Ask any parent with grown-up children and they’ll probably tell you they wish they’d taken more photos when their children were young. While sessions with professionals for child or newborn baby photography do capture the best quality images, keeping your camera on hand and snapping as many pictures as possible is a great way to not just document special memories but also your children’s changing looks and personality.
Build a beautiful collection of images that, years from now, you and your child will appreciate and adore. To capture the best possible pictures, whether for newborn baby photography during your little one’s first days of life, your child’s first steps or the first day of school, use the following tips as your guide for taking better pictures at home:
1. See Your Child Grow: From Newborn Baby Photography and Beyond
One of the things you will love most about taking lots of photographs of your child is that you will literally be able to watch them grow all over again, when you look at your collection of pictures, years from now. To really make the changes in their size apparent, start by taking the images for your newborn baby photography in one room or place in your house. Then, each month, go back to that same spot to take a few more photos. This way, when the backdrop or location of your infant photography stays the same, your little one’s growth will be the focal point of the images.
2. Capturing Beautiful Smiles
Few things make a parent’s heart melt faster than seeing their child smile, and so it makes sense that you would want to capture their sweet, goofy grins in the child or infant photography you do at home. The key, however, is to capture images where your child is smiling naturally, not dawning their best, and consequently the fakest, ‘cheese’ smile. Having worked in child and infant photography for many years, I’ve learned a few tricks for getting children to smile, and none of them include saying ‘cheese.’
Really, the key is to play and have fun. Children and babies are excited by games like peek-a-boo and mommy and/or daddy being silly. Use their favourite toy to get them smiling or make funny sounds. While doing infant photography and child photography in my studio, I’ve been known to do just about anything short of standing on my head to get children to smile and laugh. Older kids, especially, can get a little shy when they know someone is taking their picture. Infuse your at home photo session with some child-like energy and you’re guaranteed to see some of those grins you just can’t seem to get enough of.
3. Candids Infuse Child and Infant Photography with Real Personality
As a photographer and a parent, I have to say I love candid images. Pictures taken when your child least expects it are those that display their personalities best. Not mesmerized by the camera that’s pointed in their face, children will be themselves , and whether they’re serious or silly when nobody’s looking, you’re going to love owning a collection of candid images from your child’s early years.
Of course, there are things you will undoubtedly want to capture in newborn baby photography, infant or child portraits that you just won’t be able to without the right training and equipment. This is where professional portraits will help fill the gaps in your own photography and ensure you don’t miss any of the little details like your newborn’s soft, delicate eyelashes or the fleeting moments that include the way your one-year-old claps excitedly when he laughs.
So carry your camera with you always and take lots of pictures of your children, as they grow. Then, book your milestone sessions with a professional photographer to complete your keepsake collection.
For more information on infant photography or child portraits at Chandra Lee Photography, please call 905.449.2200.
