so busy. I attached a couple so you can see what I'm talking about.