Two incredibly sweet twin sisters that I photographed recently. They were 4 weeks old but at 5 and 6lbs they were still tinier than most day old babies and fiesty as anything.

In case you’re wondering where the lens and exposure data for these files is gone, well I got a bit tired of typing it in so I found this handy little plug in that puts it in for you. Just hold your mouse over the photo and presto chango, up pops all the info.

**I’m not sure when it happened but comments were set up to allow only registered users to comment. Thanks to Chris Ward the creator of this handy exif plugin for letting me know. It’s back to normal now…at least it should be.

Canon 5DII, 50mm, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 800

A recent favourite. Harry’s Mum had seen this pose done before and wanted to see if we could recreate it, I was happy to oblige. It’s always fun for me when parents are up for trying out new poses for their babies and have their own ideas of things we can do.

Canon 5D, 28mm, f/3.5, 1/640, ISO 1000

Something I’ve been dying to do for ages is photograph twins and I got my opportunity a couple of weeks ago. These two brothers were so well behaved and when I put them down together they immediately linked arms.

Canon 5DII, 50mm, f/5.0, 1/80, ISO 800

I’ve taken a lot of baby photos this month…a very good thing for me since I love them but I’m aware that I don’t want to swamp the blog with too many of them and bore you all. I hope you guys don’t mind if I share a couple though if I space them out a bit. I bought a macro lens with this shot in mind and am so happy with how it turned out. I’ve never had a steady hand though so it’s a bit of a challenge for me to keep things sharp.

I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen, so I had to keep quiet and try not to jinx it for ages…newborn.ie was featured in the Irish Times Magazine today and I just got back from the shops where I picked up 1 or 2 (ok, ok…5 ahem) copies. The article is in the online edition here.

Canon 10D, 28mm, f1.8, 1/250, ISO 200

I have a bit of soft spot for photographing newborns…you might have noticed . A few months ago I was sitting on the DART (the birthplace of many schemes and plans) and I had the thought that since I love it so much why not set up a website completely devoted to newborn photography? As soon as I got home I went online and checked to see if newborn.ie was taken…it wasn’t! I quickly registered it and have been working on it over many late nights ever since.

It’s now ready, in fact it’s been up for a couple of weeks as I know some of you have already discovered it, but I’m officially launching it, well, now!

So, what’s the protocol here…do I smash a bottle of champagne over my monitor?

*PS: The beautiful baby that you see in this post is Mike. His parents were among those who kindly gave me permission to use their children’s photos in my gallery. Thanks guys!

I recently ordered some photobooks and they arrived just a few days ago. I’m so impressed with the quality, they’re just yummy. The print quality is spot on, the pages are the perfect thickness and everyone I’ve shown them to just loves the idea of having photos displayed this way. This one was the smallest one and is a dinky 7×7. I can’t wait for Daniel’s Mum to see it!

Canon 5D, 28mm, f10, 1/80, ISO 800

Happy Friday everyone and a round of applause for my fabulous models for the week and a big thank you to their parents for allowing me to share their photographs. If you know of anyone who’s expecting a baby in the near future who might like to have some photographs taken by me please point them my direction or get them to drop me an email and I’ll send them back my details and prices. I have a blog redesign in the works which will include this information very soon.

I thought it might be useful to pass on a few things I’ve learned from photographing these tiny ones. When Eve was born my camera was brand new and I had no idea how to make it work. As a result I have hundreds and hundreds of dark, blurry photos of her in those first few weeks. I should dig them out and post a couple for a laugh. I knew at the time that she was changing so fast and I wanted to try and capture some of those little details so I would remember them. How she used to yawn in that lob-sided way newborns do; just how small her fingernails were; how her lips would form a perfect “o” as if she was permanently surprised; how I could hold her on my shoulder and she would fit perfectly against me, so tiny her legs didn’t reach past my chest. Unfortunately my photography skills weren’t exactly up to the task. I think that’s what spurred me on to learn and improve and that’s why I keep trying to get better. All so I can bottle Eve up and keep her for me at each different stage.

So, here’s what I would have liked to have known three and a half years ago:

1. Start taking the photographs as early as possible. The first week is perfect. They sleep so much and are so bendy! Plus it’s not long after the first week that they start to unfurl out of that curled up newborn stage.

2. Newborns photograph best au natural. Cute little outfits are great but too many clothes can swamp them and date the photo.

3. Have the room nice and toasty so they’re comfortable without clothes. Dress lightly because you’ll be sweltering as a result.

4. Don’t use flash…it’s ugly

5. Recipe for a black background:
- one large window
- one soft beanbag
- large piece of non-reflective fabric (I use velvet but have plans to play around with different colours and textures in future to mix it up)
- slightly wide-angle lens (I use my 28mm but a 50mm would be good too and a macro for the close ups. If you’re using anything more than a 50mm and you don’t have macro on it, you’ll need a step-ladder)

Drape the fabric over the beanbag underneath a large window (pull it away from the window slightly so the light just starts to fall off) and put the baby in the centre. Take photos from all angles including straight above using the window light as a kind of soft box. Try and position the baby so their face is towards the window and their eyes aren’t in shadow (Use the rooting reflex to get them to look in the direction you want). Look for catchlights. Get rid of any folds or gaps in the black using Photoshop >:)

6. There will be little accidents…no nappy + black velvet = expect a visit to the dry cleaners!

7. Get the details…little toes, little fingers, little ears, little lips. Get as close as you can.

8. Go wide. Use furniture or other people or parts of other people like their hands to give a sense of scale and convey just how tiny a newborn is. This is one of the first things that you forget…they’re sooo small!

9. Be ready to take lots of breaks but when things are going well don’t dawdle, keep changing things up and moving and getting new angles.

10. Give the baby lots of smiles and happy noises. Don’t wait for them to do something specific, they may be asleep, they may be awake, they may be happy, they may not. Don’t worry…with newborns it’s all cute.

Canon 5D, 85mm, f/5, 1/320, ISO 800

Welcome back to Baby Week here on Gingerpixel! I wasn’t sure if you guys would mind me indulging in so many baby photos at once but the comments and awards(!!) and fluffy links have all been so lovely I have to say thank you to all of you. I will compose my own awards as soon as the decks clear a bit for me.

Now on to this little fella. His name is Oscar and when we first started out he wasn’t too impressed with me at all. Although it must be frustrating when even your attempts to show your displeasure are cute:

Canon 5D, 28mm, f/4.5, 1/200, ISO 800

After a little feed his Mum produced this fab woolskin throw and he was much happier:

This Moses basket is a family heirloom:

Canon 5D, 28mm, f/5, 1/400, ISO 800

One last one of Oscar and his Dad:

Canon 5D, 85mm, f/6.3, 1/200, ISO 800

And of course, as usual there are more on Flickr.

Canon 5D, 85mm, f10, 1/60, ISO 800

Bit of a baby fest this week! This little sweetheart is baby Anna with her daddy John. She looks so calm and was a little doll all through her time in front of the camera. She’s probably the most anticipated baby in the Irish blog world, little does she know she’s already a celeb!

Canon 5D, 28mm, f5, 1/200, ISO 800

Canon 5D, 28mm, f5, 1/200, ISO 800

Canon 5D, 28mm, f4.5, 1/200, ISO 800

Anna with her mum Fiona:

Canon 5D, 85mm, f10, 1/80, ISO 800

This is her big brother James who’s grown so much since the last time I photographed him, he’s obviously mad about her and so gentle:

Canon 5D, 85mm, f6.3, 1/80, ISO 800

Canon 5D, 28mm, f4.5, 1/200, ISO 800

More on Flickr in my Baby set