What is the best background when shooting young babies in the six-nine month range.
I think it best if you keep it light but I've had a couple of Mom's who think they want a darker color background. Particularly when it's a boy.I've had two ask for dark blue.
Is there any standard or just what the client wants.
I personally think baby skin is so light that the darker background makes it appear ghostly.
Opinions??
Not that I am much help as I have only shot my friends daughter for their birth announcements but my goal was to use a shallow enough depth of field that the background texture would be irrelevant. I also prefer B&W for extremely young babies, there is something odd about the skin that favors B&W.
Nice photos! Never sure about offering b/w photos. Lots of people refer to them as looking 'old', as in, shot a long time ago. I like b/w but I find them more difficult to light well.
Fleece blankets work well for babies. They are soft and even colored. You can get them in a lot of colors and they are cheap. They go in the washing machine so you can keep them fresh so the parents don't have to worry about other babies who have been on them.
You can hang them as a backdrop or the baby can lie or sit on them.
You could also put the plastic sheet underneath the fleece blanket for good looks AND protection. Never wear your nicest clothes and keep a towel or two handy. I've even learned how to take a t-shirt off while keeping the icky stuff from getting on me.
Best,
Andy
A white background with low ratio lighting works well for shots where the baby is unclothed or in a distracting white diaper. The color contrast of the warm skin works well in either case. Just feather the lighting so the face is darker that the feet - the eye is attracted towards darker tones on white backgrounds.
I've also seen some very well done shots on black, but they work better for things like a father cradling the baby in his big hands or parents together with the baby. The stark contrast pulls the eye into the focal point and the darkness doesn't seem out of context.
Things get more problematical in terms of keeping attention on the face in the photo when mom dresses the kid in bright distracting competing colors or you put colorful props and toys in the shot which distract from the face. Clothing consultation can help and so will having props available to distract the kid which will not create huge distractions in the photo. Banish Barney and Elmo from your studio space: get a nice tan or light gray stuffed bear or doggie...
Clothing is the greatest potential distraction. One of the biggest problems is girls in pink. The pink dress and pink face will compete with each other. The best way to deal with distracting colored clothing like that is to make the background a similar color so the clothing blends in and recedes perceptually and then light the face in a way that contrasts. For those Christmas shots in the cute tiny red Santa outfits have a nice red background and red props handly
The same cause and effect regarding distractions apply to any portrait. If you want the face to be the star, match the background to the clothing and then light the face so the FRONT of it contrasts well with the background. On a dark background that means putting highlights on the front of the face, but on a white background its more effective to evenly light the face with a pattern like butterfly to create strong COLOR contrast with the neutral background. B&W shots will not work as effectively on white as they would on gray or middle tones because in B&W there is no color contrast and the skin tone can wind up too similar to the background, especially in the highlights.
