Jodie & I talk all the time about one of the major reasons we merged together to become Fresh Art; to be able to do some really great newborn shots in the safest way possible. It’s not a big secret that a lot of this is done through the magic of Photoshop, but I thought I’d touch on this again, to remove any doubt. We NEVER put a baby in any sort of danger. Sometimes it may *look* that way, and so as a caution to other photographers who may want to try these sort of things, it’s always done by composite, or a merged layers shot.
Sophia’s parents came in specifically asking for our hanging scale shot, and as I just finished editing it, I’ll show you the pieces that went into achieving this shot:
First we started getting shots of the empty scale hanging. And since it wanted to turn to the side, and we wanted it head on, dad stood on one side holding the scale in position:
I was on the other side and grabbed it from the other side, being careful to keep it in the same position:
We also wanted to make sure we got her weight to read correctly, so we took this one:
Now we just need the sweet little baby! Since we already had all the other “parts” of the shot, we just needed her tucked inside, and it didn’t matter that the scale was actually resting on something, or that my hand was holding onto it the whole time. So we piled up blankets to be the base support, and it didn’t matter what the top of the scale was doing either.
Safe and secure and never actually “hanging”…. ah, the wonders of Photoshop!
Kristin and Tim… more photos and your official sneak peek coming soon!
You are amazing but I know that from way back when Avery was born and I had a “hand” in the shot. Just amazing and beautiful!
I love the hanging baby scale shot. I also love, love that you and Jodie expose some of your secrets. I would hate for someone to try and emulate your work and put a baby in danger. Plus, it lets us really appreciate your editing talents!
Gorgeous photo! We love it! We had so much fun watching it all come together yesterday. Thank you for posting this. We’re excited to see how the rest turned out! –Sophia’s mom and dad 🙂
loved this post! thanks for sharing. the final image turned out AWESOME
Kristin, amazing photos. I can’t wait to see the rest. Thank you so much for sharing!
Awesome behind-the-scenes. I don’t know anything about photographing babies (OK, or babies in general), but it really interesting to see how you achieve your look. Great work!
Clever! Adorable photo and it’s nice to see the behind the scenes work.
Hi there, thank you for the advice, it really helps! Where do you get the scales from as I’d love to try this out but can’t find them anywhere! (I’m in England) many thanks, Jade.