10 Easy Steps to Take the Perfect Baby Picture

How do you get a great photograph of your baby for your holiday photo card, birth announcement or for a timeless keepsake? They don’t sit up, it’s not easy to pose them and they have short attention spans.

Here are 10 easy tips to help get the perfect picture:

1.  Make sure your baby is happy, well-fed and well-rested, or plan to shoot them while their napping.

2.  Plan to take photos for a least 30 minutes.

3.  Have some one help you entertain your baby while you concentrate on taking the photos.

4.  Use a simple, plain background and lay or sit baby on a white sheet, a white duvet cover or a plain blanket. Make sure there is no clutter in the background to detract from your baby.

 5.  Choose an outfit, or just a diaper, that doesn’t distract the focus from your baby. If you’re taking photos while they are napping, you can set up the perfect area in natural light ahead of time and place your baby there while they are asleep.

6.  Try to use natural light. Early morning light or late evening are good times.  Turn off the flash if possible to avoid red eye and this will also keep your baby’s features and clothes from being washed out. A sudden flash can make baby blink or cry.

7. Get down to their level, even laying on the floor, zoom in and focus on their face. If you think you’re close, get closer. Take both horizontal and vertical photos. Try different angles.

8. Capture their feelings, a cute smile, an adorable frown, the start of a cry.

 9. Take a picture that shows scale. Put your sleeping baby in or on something (make sure they are safe from falling.) You can lay them in an attractive wicker laundry basket filled with beautiful white soft coverlet.

10. Put your digital camera on burst or continuous mode and take more photos than you think you will need. Don’t be surprised if you take 100 or more. This is help your chances of getting that one great shot.

Know when enough is enough for your baby and for you. You may need to try it again another day.

Shop all our Digital Holiday Photo Cards

Tags: photographing your baby, photography, taking photographs

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 4:00 am and is filed under Baby, Christmas, Christmas Photo Cards, General Info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.