Which lens is the best for maternity and newborn photography?

Recently photographers asked us: What’s the best lens for maternity and newborn photography? And what lenses we are using specifically! So we decided to write about our photography equipment here as a blog post so you can see your best choices to get a nice and professional result.s. 

First of all, it’s not the lens!!!

Do not take it personally (we were there before as well). You don’t have to have the best or the most expensive lens to be a good photographer. There are so many things involves and all come together to make an amazing piece of art and a story to tell! Lighting, your artistic point of view, the angel of from where you shoot, the position of the light and how you pose your model. For sure a good camera and lens will help a lot to have a great picture but they can not do the magic. Just search on the internet and you can see a lot of not good quality photos with the best cameras, lenses, and flashlights. Now that we are all on the same page, let’s take a look at our options 🙂

Which lens is the best for newborn photography in 2020? 

If you want to become a professional newborn photographer, you will need a medium telephoto, a wide-angle, a macro, and a 50mm prime lens. If you are in a low budget start with a 50mm prime lens.

This lens is our first and main lens that works almost %90 of the time. We use Canon lens 50mm not only for our newborn photography sessions but also for baby and maternity photography.

It works very well in a low light condition as the starting aperture is 1.2. Especially if you are using natural lights this can be your very best choice. Here in Vancouver Bc, Almost 6 months of the year it’s rainy or cloudy and it means we have a very low-quality natural light even during the morning time. If we are using natural light, only our 50mm lens works for us and the result is unbelievable.

This lens is very fast in focusing which means it captures very sharp and high-quality mages when you are working with babies and toddlers.
Keep it in your mind that it’s prime and fix lens, and if you want to zoom it you should go closer to the subject or if you want a wider angel you should go back. More work for you and if you have a very small studio and want to do family and baby photography, it can be quite challenging. The session for the photographer is like a workout but its all worth it at the end!

For newborn photography works perfectly fine and comfortable as you can work with this lens in a very small space. We have about 1400 sq2 studio space. it’s a big one, but sometimes we need to push ourselves to the wall to be able to fit a family in the frame.

What aperture do we shoot at?

Canon lens 50mm f1:2 delivers ultra-sharp images with beautiful, creamy bokeh. To have a very dreamy image we usually shoot with a very open aperture around 1.8 or 2, even for babies and maternity. Let me tell you a secret!!!!

Even for a family portrait with a newborn, mom, dad, and siblings, I use f1.8. It was scary in the beginning when we switched our lens and coming from f4 to f1.8. But after seeing the result it’s not scary at all. Here the focal points play a very important role. Just you need to be careful about the posing and have all the faces in the same line. You are shooting a very low depth of field.

When the family is bigger with more adult we go to 2.5 or 2.8 aperture.

Have a macro lens handy to create more variety

If you are just newborn photography, think about a macro lens. Very easy and fast and just with some small move you can create at least 5 or 6 different looks from a newborn’s face. Adding some detail of toes and fingers will give you and your client more options.

Newborn photography tips and tricks!!!!

Use more macro lens and capture more detail shots if you have a fussy baby and he is not going to sleep or moving a lot in the posses. Parents really love the detail shots. It shows how lovely and perfect these amazing miracle of life are in the very first days of their life. Our recommendation for macro lens is Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

check our Instagram page to see recent maternity and newborn photography samples.

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