Family TiesFrom newborns to newlyweds, Kim Bethea specializes in baby and family shots with her Tamron SP 70-200mm, AF18-270mm VC, and SP 28-75mm lenses. |
Article By Jennifer Gidman Images by Kim Bethea |
Kim Bethea has photographed weddings, babies, children and families since 2000, carving out a unique, edgy niche in newborn photography. From The Studio at Eastchase in Montgomery, Alabama, Bethea and fellow photographer Raquel Ruehl continually strive to set up the perfect shot to document the evolution of a family — from an infant’s first photo shoot to a blushing bride sharing her big day with the rest of her clan. |
Bethea’s main portrait lens is the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, supplemented by the AF18-270mm VC PZD and the SP 28-75mm. “I love to knock the background out so my subject is the main focus,” she says. “The 70-200 gives me that nice, shallow depth-of-field, plus it’s supersharp. The fast f/2.8 aperture helps in low-light situations, especially at weddings. I’ve only had the 18-270 VC lens for a short time, but it’s also a really sharp lens. I’ve had the 28-75 for seven years. I’ve never had a single issue with it, and it keeps going strong every day.” |
First-Year Photos |
Bethea’s soft spot is photographing a family’s newest additions: babies. Her years of experience in the world of booties and binkies offer valuable insight on capturing the best images during those amazing first 12 months. “Whenever you shoot babies, you have to be on their level,” she explains. “If they’re on the floor, you have to be lying on the floor. The baby’s schedule also dictates when you’ll be doing the shoot. You want to photograph them when they’re at their happiest — after they’ve been fed and when they’re well-rested, or right when they’re going to sleep if they’re a newborn.” |
The age of each baby is a critical factor — even a few weeks can make a significant difference. “The challenges in shooting a newborn are different than those involved when you’re shooting a 3-month-old or 6-month-old,” says Bethea. “Newborns are pretty much Play-Doh: You can mold them to do whatever you want. With older babies, though, you’re on their turf, so you have to go with the flow and follow their lead with what they want to do.” |
That spontaneity (and patience) is what allowed Bethea to recently capture a 2-month-old sporting a pink knit hat, beautifully blurring out the background to focus in on those baby blues. “You have to be patient, because their neck muscles are still developing, so they can’t hold their heads up for that long,” she explains. “You position the baby, let her rest when she needs to, and when she comes back up, you have to be ready to go. I also use assistants when I’m shooting so I don’t have to be the one moving the babies’ hands and readjusting their positioning. My assistants take care of that so I can be ready to start shooting when the baby starts doing her thing.” |
When transitioning to newborns, Bethea is cognizant of their fragility, especially in how their skin appears through the lens. “Newborns often still have their ‘battle wounds’ from their entry into the world, and their skin is so thin that you can usually see their tiny veins,” she says. “Even just touching them may leave red marks behind. If that’s the case, I usually run a portraiture action in Photoshop, which softens and cleans all of that up for me.” |
Although it varies by baby, Bethea can usually count on a newborn to be sleeping for a good portion of the session. “Some babies come out alert and ready for the world, but many of them are exhausted from their journey, so it takes them awhile to acclimate,” she says. “For the sleeping baby shot I took here, there’s a little trick I have to position babies who are this young: I use a beanbag. Not only is it comfortable for the baby, but I’m also able to mold it to push the baby up where I need her to be higher, and down when I need the baby to be down more. I used handpainted ceiling tiles on insulation as a background for this shot.” |
Juxtaposing the diminutive size of the newborn against Mom or Dad is also an effective way to showcase just how tiny these bundles of joy really are. “I took a black-and-white shot of a newborn who was only 6 days old, in Daddy’s hands,” Bethea says. “You get a real sense of scale with Dad’s big, masculine hands and this tiny newborn. I used a main and fill light, with a slight hairlight coming down on the baby’s cheek. I also love the effect of the black and white — it adds such a timeless touch.” |
All in the Family |
When she’s shooting older children, Bethea is able to work a little more of their personality — and what the parents want to show — into the shoot. “In terms of props and wardrobe, we have a variety of items here in the studio they can use, such as wool hats and headbands, for instance,” she says. “But if the parents want to bring something that’s important to them to incorporate into the shoot, they’re more than welcome. Bring it and we’ll try to work with it as much as possible.” |
With babies you have to physically be on their level — photographing older kids means you have to mentally get on their level. “You have to get crazy, like a child would,” Bethea says. “Make them laugh. You want to get a natural, softer expression, which is hard, because moms of older kids often coach them into those big, forced smiles. It’s your job to relax them, not instruct them they’re having their picture done and to say ‘cheese’ the whole time.” |
For family shots, Bethea tries to highlight the relationships that exist between her subjects. “When I’m posing larger groups, I always try to mix things up so I’m not shooting the same configuration over and over again,” she says. “One general rule I do have with group shots is to keep the heads as close together as possible: The closer the people are, the more they look like they actually like each other!” |
Sometimes showcasing family bonds involves an even more intimate setup — where Bethea’s expertise with following the lead of the younger set often comes into play. “When I shot the image of the bride with the little boy, he was simply infatuated with her necklace, so I just went with it,” she says. “It created a really special moment.” |
To see more of Kim Bethea’s photography, go to http://www.thestudioateastchase.com. |
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