P#10 Q2B: What Camera Settings Are Best For Taking Photos of Babies and What Should My Baby Wear?

Slowly Graduate To Total Control

Carrie Sandoval: If you're just starting out and you haven't had much experience taking photos of babies, I would recommend getting your feet wet the way I did. Shoot in aperture priority, which is where you choose your aperture and the camera decides what the shutter speed should be.

I shoot fairly wide open, usually between 1.8 and 3.5, mostly because I have to. With natural light, there are not a whole bunch of strobes going off like in studio lighting. You need to let more light in with the wider aperture.

You should pay really close attention to what your camera settings are doing. If the shutter speed is falling too slow, you might get shutter shake.

If that happens, raise your ISO, which could mean more grain or noise in your picture. I would rather have grain or noise than a blurry shot caused by shutter shake.

Audri Lanford: Absolutely. What shutter speed do you like to stay below?

Carrie Sandoval: On my camera, I usually don't go below 1/250. I have a big camera, though. I have the Nikon D3. It's a little heavier. I don't know if that factors into it or not. It has a larger sensor. If you have a camera with a larger sensor, I recommend keeping the shutter at 1/250 or faster.

Audri Lanford: You will get pretty sharp pictures then.

Carrie Sandoval: Yes. Then, once people figure out what the shutter speeds are doing and they have a good grasp on what the camera's doing, I advise you go the manual setting instead of aperture setting. It makes such a big difference. You have complete control of your light. (Of course, don't do it on a client or anything.) Just practice and practice.

Manual settings give much better results.

Audri Lanford: What about clothing? What should a baby wear when being photographed?

Carrie Sandoval: That's pretty easy. By looking at my images, you can probably tell that I love them in their birthday suits -- naked!

However, I will occasionally wrap them in a soft blanket or a knit diaper cover -- a simple nicely-textured diaper cover.

If the parents prefer more coverage, a really, really simple Onesie is great as well. Make sure it fits well. When the clothing is loose, it doesn't look as good. You can't see their cute little bodies with their little curves and stuff.

In Summary

Carrie believes that practice makes perfect. Start out with choosing your aperture and let the camera decide what your shutter speed should be. Then, gradually work towards controlling your shutter speed manually as well. This will give you complete control of your light when taking photos of babies.

And for clothing? When taking photos of babies, it seems that less is more!