Didn't take many photos yesterday except to document a few pieces & parts of little Saige.  Other than the first image below (shot with an 85mm f/1.4), the rest of the images were photographed using a Nikkor 60mm Micro (macro) lens with all natural light.

Maybe my favorite image yet, simply because I know how much this image will mean to me 20 years from now... especially if she happens to pick-up an interest in photography.

Same basic set-up as the day before, except this time I used a faux wood floor mat backdrop I got from pepperlu.com and a bathroom rug I picked up from the Great Indoors.  This image bove was photographed with an 85mm f/1.4 lens at f/2, ISO 640 and a shutter speed of 1/250th.

Took a couple more images of our new little obsession yesterday.  I just can't get enough of her.  Some day there will be non-Saige content on this blog again. Promise. In the meantime, thanks for bearing with me while I indulge myself in adoring our sweet little girl.

A couple people have asked about the set-up for the images above, so I included a pull-back view below of a corner of our living room where I made a pretty simple, all natural light set-up.  Everybody's different, but for me the key to these images has been creating them about an hour after Saige has been fed and has succumbed to a subsequent food coma.  Then I just made sure she had a warm, comfy environment, and she's pretty content. By the way, I've gotta give a huge shout-out to my photography friends on a photography forum I'm a part of for the great tips and tricks for photographing newborns. It's not something I do a lot of, so they gave me a couple pointers that made a huuuge difference.  Also, thanks to my friend and fellow photographer Haley Birkelbach for letting me borrow some of her newborn photography gear to create a few images of baby Saige.

Mia was my (in)voluntary test model for a few of the images.  I think she was happy to be back in the spotlight for a second since she's now second fiddle around here.

And finally, here's a pull-back shot of the set-up from the image I posted the other day.  Again, it was all natural light where I basically opened the front door, set the planter pot I got at Crate and Barrel on the tile in the entry way, and put a space heater just in front of the pot.  In the final image I just changed the color of the pot to match the flowers in her hair a bit better, cloned out the grout lines in the tile, and vignetted the background. Finally, since she doesn't have any distinctive features or hair styles yet that would be a giveaway, I flipped the image horizontally for a stronger composition that leads the eye through the image more naturally from left to right and comes to a rest in the lower right corner.  Super easy!

We did our first mini shoot of mini Saige today in-between feedings.  I was seriously debating a nap instead of getting my camera out, but so glad I chose the camera.  More to come, but here's one for now.

She's here. Saige Elizabeth Nicolosi made her debut on Friday, April 8th at 11:21am.  She weighed in at 7lbs 6oz and was 20" long. Watching her come into this world was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Ever.  She's captured our hearts in ways beyond my imagination, and the whole experience was beyond my lofty expectations. Our little girl's doing great. Mom and dad? Marginal. Actually we're fantastic and beyond blessed... just a little tired and ragged from a rough first night home.  Little Saige is testing our physical and mental stamina, but we're fine (and imagining the day this breast-feeding thing gets a little easier). More to come, but for now it's time for another feeding.