I really do treasure the time I get to spend photographing tiny little newborns just days after being born. I love wrapping them up and watching them sleep! The session itself and the time I spend with the baby’s parents are some of my most favorite memories and moments as a photographer.
As many of you would probably imagine, the majority of my post editing process with these types of sessions involves a lot of smoothing blotchy and red skin. Sometimes this happens from the process of just being born and shedding their newborn skin, sometimes it comes from being in a warm room that I create to keep them sleepy for their session.
So for my blog today, I would like to show you a SOOC (straight out of camera) shot of two photos I took of a 5-day-old baby in the summer last year and then compare them next to the edited version that the client received. Most of the changes I make in my post processing work with newborn are a result of desaturation of the red bits and cloning of the scaly bits. Sometimes, as in the case of the first photo, just a little brightening of the images could help take away some of the redness as well.
In the case of these final edited photos below, I also added some warmth and contrast to both and then cropped them in a bit more. And per the mother’s request, I rounded out the top of the baby’s head on the first photo with some additional cloning work since he had a little hematoma from being born. The end result is beautiful, don’t you agree? I really love before and after photos!
