Take stunning baby photos with these photo secrets
The fact that babies are the cutest and most precious things in the universe can generally be accepted by everyone on the planet. I have yet to meet a new parent or grandparent who doesn’t want to start taking pictures of their bundle of joy right away. Why, then, is there usually such ENORMOUS discrepancy between a very cute baby et un really mediocre picture really cute baby?
Some parents go their entire lives without capturing impressive baby pictures. And by “stunning” I don’t mean one taken in a professional photography studio. An impressive photo of a baby is one that captures the true essence of the baby. For a father or grandfather never capture that on the mantelpiece photography, it’s really a shame because it really IS NOT that difficult, once you know how!
Like everything else in life, knowing a few key ideas and seeing a few examples makes a big difference. Let’s start with some tips for taking amazing photos of a newborn baby, up to 3 months old.
Baby positions: 0 – 3 months
Think of this period of your baby’s photographic life as the molding stage. Just like Gumby, you can place the baby in any position you want. There’s no guarantee how long they’ll stay there, but if you have all the camera details worked out beforehand, you can position and shoot pretty quickly. (If someone else is posing the baby while you’re already in the perfect position for the camera, all the better.)
This is the time to capture those adorable little ones BabyBits. They will never look cuter than at this age! To view the images described in this article, click here. These images demonstrate a few key points:
- Especially at this age, baby feet (or hands, eyes, noses, etc.) only can make a wonderful photograph. Use your camera’s macro settings and/or crop carefully.
- Just because you start with a color image doesn’t mean you have to end with one. Black and white images can create a big impact. Check your camera and photo imaging software for ways to make the transition from color to black and white fairly easy.
- When you add a parent’s hand(s) or face to the image, it creates a completely different effect.
play with perspective
When it comes to babies, forget what you’ve always done and try something different. For example, position yourself at eye level with a sleeping baby, but position yourself at their feet. Then focus on the feet while the head is still in the frame, but looking small and further away. As stated above, the images will make this clear.
Believe it or not, you could easily take 100 photos of a sleeping baby and never take 2 that are identical. An outstanding photographic exercise would be to take 50 images, each from a different angle and perspective; using different focus points and aperture settings. Do not worry; You won’t run out of ideas! The great advantage of digital photography is the ability to take toned photos and remove the ones you don’t like. This allows great creative freedoms.
Once you start thinking about photographing babies in a unique way, all sorts of new ideas for posing will come to mind. I guess most people never use the macro setting on their camera. And, if they do, it is only for small objects, insects or flowers. However, for something different, use the macro setting and focus on a small distinctive area of your baby, like the face.
Using a tripod, focus solely on the eye, thus pushing out the nose and everything else. out of focus Experiment how tight a crop is necessary to produce the desired effect. This can produce an almost mesmerizing effect. Although more challenging with babies, it is possible (and very dramatic) to catch the reflection of an object in a baby’s eye. For that type of image, extreme cropping would be optimal.
This article is a partial excerpt from Oh Baby! Turning memories into masterpieces.”
