So my wife made sure we got this one before he got too big... he is about to turn 4 weeks old now (and just peed on me when he sneezed while I was changing his diaper).

I am not super happy with the shot but definitely not going to go back and do it again because balancing the little guy was a chore. I heated the leather up with an electric hot pad for about 30 min before the shoot, and although we took precautions in case he might fall off the saddle.. my bride was still a nervous wreck.

A word of advice to the future shooter of this type: get a really large saddle built for a rider with a wide but.

Well done...like the pose and the processing....

Originally Posted by Art Scott Well done...like the pose and the processing....

Thanks for the comment and taking a look!

Like it a lot!

Pose is great and the saddle is certainly a nice posing tool, especially for "horse people".

Not entirely sure about the skin tone though as newborns vary. Does it maybe have a bit too much magenta?

I think it's cute! Too magenta on my screen. Sometimes I partially desaturate the skin on newborns to get rid of the splotchy redness.

Awesome. Yeah - desaturate it a tad, but awesome.

Thanks a bunch everybody! Funny thing is I did desaturate it a bit but not enough I guess. I picked over the image in photoshop but just had to stop at some point. I do think some more selective saturation might be in order now that everybody is pointing it out. Thanks for the critique!

Very cool.

Originally Posted by KMpics I am not super happy with the shot but definitely not going to go back and do it again because balancing the little guy was a chore. I heated the leather up with an electric hot pad for about 30 min before the shoot, and although we took precautions in case he might fall off the saddle.. my bride was still a nervous wreck.

Congrats on getting the miracle shot.

Question: Was the baby on the saddle without any hands on him? I'm not a baby shooter, but I recently did a baby shoot and spent some time studying the craft. The first rule: safety first. Miracle shots are usually composites with post-processing because of the fear of the baby falling.

Originally Posted by aktse Congrats on getting the miracle shot. Question: Was the baby on the saddle without any hands on him? I'm not a baby shooter, but I recently did a baby shoot and spent some time studying the craft. The first rule: safety first. Miracle shots are usually composites with post-processing because of the fear of the baby falling.

Hand strategically on him 1 under his head (cloned out and darkened) and 1 behind him. Thanks for pointing that out

If you change your mind, and do get up the guts to try the shot again, I'd definitely add a backlight to rim the saddle and the baby. I think it would add a lot more punch.