1. Warmth

Ensuring your home is super warm will help when photographing your baby.  Heat the room to around 26 C if possible.   This will help keep baby calm and settled, especially if you plan to capture some naked photos.

2. White noise

Have some soothing white noise to hand.  There are lots of Apps available for your phone that are completely free.  White noise is great for soothing and settling baby.

3. Food

Start by feeding your baby. A happy, sleepy baby is a well fed baby.   If baby is fed and relaxed you will be able to photograph them much more easily.  Sleepy babies tend to naturally curl up and so this will help you capture them more natually.

4. Make use of the light in your home

Take advantatge of the natural light coming through windows.  Stand close to the window and remove clutter from the background.  This will help to draw attention to your beautiful baby.

5. Use Portrait mode

You don’t need a fancy camera.  Portrait mode on your phone is all you need.  All the examples in this post are taken on an IPhone XR, on portrait mode and edited within the phone.

6.  Keep it simple

Don’t attempt the posed, neatly postioned images seen on my website.  I have undertaken years of training and practise to create these.  Instead opt for natural simple images and more lifestyle story telling photographs.

7. Details

Remember to capture details.  10 little fingers, tiny toes and their cute button nose.  

 8. Take photos with you

Capturing lifestyle photos with Mummy and Daddy is a great way to capture the moment and the love that you as a family share.  Your new baby will love these precious photos as they grow up.  

9. Clothing

It helps if the clothing you and baby are wearing is plain and simple.  Whites and neutral colours work well but avoid patterns as these are distracting. 

10. Swaddle

All babies loved to be cosy so wrapping them in a swaddle is perfect.  Use a muslin or a stretchy scarf if you have one.  Cross and lift their legs over their little tummy before wrapping. 

I hope these suggestions for a DIY photoshoot  help you to capture some priceless memories of your newborn baby.  These natural precious family photos will be wonderful memories that you will look back on for years to come.   Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before I can welcome you into the studio and capture some professional images to compliment the ones you have created.

Marie

I have previously written an article on 10 must have baby photos that you may also find useful when creating your DIY Newborn photoshoot.

Would you like to know more about my Newborn photography sessions?

If you would like further information about services available at Slice of Life Photography please get in touch via the form below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

10 must have baby Photos 

You’ve just had a baby!  That tiny tiny bundle will grow and change so fast yet you won’t even notice it happening and before too long they won’t be a curly little newborn anymore.  Weather you own a compact camera, camera phone or an all singing all dancing DSLR there are some key photos you really must capture whilst they are still super tiny!    So here are my top 10 must have photos for you to capture during those early weeks.

1. Fresh 48

Pictures of your newborn within the first few hours will be priceless.  You may choose to hire a birth photographer or book a professional fresh 48 session but if not pass your camera to dad or visitors and ask them to capture some very early pictures of your little one in the hospital whilst you rest. 

2. With Big Brother or Big sister 

Pictures with siblings will be so precious.  The look of wonder on your toddler’s face as they meet the baby for the first time, the love in their eyes as they place a gentle kiss on babies cheek!  Moments that you will treasure forever.

3. The details

Make sure you capture those ten little fingers and that cute button nose.  Tiny details like the fine hair on baby’s back won’t last long so grab your phone or camera and macro lens and record these details.  

4. The nursery

All those hours lovingly painting and carefully folding baby clothes.  Make sure you capture this beautiful space!  Before long it will become Peppa Pig, Unicorns or space ships instead!

5. With special Items

I’m sure you will have lots of wonderful gifts given to you but remember to photograph them too.  A special blanket knitted by great grandma, babies snuggle blanket or special bear!  They won’t love these items forever so record it now for prosperity. 

 6.  Windy smiles 

As a newborn photographer I am always delighted when I am able to capture a windy baby smile.  Be ready after baby has been fed and settled to sleep to capture that priceless moment.

7. Feeding

Weather your baby is having a bottle or your trying your hand at breastfeeding remember to record this precious time.  A photo of the closeness and bond that you will develop during the many hours of feeds is a wonderful keepsake to treasure.

8.  With Daddy  

That moment a man holds his newborn son or daughter in his arms for the first time and falls in love is priceless.  Capturing the love between father and baby is something that you will both treasure.

9. With Mummy

As busy Mums it is all to easy for us to be rushing around and doing things, generally we’re the one that grabs the camera or phone and snaps the pictures of the children.  It is important to be present in photos too so pass your camera or phone to Dad and make sure that the bond between you and baby is recorded too.

10. Family Photo 

And finally don’t forget to capture your first photo as a growing family .  Snuggle up on the sofa and capture everyone together.  

I hope these great suggestions of must have baby photos help you to capture some priceless memories of your newborn baby.  These natural precious family photos will be wonderful memories that you will look back on for years to come and are the perfect compliment to a newborn photography session.

I will be holding a one day beginners photography training course in my Spalding photography studio on 15th Febuary 2020.  If you would like to learn how to get the best out of your camera and capture great family photos.

