Everybody is taking baby pictures. Parents and grandparents have been taking baby pics since George Eastman first started selling Kodak cameras.
Lately, a whole bunch of photographic service companies have been contracting photographers and selling newborn picture packages. The best lights for newborn photography will enable you to get the best results possible.
If you’re wanting professional looking portraits of your newborn, or if you think you’re ready to provide that photography service to others, then there are a few things you will need.
You need a camera that has settings you can adjust, you need a lens that will give a pleasant perspective, and you need some light sources that you can reposition as needed.
Your camera doesn’t need to be the newest professional level DSLR or mirrorless camera. However, it does need to be able to adjust settings so you can balance lighting, exposure, and focus to get the results you desire.
A simple kit zoom lens can work well, but you may want to consider some other options that can give you a little more control and better results. Some faster or slightly longer lenses may be desired.
We’ve provided a lot of detail here in previous articles about what are good lenses and cameras for different needs, and some of the best techniques for using them. Check them all out while you’re here. Today, we’ll be looking specifically at the lights.
Softboxes vs Umbrella lights, which are best for newborn photography?
A bare bulb light, or straight flash, tends to give a little harsher, more contrasty result than we usually want for portraits. Except for certain portrait styles, we more often prefer a softening effect. This helps smooth out skin tones and minor imperfections.
That’s not a hard fast rule, though. Look at the work of Yousuf Karsh, Richard Avedon, or Annie Leibovitz for ideas of all of the different portrait styles out there.
In both black and white and color, different lighting products and techniques can either emphasize and enhance texture and contrast or soften and minimize it.
Here are some of the various lights and light modifiers:
- A softbox has the light directed and shown through a translucent fabric. It’s one of the most used light sources for portraits besides an umbrella. It softens the light quite a bit and diminishes its intensity also. For newborn portraits, this is a very good choice.
- Pretty much the same idea as a softbox, it softens the point light source by having it reflect off a broad surface. A little brighter and not quite as soft as a softbox, umbrellas are very popular with many portrait photographers.
- Ring lights. For very close views, a ring light is very useful. It provides a virtually shadowless light without much contrast. They can also be used in a multi light set up as a catch light.
- Panel lights. When you need a large volume of light thrown on a subject, but don’t want the high contrast of spotlights, a panel light is the best choice. Whether LED or incandescent bulbs, they provide a lot of light with a bit more contrast than most portraits need. They can be used in a multi light set up as key light or fill light.
- As simple in use as the name says, they reflect light. Great for fill light or catch light. A reflector can be used to redirect sunlight when shooting outdoor portraits. Different color reflectors can enhance the light source for the end result you desire.
- Opposite of reflector, a scrim blocks light. Useful in larger multi light set ups, you can control contrast and intensity with a scrim. More popular in cinematography than portraits, but it’s good to be familiar with how they work.
How to setup and arrange lights for newborn photography
Light set up can vary quite a bit. You have to figure out how much room you have, where you are setting up the camera, and what end result you want from the lights. There are several basic lighting techniques or set ups that anyone can use to improve their portrait lighting.
- Split lighting. Split lighting can be done with just one light, a light and a reflector, or with multiple lights. Like it’s name suggests, this technique splits the face of the subject into dark and light parts by placing the light to the side of the subject. Contrast can be minimized by making the main light softer, or by using reflectors or fill light.
- Loop lighting. Can be accomplished with one light or a multi light set up. Main light is above subject eye level and about 45 degrees to the side. If creates a loop of shadow under the nose or chin. One of the most common portrait lighting techniques, it makes a flattering portrait.
- Butterfly lighting. Also called Paramount or glamour lighting. It makes a butterfly shaped shadow on the face and is usually done with multiple lights. The main light is above and behind camera position. Catch lights help fill in shadows, make the eyes sparkle, or control contrast.
- Rembrandt lighting. Similar to split lighting, but with the subject turned away from the main light. Emphasizes texture by means of contrast. Can be done with one light or a multi light set up. Generally not considered for flattering portraits, but for ‘interesting’ ones.
- Rim lighting. Another stylish portrait lighting technique, it is made by pointing the subject directly into the main light, but with the camera position placed to the side of the subject for a profile image.
Here are a couple of web sites with some diagrams and examples: one page is from Sekonic, the other one is from DPS.
How I found the best lights for newborn photography
- Number of lights. Most portrait techniques either require multiple lights or are easier to accomplish with multiple lights.
- Type of lights. Continuous light or strobes is the first factor. If continuous lights, they can be incandescent lamps or LEDs.
- Type of modifiers. Softboxes, umbrellas, reflectors, or a combination of these. Choose the light modifiers that will fit into your portrait plans.
- If you’re breaking in to the world of newborn photography, you’ll need to transport your lighting kit around to where the newborns and family are.
- Most lighting kits for beginners are very reasonably priced. You can always upgrade individual components later.
Top 5 Best Lights For Newborn Photography
1. Fovitec – 3x 20″x28″ Softbox Continuous Lighting Kit Review
Having a full lighting set up is going to end up being one of the best choices for newborn photographers. This kit is about as full featured as may be needed for most portrait work of any kind.
A three light set up, with one light being mounted on a boom, allows for any of the most used portrait lighting techniques to be used. Add some props, maybe a reflector, and an optional background, and you are ready to go.
Two of these lights use five incandescent or LED bulbs with standard socket mounts. The other light uses one bulb. The five bulb lights have options of how many bulbs to turn on, providing quite a bit of exposure and light intensity adjustment.
All three are mounted in a 20 X 28 inch softbox, with the option of using the softbox or the lights only. The softboxes are portable, you can pack them up by tearing them down and reassembling on site.
This is probably the hardest part about using any of these kits as portable lights. With a little practice, you can get to where it is second nature to put together the softbox as you set up the lights.
