DIY Baby Photo Shoot Tips

Although, I'm not a professional photographer I certainly do have fun pretending I am! The end result is always rewarding to see how your work has turned out :)

Most of the photos taken on this website (like my banner and most of all my blog post photos of my family) have been taken by my Canon Rebel T3.  I just use simple photo editing tools - mainly iPhoto on my iMac is my best friend and Picasa works great too.  Both the camera and tools are pretty simple to use and here are some of my DIY tips on how to take some creative photos of your own!

1) I hardly ever use the Flash. Although you have to be more still when taking the photo the colors are less harsh because the flash can be quite abrasive at times so I choose to not use the flash at all and opt for more natural light.  You can always adjust the lightness later when editing.

2) Most professional photographers recommend overcast weather when taking photos outdoor or using natural light indoors at around sunset.  The shots I've taken below were taken in my bedroom at around 6 pm on my bed that is adjacent to a pretty large window that lets a lot of light in.  I do have sheer white curtains hanging, which I love because it keeps the room bright without compromising privacy, plus I love how the light shined through in these shots.

 3) I like to zoom in quite close to get more of a creative angle.  This particular photo above of Ryker looks a bit angelic because the light is shining on him plus I exaggerated it a bit more by increasing the exposure and lightening up the overall photo to get this effect. I then softened the edges.

4)  In this photo above, I had the camera focus on Ryker's hands and it auto blurred the background (again with no flash). I edited the photo on iPhoto and played with the saturation and color balance to get an in between sepia and black & white color effect.

5) With this closeup shot of his feet above, I played with the Sepia color effect and adjusted the color balance to where I wanted it.  I also increased the exposure and lightened it up more to intensify the areas where the sunlight hit.

6) Now this one photo above is my favorite shot because my 3 year old daughter took this herself from her angle as you can tell from where her feet are.  I helped her with the zooming in but she snapped a number of shots and I chose this one to edit.  Once again I increased the exposure and brightness to where I wanted it and I just love this end result!

* Sometimes the best photos come from your little ones point of view!  Just make sure you strap your camera on them well in case they drop it and the rest you can do with a bit of editing on your computer.  You'll be surprised with how "creative" of a photographer your little one can be!

Enjoy!