Would you like to know more about my Newborn phtography sessions or the Beginners photography training?

If you would like further information about services available at Slice of Life Photography please get in touch via the form below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Camera vs i phone

How many of you own a real camera?  Not many people do these day becasue we all capture so much with our phones.  I’m as guilty of generally using my i phone to snap day to day pictures and I rarely pull out my real camera for a family photo.  But are i phone cameras as good as the real thing?  I thought it would be fun to find out and so set about a camera vs i phone challange.  

Camera vs i phone challange

To keep things simple and as fair as possible I have intentionally photographed things that are easily accessible and some things that  I would not neccessarily photography in my capacity as a professional photograher.  All images were taken from the same postion.  I haave used my photography knowledge to maniputae my camera to get the best image possible and I have  manipulated my i phone settings as much as possible to again achieve the best outcome.  I have not edited any of the images other than to convert 1 set to Black and White and to change to aspect ratio so they are all the same.

Are you ready to take on the camera vs i phone challange.  Below are 6 images in pairs.  Can you identify which of each pair are taken using my DSLR camera and which are taken using my i phone camera?  I have mixed the order up so it isn’t all on the left or all on the right? 

How do you think you got on?   I’ve added the correct answers at the bottom of the page and would love to hear in the comments section how many you got right and wrong or what made you make the choices you did.  Was the camera always the better image?

You can find details of other useful photography articles here:

Learn how to use your camera

10 great photography tips 

I will be holding a one day beginners photography training course in my Spalding photography studio on 15th Febuary 2020.  If you would like to know more please follow the link below or get in touch via the contact me form.

Would you like to know more about Beginners photography training?

If you would like further information about beginners photography training available at Slice of Life Photography please get in touch via the form below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Answers to camera vs i phone challange

Apple – camera, i phone

Church – i phone, camera

Rose – Camera, i phone

Dog – i phone, camera

Flower – i phone. camera

Child – camera, i phone

10 great Photography Tips

There are many elements to taking beautiful photographs and combining them together will help you learn to take great photos.  This article will focus on 10 photography tips that will help you to create images that you and others around you will love.

1. Get out there and take photographs

This may seem like a daft thing for me to say but the more your practice the better you will get.   When you find something you want to photograph take picutres from diffierent angles, heights and framed differently within your view finder.  Over time you will start to see which images are visually pleasing and which aren’t.

2. Take Landscape and Portrait images

It is all to easy to take every photo in landscape (horizontal) mode.  Turn your camera round and take a photo in Portrait (vertical) too.  Again trying both for the same scene will help you learn what creates good compostion.

3. Shoot at different times of day

Light is such a key element of photography that going out and shooting at different times of the day will help you learn about light.  It is a well known fact that golden hour (just before sunrise and sunset) is a great time to photograph, but working with tricky light situations like the mid day sun will help you grow as a photographer.

4. Practice taking photographs of differnt things

Go and photograph

• Buildings
• Dogs
• Bus shelters
• Wildlife
• People
• Cars
• Food
• Flowers
• The ground
• Graffiti

Trying diffierent things is a great way to grow as a photographer.

5. Don’t use your on camera Flash

This may sound like and odd thing to say as in-built flash must be there for a reason, but honestly forget you have an on camera flash.

On camera flash is extreamely harsh and unflattering.  Instead learn to use the light around you and when your ready invest in a speedlight and a set of triggers so you can control your flash light. 

6.  Get in Closer

Practice moving closer and further away from your subject.  This will again help you learn to see your subject differently and learn what works and doesn’t. 

7. Check the background

The background is just as important as the subject with in an image.  It is all to easy to have something distracting in the background or have a horizon line in the worng place or tree sprouting out of your subject’s head. Considering these key things and changing your position or angle just slightly can progress your image from a good one to a great photo. 

8. Think about your focus point

You need to ensure that your point of focus is correct, this is even ore important when using a shallow depth of field.  Using single point focus instead of multi points will help you learn to do this.  A basic rule is if you are shooting animals or people ensure the eye closest to the camera is in focus. 

9. Learn basic post-processing

Whilst getting everything right in camera is really important having some basic editing skills can really help develop your photography.  Knowing how to crop an image, add some contrast or lighten and darken (dodge and burn) parts of an image can change it’s appearance massively. 

10. Learn your camera settings

Knowing how to work your camera beyond auto is essential to capturing beautiful photographs.  If you can develop an understanding of apature, shutter speed and ISO and how to control each you will instantly see a dramatic improvement in your photography. 

I hope these great photography tips help you to grow and develop as a photographer.  Go out and have fun practicing and learning your new art.  

You can find details of other useful photography articles here: 

Learn how to use your camera

I will be holding a one day beginners photography training course in my Spalding photography studio on 15th Febuary 2020.  If you would like to know more please follow the link below or get in touch via the contact me form.

Would you like to know more about Beginners photography training?

If you would like further information about beginners photography training available at Slice of Life Photography please get in touch via the form below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.