Photographing Your Baby At Home
You may be about to give birth in the next few days or weeks, or perhaps you have already given birth during this pandemic. If you feel anxious about missing out on your baby's newborn photoshoot, as all studios have had to close, an alternative could be to try and take your baby's photographs at home by yourself.
What if you don't have a professional-style camera to use? Well, most mobile phones have a pretty decent camera these days, so I would say it's worth giving it a go.
You may think that you are no photographer, and there really is no better person to take your images than a professional photographer. Still, you are the mother of your baby, and your baby will be more relaxed with you than anyone else around. And the best bit is you don't actually need any particular kind of clothes or props to have a simplistic style elegant photoshoot at home.
What You Will Need
More than likely, you will not be doing an entire photoshoot with props, so I would concentrate on the basics.
- Try to have no distractions in your home when you first try this. It's a lot harder to do than it looks, and if you can try to be on your own, it's better to have a little time and space to work things out and see what's working and what's not. It's okay to add in siblings, but I would try this the second time around when you have a little more confidence and practice in what you are doing.
- Make sure you have a space with plenty of available light. You will know the spot in your home as it's probably the place that you like the light best in your home.
- A beanbag or similar surface that's comfortable but not too soft and is low to the ground for safety reasons. Your bed or a seating pillow from your couch will also work really well.
- A couple of white sheets are great to get started, put one over your beanbag and keep another for putting over your baby.
- Make sure your home is lovely and warm and your hands are not cold as you strip your baby down to their nappy.
- Another good tip is to put on your hoover or have some white noise on your tv to help settle your little one.
- A couple of bonnets or headbands if it's something you would like.
Setting The Scene
Start with putting one sheet over your beanbag or bed, then take a photograph of your baby to see how it looks. Just look at the light on your baby; do you need to turn them differently? How does the light look on your baby's face? Remember never to uplight a baby, so you never want the direction of light coming up from under their chin.
Ideally, you would have the light skimming over your baby's face at an angle or to the side of your baby. Once you're happy with how the light looks, place the other sheet over your baby and start getting some lovely and natural images.
You can start photographing your little one with their nappy on, try out different blankets you may have in the home. Try some bonnets or headbands if you have any, and try wrapping your baby in different blankets for some added images.
And don't forget all the little details like fingers, lips, and toes. Those cute little images can be forgotten too quickly and are lovely to remember.
Have a look on Pinterest for some ideas of what you could do but don't try and complicate it with props; simplicity is the key. With plenty of available light coming in, you will be able to use even your phone camera to take gorgeous images of your newborn bundle of joy!
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