# My Newborn Baby (first newborn shoot)



## mindfloodz (Aug 2, 2011)

My beautiful baby girl Riley was just born on July 29th and I capitalized on the opportunity to try my hand at newborn photography. I bought a few props and just wanted to capture some really precious moments without having to pay a fortune for them. Here's a few of my favorites.


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## Robin Usagani (Aug 2, 2011)

The first one for sure have wrong WB. Try to make the fur thing white. It looks a little yellow. also I think your clarity slider is too high.


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## mindfloodz (Aug 2, 2011)

I totally agree and will reprocess the RAW images again. thank you for the feedback. If I posted the RAW would you like to take a crack at it? Maybe give me a step by step.. I'm still learning Photoshop and trying to get better

RAW image:
http://hotfile.com/dl/125699716/d90c30c/IMG_8609.CR2.html

or

http://hotfile.com/dl/125699716/d90c30c/IMG_8609.CR2.html


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## mindfloodz (Aug 2, 2011)

fixed #1:


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## Rebekah5280 (Aug 2, 2011)

Fixed #1 = MUCH BETTER!  and a very beautiful portrait of your daughter.    Congrats!


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## mindfloodz (Aug 2, 2011)

Thank you very much Rebekah! I really enjoy this pic as does much of my family and friends. I'm glad *Schwettylens *brought to my attention the poor WB and the overuse of the clarity slider. Much better now. Time for a frame


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## JMBriggs (Aug 2, 2011)

Good job! And congrats! Nothing more fun then being a parent! (Not even photography... But it may come in a close second : p


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## adrianakyan (Aug 2, 2011)

did you blur the face? it looks kind of fake.  like #2 and the last one.  also #2 looks too orange. she is very cute!! congratulations!


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## Rebekah5280 (Aug 2, 2011)

adrianakyan said:


> did you blur the face? it looks kind of fake. like #2 and the last one. also #2 looks too orange. she is very cute!! congratulations!



Yeah, what she said.


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## MTVision (Aug 2, 2011)

It almost looks like you tried airbrushing your daughters face.  Nothing wrong with fixing blemishes and red spots but it just doesn't look right on a newborn.  I may be wrong but that was the impression I got!


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## mindfloodz (Aug 2, 2011)

I totally agree and was never very happy with the processing on the face. i didn't airbrush, but i did use Nik Color Efx Pro, Dynamic Skin Softener. I have since reprocessed the picture and took it in a very different direction. It may not appeal to some, but I like it and some of you may agree that it looks better than the original I posted. When I was doing these photos the first time, I was rushing through it to get them out on Facebook for friends and family to see. I was also not on my computer, but a laptop. The screen was poorly calibrated and it was clear to me that the pictures had flaws in the colors and some of the post processing techniques I use. Here is a redo on #2. Enjoy:


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## ZoeyWhite (Aug 3, 2011)

congratulations on your baby! 

nice photos, your pic together is sooo sweet.


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## MommyPhotographer (Aug 3, 2011)

Great Pictures! :]


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## Rebekah5280 (Aug 3, 2011)

The problem I (still) have with #2 is that the skin on the face looks very plastic-y.  

I'm not sure why there is soooo much skin softening.  Maybe because she is really blotchy and/or flakey (as all newborns are).  When I process a newborn skin, I usually just try to tone the blotchiness down and spot heal any acne or flakes.  I usually try to stay away from the blotches on eyelids, as those are important features in the photograph and I can never "fix" the blotches without causing "damage" to the eyelids.  If you go into Newborn processing, its better to just tone down than to fix completely.  Newborns are blotchy and flakey and have terrible skin!  Everyone knows that!    And, your capturing your newborn baby, the flakes and blotches are precious.


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## mindfloodz (Aug 3, 2011)

Would you like to give the RAW image a try?   I didn't do anything with skin softening.. It's just how her skin is. 

Hotfile.com: One click file hosting: IMG_8661.CR2


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## Rebekah5280 (Aug 3, 2011)

Here are your 2:












Ok.. here is my hack at it. It would be easier to do if you started out with a properly exposed shot. It was underexposed, which doesn't help with the red skin. Anyway, this is more what I would do with this shot.


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## mindfloodz (Aug 4, 2011)

Yeah. that looks much better/ It looks a lot more natural and a touch more soft. I like it. Thank you. Would you mind giving me some pointers as to how you got it to this point?


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## Rebekah5280 (Aug 4, 2011)

Sure.  I'll try to remember..  that was a few edits ago!  lol  

I started by increasing the exposure.  And adding some sharpness (I think I did because the picture seemed sort of blurry).  I zoomed into the face and spot healed the flakes and red spots (not blotches, just the red polka dots).  Then I spot healed the red lines (from the diaper).  I used my Replace Color tool and selected the brighter reds on the face and changed the hue on the slider a few points and maybe even changed the lightness or the saturation, (can't remember exactly) but just a few points, like 2-4 usually does the trick.  Remember that when I'm editing newborns, I'm just looking to tone the redness down..  not remove it completely.  I then used a blur brush, set very ver low, to go over all the skin, avoiding the eyes and lips.  I Replaced Color again an the fur in the right hand corner to turn it from yello to white and thats what I ended up with.    I hope that helps..  I have could have done a few more steps, but I can't really remember exactly what I did.   

I know your probably sleep deprived with a new baby around!  It gets better!


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## Actinometro (Aug 6, 2011)

Congratulations in double: for your so beautiful daughter and for the photos as well.


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## mindfloodz (Aug 6, 2011)

Thanks Rebekah for all the help!!! Also thank you very much Actinometro for such kind words!


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## Shoal (Aug 6, 2011)

Some of them seem abit soft for me but I still like them. I do like color tones on the first one, I think it suites to have abit of color tone shift for that one.


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## mindfloodz (Aug 6, 2011)

Thank you Shoal... I kind of agree with you.. On the skin itself I kind of like the color shift, but on the fur I like it to be white.


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## GeorgieGirl (Aug 7, 2011)

Congratulations!!!


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## mindfloodz (Aug 7, 2011)

Thank you Georgiegirl, nice edit!


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