How to take pictures of babies?

[HK]

My friend had a baby recently, and I'm going over to see her tonight with another friend I'm taking my camera, but it'll be evening time so there'll be no natural light, and I'm not particularly willing to point my flash at a baby's face.

Does anyone have any tips for taking pictures of newborns? She's only a month old so it'll mainly be pics of people holding her, very informal, nothing posed. I don't have a detachable flash though, so I probably just plain can't use it.

Any advice appreciated, I took pictures informally at the baby shower and they came out lovely, so I'd like to continue being 'that' friend with a camera

 

[Tuffdisc]

Diffuser if necessary?

 

[Tuffdisc]

A diffuser like this

Yes, you can use a bit of paper like this, why not?

 

[HK]

Seriously? So I'll still get some effect from the flash but won't accidentally blind their firstborn child, right?

That's an awesome idea if it works

 

[Tuffdisc]

Seriously? So I'll still get some effect from the flash but won't accidentally blind their firstborn child, right?

That's an awesome idea if it works

The idea is to lower the flash levels using the flash exposure compensation (you should find that in the Flash settings menu) just to test out the tolerance on the baby

 

[pjbleek]

Seriously? So I'll still get some effect from the flash but won't accidentally blind their firstborn child, right?

That's an awesome idea if it works

could see the headline on the London Times....

Photo of baby leads to omniscient thoughts of Cadbury delights for all!!!
(turn to page 2 for more!)

 

[HK]

If it turns out that they'd rather I didn't use the flash at all, is there much I can do to try and get a good picture anyway?

I know I can turn my ISO up but that can get pretty grainy!

 

[Tuffdisc]

If it turns out that they'd rather I didn't use the flash at all, is there much I can do to try and get a good picture anyway?

I know I can turn my ISO up but that can get pretty grainy!

Well with in built flash I doubt if you could get away with direct flash on the baby because you can't remove it like those flash guns

 

[Tuffdisc]

Shoot RAW edit in this editor and learn how to edit out the noise, there are plenty of documentation/tutorials etc...since its the holiday, you've plenty of time etc..
http://rawtherapee.com/downloads

 

[Guyzerr]

I know it's a bit after the fact but you could try holding a hand held mirror in front of your built in flash at an angle to have the light bounce off the ceiling. I've never tried it because I have a decent flash but the idea hit me and who knows it might work. You being a gal and all would probably have a few different size mirrors kicking around to experiment with. If you do I would be interested to hear how it turns out.

 

[Francis]

I know it's a bit after the fact but you could try holding a hand held mirror in front of your built in flash at an angle to have the light bounce off the ceiling. I've never tried it because I have a decent flash but the idea hit me and who knows it might work. You being a gal and all would probably have a few different size mirrors kicking around to experiment with. If you do I would be interested to hear how it turns out.

That's a good point to find out how it did turn out..

 

[HK]

As it turned out, baby slept most of the evening even while she was being passed around, so the flash was no bother! thanks for the tips anyway guys, I'll need them for later when she's bigger!