Baby Photography | The Photography Shack

Baby photography can be used to record a series of images of the life of your child. The series can begin with images of the newborn, to a toddler, a child, a teenager and finally a fully grown adult. As a parent, this will be the story of your child recorded in images.

All these images may be printed and placed in photo albums to show visitors to your home. Whenever a visitor wants to know the story of your child, you can show the images in your photo albums.

A Challenging Feat

Baby photography is a challenging feat, especially if you’re just a regular parent trying to capture some great shots of your toddler. Just when it looks like your baby is going to cooperate, you take out your camera and she’s crawling off to play or starts crying like... well, like a baby! In light of this, how do you make your baby photography session work?

Have no fear, we’ve got four great insights for you as you try your hand at some baby photography. You don’t need to be a professional to get some really great shots for your family photo collection - it’s as easy as A, B, C!

Baby Photography Tip 1

Let babies lie on their back and shoot pictures looking down. Remember, you’re not photographing regular kids or adults. Propping them up on pillows won’t do much good as they’ll probably just fall back into a lying position.

It’s best for your baby photography pictures to run with it by laying them on a nice blanket (perhaps a single color sheet) and taking pictures looking straight down on them. This will also help you get the framing right. Don’t forget to get as much natural light into the shot to really make it look magnificent.

Baby Photography Tip 2

Don’t be afraid of your baby’s expressions. Many parents want their babies smiling all the time. And while it’s nice to have pictures of constantly happy babies, don’t forget there’s a range of emotions that can be equally captivating. Looks of wonder, frustration, preoccupation, and sleepiness can all make for effective shots.

Don’t try too hard to induce expressions all the time. Sometimes it is enough to give your baby a little toy and let her be herself as you snap away. Allow yourself to gather as many pictures of her face as possible. Each look will serve as great memories, you can count on it.

Baby Photography Tip 3

Keep an eye out for natural creative moments. What we mean is, how about taking pictures at certain times like dinner time? Instead of setting up an elaborate baby photography shoot, just wait until they are playing with their food.

The picture will look much more natural and your baby will have a whole range of looks as she tackles her food, plays with her spoon, and gets Gerber all over her face! (Other good times include bath time and play time).

Baby Photography Tip 4

Remember that lighting makes a big difference. You may not be professional but that doesn’t mean you can’t at least try and take some decent shots. Baby photography, as with any kind of photography, works great if you put a little extra thought into lighting.

Make sure there’s ample daylight (don’t leave you child in blazing sun though!) or use some creative home lighting like a lamp to add drama to a room, or an up-light placed at a certain position behind the crib.

Just make sure you don’t be overly zealous and allow your kid to hold a hot light. You must be careful at all times making sure your child is safe and nowhere near being able to touch a light as your baby photography session is in progress.

Natural Baby Images

Remember to take natural images, so the images appear as natural as possible. You do not need an elaborate studio set or spend hours setting up a portrait shot. All you need is to take images while the baby is active around the house. If your baby cannot walk, then let him move around on all fours, but ensure he is away from any dangerous objects, to avoid injury.

If your baby can walk, you can take images whenever the situation arises. Always have the digital camera nearby and when you see a beautiful image, take a picture with your digital camera.

He may be wearing the new set of clothes you bought him last week and you want to take an image before he outgrows them. You can take him to an area where there are not many distractions and call his name. When he looks at you, then take the picture.

As the baby grows you will create a series of images and place them in a photo album to have a record of your baby grow to a child, a teenager, an adult.