Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Taking your own Photos of Baby

Since having a baby I have been interested in learning how to take my own professional looking photographs! Though I am by no means an expert I thought I would share what works for me!

- Take LOTS of pictures! With digital you can simply click and delete. So take tons of pictures and you will be more likely to hit on a great photo! As an example each of the three pictures I have posted here were just one shot I loved out of 20 or more bad photos!

- Think about the background of the photo. You could drape a sheet over a piece of furniture to make a solid color background.

- Try outdoors in any season. Outdoor pictures have great natural lighting and have wonderful bright and beautiful backdrops. Think your yard or the local park. A bed of flowers, a snowy porch, or some bright green grass can do wonders!



- For an infant you will need to have something to prop them up, think Boppy Pillow or something similar.

- Edit your photos in a free program such as Picasa - this helps take care of lots of common problems like red eye, imperfect lighting, etc.


- Look for deals to print from places like Walgreens or CVS. I recently printed out 2 free family packs from Walgreens to use for my son's 1 year photos.

- Experiment with your camera settings. This is something I need to work on myself but there are lots of settings for a reason! Give them a try!

- For older babies or toddlers you will need to DISTRACT them in order to get them to stay still! Putting them in an unusual spot can help. Going outside, to the park, setting on a different chair, having a new toy to hold will help keep them still long enough to hopefully get a good shot in!



- Consider color. What is your child wearing? Does it match or compliment with the background and prop colors?

- Schedule a time to do a photo shoot when baby will be in a pleasant mood! This is key!

- Last and most important is to be patient! If you keep trying, you will get some great shots!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's a new photography blog called Shutter Sisters that you might enjoy. The women who run it feature great photos and offer regular "challenges" to readers.

Thanks for the great tips!

Jamie - Family Focused Fun said...

Thank you Nichole! I'll have to take a look!