Edit a photo with me!
Getting your image right in camera is the absolute best way to get a great finished product. For 99% of my newborn photo sessions I use manual mode on my Nikon D850, a 35mm Sigma art lens and kelvin for my white balance.
As soon as I get home from my session I upload all of my images and back them up to an external hard-drive and cloud storage - newborn sessions might seem like an easy session to re-shoot, its not like a wedding right? If all of the images get lost I could just do it again no? NO!!!!!! I know how much of a bloody nightmare it can be to arrange any sort of photo shoot for your family, let alone one involving newborns, siblings, exhausted parents, co-ordinating outfits, kids bribes and a clean house too! So, I shoot with 2 memory cards and then save those photos of your precious baby in several spots, maybe its the midwife in me but safety first!
After importing pictures into lightroom I cull my images, I generally shoot about 300 pictures at a newborn photography session and end up with between 60-80 edited images in a newborn photo gallery.
When Im ready to edit your gorgeous little babys pictures (pretty much always when my own little kids and babies are sleeping or getting half an hour of Bluey XD ) this is my process:
Crop photograph. Generally the baby (or main subject) will be central or off to one side following the “rule of thirds”.
Apply my custom preset - this is a saved set of settings for lightroom to alter the colour/contrast/saturation/tone of an image. My preset is something Ive put together over the last few years and something that makes my newborn photos look like “my” work.
Use one of my texture brushes to polish skin.
Use a healing brush for any little blemishes. Some babies have perfect skin, some have a lot of baby acne, scratches, jaundice or excessive redness. I always check with parents at every newborn session whether they would like me to reduce blemishes or “correct” their babys skintone. Some want their baby to look exactly in their photographs as they do in real life, most would like any blemishes reduced a little.
Double check Im happy with white balance and exposure. Again, newborn skintone can be tricky so making sure this looks natural and luminous is the first and last thing I do. I also come back to newborn galleries several times to check and re-check that Im happy with my edits.
Done!! Time for a cuppa…or lets be real, a wine :-D
If you have any questions about my editing process feel free to chuck me and email or a dm. Im always happy to help photographers or anybody else taking photos of their families, newborns, older babies or just of yourselves!
