What to Expect From the Best Baby Photographers

Lighting can be a great challenge for baby photographers. Lighting for a maternity portrait is very important and should not be ignored. The most important tip is that you become familiar with the basics while adjusting the lighting setup to suit the particular maternity portrait.

When you have to diffuse the light for your maternity portrait, you will have the choice of soft boxes and brollies. The soft box is a favorite with baby photographers when shooting maternity portraits. The advantage to using the soft box is that it directs the light forward. When utilizing brollies, the light can escape while bouncing back into the camera. You will need to be very careful of possible flares. Always make sure you take some test shots to find the best possible lighting for the maternity portrait. Do not forget your lens hood for your camera.

Brollies can create a nice effect for any maternity portrait if you utilize the flashgun back into then while reflecting it out toward the mother. Keep the lighting soft while getting in very close when you utilize this method.

The reasoning keeping the lighting soft is because you will be increasing the light distance from flash to the Mom and you will obviously understand that a distant light will create a shadow.

As a professional baby photographer, you must choose the translucent shoot-through as compared to the reflective brollies. The brollies are much too harsh for most types of maternity portraits. If you are actually looking for a much harder light then the brollie will suffice however, most parents would not be happy with a harshly lit maternity portrait. Reflective brollies are however good for lighting backgrounds.

Keeping the lighting simple for maternity portraits will show how volatile you are. Keep in mind that your subjects are pregnant and they can possible move due to an uncomfortable position at any given time, if your lights are positioned well, you can direct the Mom to quickly move into the zone where the lights are positioned. A baby photographer must be prepared for such things.

If you keep two large soft boxes available for Mom this will give you more room for movement. This will allow a much more comfortable feeling while improving the overall atmosphere for the mother and her pregnancy portrait.

As a starting point, baby photographers should use a flat, even light which gives a very pleasing environment with the maternity portrait. Shift the light between 45 and 55 degrees when utilizing more harsh lights. The light should remain close to the camera. If you want to lower the light to soften the shadows, it is always best to keep the ratio within one stop.