How can I recreate a soft, bright natural-light baby photography look in camera and Lightroom?

Asked 9/1/2016

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I like the soft, airy look in this baby photographer’s images and want to understand how much comes from lighting versus Lightroom editing. I mainly use Lightroom and would like practical tips for recreating a similar style for baby photos. What should I focus on for lighting, room setup, colors, and camera settings, and what kind of Lightroom adjustments are most likely involved?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

1

Especially with only Lightroom you're going to have to get it very right in camera. To do that you need to shoot in daylight or with only neutral soft lights as you can see there is no Yellow lights, there is no Sunset, there is no hard shadows.

That's further emphasized in styling of the decor and outfits. Soft pastel colors, whites, and generally soft to very soft shadows.

She has a few exceptions like this one, https://www.instagram.com/p/BJOXGE9BNAe/?taken-by=laybabylay&hl=en but overall that's all there is really.

Find a room with a lot of natural light, fill it with soft colored objects, and you're there. Only take pictures in those rooms when the soft light is coming in enough to blow out the outside. Colors are almost entirely saturated so other than maybe minor tweaks to white balance there's very little clean up you should need to do. At most a Desaturation of 12-20 may have occurred. Here it is with the color readjusted to their true self, in this particular image it was about an 18% bump to saturation:

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The right side of this image is from IG unedited, the left side has a slight bump to saturation.

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Beyond this and you get inaccurate colors to key elements. Curious George's signature yellow for example. Skin tones start looking off. And that Cyan poster is already pushing the limits of what even Pantone can offer.

It is certainly possible that on the other hand very, very, very extensive and selective changes were made in post production but I find that very unlikely with such consistency. Most is done by decor and outfits with a very minor desaturation in post.

Alternatively, you could stage the whole thing with a high powered soft box with a neutral / white light directly outside what looks like a window.

Originally by user27243. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user27243

10y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Most of this look is created in camera, not heavily in post. The key traits are soft, neutral daylight, very gentle shadows, bright exposure, and a pastel/white scene.

To get close:

  • Shoot in a room with lots of natural window light.
  • Avoid yellow indoor lighting, sunset light, and any hard/direct light.
  • Use soft-colored props, whites, and pastel tones in clothing and decor.
  • Position the baby where window light is broad and diffused, so shadows stay very soft.
  • Expose bright enough that the window/outside can go a bit blown out if needed.

In Lightroom, keep edits subtle:

  • Fine-tune white balance toward neutral.
  • Brighten exposure slightly if needed.
  • Keep contrast modest so shadows stay soft.
  • Preserve the light, airy feel rather than adding strong saturation or dramatic tones.

So the recipe is: a bright room, soft daylight, light styling, and careful exposure. Lightroom can polish it, but if the light isn’t already soft and neutral, Lightroom alone won’t create this look convincingly.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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