Some Baby Photography Tips

Child photography is challenging, but taking good baby pictures is even more daunting. You can’t talk to babies and expect them to understand what you’re saying. You can’t tell them to do this or to do that, to go there and not to come here, to say cheese and smile for the camera. You can’t stop them from crying when they feel they want to. Still, babies make adorable subjects. If you’re a new parent, you certainly would want to document the first few precious moments in your toddler’s life. Here then a a couple of tips from the experts on how you too can take great-looking baby pictures.

• Timing is everything. Shoot at that time of day when your baby is happiest. Every baby is different but parents know when theirs is at their calmest, happiest, best mood. Of course, babies have also been known to change their daily routines spontaneously, so it’s also important to have your camera or smartphone on hand or nearby always.
• Once you know what time of day is ideal for shooting, pick the best place in the house to photograph. Ideally, it should be where there’s lots of natural lighting like near a window. For very young babies, in no case should you resort to flash for extra lighting.
• When taking pictures, aim to keep calm and relaxed. Babies are sensitive and naturally receptive to moods and feelings of those around them. If you’re stressed about the shoot, you’ll likely just ruin your toddler’s “photogenic mood.”
• Avoid using a noisy camera. Babies can be scared or distracted by beeps and the loudness of a shutter release. If your camera has a silent mode, activate it before shooting. If not, try playing a lullaby or a children’s song to mask the noise made every time you release the shutter.
• To make baby portraits, set your camera on aperture priority to allow you to work quickly without having to worry about setting the best shutter speed. Simply choose the aperture you want, adjusting depending on how much depth of field you want to show. As with other types of portrait photography, the eyes are the most important thing in a baby photo. Babies in particular tend to have expressive eyes, so try to focus on them.
• To capture the moments of movement of the baby, shoot in burst or continuous mode. But make sure you do this quietly, or you mask the rapid shutter speed sound with some calming, soothing music.
• Take some shots with your macro lens to zoom on and isolate a single body part of your baby, say a hand, a foot, his mouth. To get a close up of the baby’s face, use longer focal lengths, about 50mm or higher. If you have a zoom lens, use the telephoto end of the lens.
• Keep the background as clutter free as possible. Make sure nothing and no one will be a “photobomb” in your baby’s pictures.
• Stop shooting as soon as you see signs that your baby is already getting cranky or stressed by your activity.

Upload your pictures in the computer and see whether you may need to edit some with Photoshop before taking them to your corner Costco or Office Depot for printing.