Photographing a newborn

On Friday I was invited to come over and take photos of my friend's newborn baby girl. All of seven days old, she was tiny and still had her umbilical cord attached. I have never taken photos of a baby at such a young age, and the parents showed me a sample photo that they wanted me to copy.

I had a nine foot wide background of dark material, and then put the chair about five feet away so that the light would drop off nicely. Their first child was in need of some attention too, so as we waited for the newborn to be prepped, we shot some photos. What a natural beauty. 

After that, my friend put on a black cape with holes for his hands, and then we started shooting. We cranked up the furnace and made the house nice and warm and the newborn was happy and content.