Steampunk Newborn Photos!

We did it! John and I pulled off our second-ever newborn photo shoot, and I got to STEAMPUNK IT!!

Even though this was only the second time I've ever photographed (or handled!) a newborn, it went sooo much faster than the last time. Instead of three 4-hour sessions, we only did one, and still ended up with more usable shots. Woohoo!

I'll be the first to admit I could have pushed the steampunk aesthetic even farther, since I erred on the side of subtlety, but I'm still pretty pleased with what we got. So, without further ado...

Preeeeesenting...

Daisy, the aviatrix!!

Check it out; my aviator cap & goggles actually fit her! 


Now, what I'd LIKE to do is take this photo and photoshop a hot air balloon over the basket. I've been spending the past few days working on all the other pics from the shoot, though, and haven't gotten around to that part yet. I'll also probably have to call on John's PS expertise to make it look halfway decent.


Random detail: The antique pocket watch was a gift to John from my Dad, and for the photos I stopped it at Daisy's birth time. 

More adorableness in the basket:

The one on the right is my favorite of Daisy's expression from the whole shoot - and like all newborn smiles, it only lasted for a fraction of a second.

Next up, Daisy the...um...wind-up fairy doll?


The flower undies I spent four nights making were massively too big, so we ended up tucking them underneath her as best we could. To hold the key in place we taped a thin metal rod to the back of it, and John held the key in position from above while I took the photos. I later removed the supporting rod in PS.

My original hope for this setting was to have a bunch of antique dolls around Daisy, but A) that might have ended up more creepy than cute, and B) we didn't have any antique dolls, anyway.

If we ever get to try this again I'd love to at least have a few other vintage toys in the background, though: blocks, a pull-behind wooden ducky, etc. As it is, this is more of a clean, Anne Geddes look than a vintage steampunk one - but I still like it.

The idea for our next photo came from this lovely shot by Jennifer Nace Photography:

It so happens that I own a scale just like that, so I was determined to try my own version. I searched for a nicely distressed wooden bowl/tray we could use, but came up with nada. Finally I just bought a bare wood tray from JoAnn's and distressed it myself using water-based stain, paint, and a hammer. (Furniture distressing is a grrr-reat stress reliever.) :D

Unfortunately, Daisy was a bit taller than I expected...

 Oops.

Still, I think it's a fairly cute shot. I also really like that fabric; I found it in my tiny pile of scraps at home, and it was just *barely* big enough to use as a backdrop. I'd have loved to do more poses in front of it, but my other set-up with a few antique books and skeleton keys didn't work out; Daisy kept sliding backwards off the books. Heh.

Oh, and as you can tell, I'm still not ready to take the plunge into naked baby photography. For the rest of my photos, though, you can see Daisy's ruffled diaper cover (another of my sewing projects) which looks pretty sweet.

Speaking of sweet, Daisy's dad, Zane, still hadn't taken off his "daddy" hospital bracelet, so of course I had to get a shot with that in it:

And here's a somewhat experimental shot we tried in front of the window with Daisy's mom, Deborah:

The rest of my shots aren't even remotely steampunk, but I'm going to show you a few more, anyway:

And finally, the most difficult shot of all:

I never would have tried the head-in-hands pose if Deborah hadn't requested it, but since it was the *only* pose she asked for, I really didn't want to let her down. I spent hours researching it before the shoot, and even then wasn't sure we'd be able to pull it off. Lest you get the wrong idea: little Daisy is NOT holding that position by herself; that photo is the result of extensive Photoshopping (thanks, John!) John ended up using elements from three different photos, but these two should give you the general idea of how we did it:

On my last newborn photo post a few of you pros out there gave me some tips in the comments, and I just wanted to say how much I appreciated that! I still struggle with the skin tone; I seem to either go too ruddy or too pale, so if you guys have any thoughts on this batch, I hope you'll tell me in the comments. The good thing is I can always go back and fix it, so please, if you see something that could be better, let me know!

Also, just to get this out there: I am by no stretch a professional photographer, I didn't charge for any of this, and everything was done off the cuff using stuff we had on hand. The lighting was from two windows (you can tell that last shot was taken late in the day by the glare), the padding was a bed pillow on a coffee table, and the backdrops were baby blankets or spare bits of fabric. The only things I purchased were white velvet for a backdrop, faux fur to line the basket, the wood tray, and the silk flowers & pearls to make the flowered undies set. Just wanted to mention that to encourage any other amateur photographers out there who might want to give this a try! (But maybe not the head-in-hands pose. Trust me. We were kind of crazy to attempt it, and it took three sets of hands even then!)