In a basic portrait set up, you would probably mount the one socket bulb on the boom. You can attach one of the five socket lamps to the boom if you choose.
Reasons for doing that could be to create a special portrait lighting configuration. Other uses could be for product photography or for videos showcasing something technical.
That’s one of the things to really like about using continuous lights as your lighting rig. Besides making exposure calculations extremely simple, compared to some strobes, you can use any continuous light for shooting video.
The color temperature of this light it will depend on exactly what bulbs you are using, but the ones supplied are daylight balanced with a CRI of 90.
CRI is the color rendering index of a light source. It is a measure of how accurately a light source illuminates a photographic subject’s true colors. Higher is better, with studio lamps on professional motion picture sound stages having CRI in the high 90s, like 98 or better.
So, for a low priced kit, 90 is pretty good. Your subjects will appear very natural without you having to process them a great deal in an image editing program.
Back to the run down of this kit. The three light stands are good quality and are both tall and sturdy. A five foot boom arm attaches to one and there is an up to 9 pound sandbag counterweight to go the other end of the lamp. Sand not included. It will take a little bit of playing around with it to find the best weight of sand to use.
Each lamp has a 10 foot cord. Ten feet sounds long, but it really isn’t, when you factor in the height of your light stands. A high capacity power strip or multi plug extension cord is recommended.
The 11 bulbs supplied are CFL (compact fluorescent), 45 watts each, and daylight color balanced. Each lamp has its own user replaceable fuse for added electrical safety.
A soft sided carrying case completes the kit. It seems a little thin, bit it holds everything and is very handy for transporting the entire bundle of equipment.
If you are wanting to move in to the rewarding work of infant portraiture, then this kit is definitely one of the best lights for newborn photography. The price is right, too, under $200.
2. Neewer 2.6M x 3M/8.5ft x 10ft Umbrellas Softbox Review
Neewer has been making reasonably priced photographic lights and accessories for portrait and video use for quite a while. This full featured kit is one of the more capable lighting set ups any photographer may need.
It has 4 lights, 4 stands, a background system, and a variety of light modifiers. All for under $200.
All four light sockets use standard mount bulbs, four CFL bulbs come supplied with the kit. Two of the sockets are permanently mounted inside of softboxes, and two are free standing sockets with an umbrella mounting hole.
The two square softboxes measure 24 X 24 inches and the two umbrellas are 33 inches white material. These softboxes fold up like umbrellas, but it would be best if you removed the bulbs first. Otherwise, they won’t fold up completely, plus you could break a hot bulb.
Supplied bulbs are 45 watt CFL with a color temperature of daylight and a 90 CRI. That seems to be standard for CFL photographic bulbs. You could replace the bulbs with anything else that has a standard bulb screw mount, including a slave strobe.
Also supplied are four light stands, each extending up to 7 feet. The stands are sturdy and also fold up to a very portable size for easy transport.
Central to what makes this kit one of the best lights for newborn photography is the included background system. An 8.5 by 10 foot support holds one of the three supplied 6 X 9 foot muslin backdrops. Colors are black, green, and white and they attach by means of the six supplied clamps.
Everything in this kit fits into two different soft sided bags for easy transport.
3. LimoStudio 700W Photography Softbox Light Lighting Review
Next up is this simple two light kit from LimoStudio, at around the $75 or so price point.
It’s a very simple kit with two 24 inch square collapsible softboxes, two 7 foot tall light stands, two light sockets permanently mounted to the softboxes, two 85 watt CFL photo bulbs, and a soft carrying bag.
Oddly for a kit of this type, the power cords are only 6 feet long. So, you will have to use an extension cord or two, since raising the light stands will take up most of the length of the cord.
This kit should probably be considered a light duty kit, but that’s fine since the kit is also very light and easy to transport. If you would like to try out using a multiple light portrait kit, but don’t want to invest much money in it, this could be the kit for you.
It will provide a photographer of any skill level with good tools for multiple light portrait set ups.
4. Neewer 700W Professional Photography 24×24 Kit Review
A basic two light kit from Neewer, this is a little more substantial, ranking at medium duty. Price is under $100 and the kit comes with a carry bag for it all.
Softboxes are 24 inch square and they fold up like an umbrella for easy transport. CFL photo bulbs are included and the built in to the softbox light sockets have a 10 foot power cord.
Besides the awesomely designed softboxes, one the things to love about this kit is that the supplied light stands are really nice. Raising up to about seven and a half feet, the stands are made of strong but lightweight aluminum and feature quick lever locks for adjusting height.
As sturdy as these stands are, you should have no issues with all sorts of on location portrait work. Since the lights are continuous, be sure to add video recording to what these lamps will allow you to do.
Another option for this light kit is to add it to whatever you may be already using for additional versatility of your photographic lighting set up.
5. Fancierstudio Lighting Kit 2400 Watt Professional Video Lighting Kit Review
Another great three light kit with boom, this one costs a little more than slightly over $100 and provides a whole lot of versatility with regard to lamp placement.
First off, it uses three lamps, each one holding four supplied daylight balanced CLF bulbs. You can vary how many bulbs are on at the same time, so you have lots of options for exposure and lighting ratio changes.
Three 16 x 24 inch softboxes are included. You can attach them to the lamps or not, but they are a little fiddly to put together. Some at home practice will speed up your on site assembly. That’s pretty much the story for most softboxes, except for the kind that fold up like an umbrella.
Each light stand extends to about six feet tall, and one boom arm is included for extra versatility. An included sandbag is necessary to balance the lights on the other end of the boom. Twelve daylight balanced CFL bulbs and a soft bag complete this exceptional value of a kit.
If you want to take newborn portraits, any one of these kits are the best lights for newborn photography, and all of them are fantastic values.