Thursday, December 23, 2010

Fake laughs

Excellent article from Liz, having your children laughing in a picture adds so much life and energy to it, perfect for bringing some extra "spark" to your baby photo book

You know what? It’s totally cool to fake a laugh while having your photo taken and I encourage my clients (especially children) to try it. It feels really stupid, but it pays off big.
To get my kid clients to laugh, it usually just takes a poop joke or anything silly but sometimes, they just freeze up. So I encourage them to fake laugh. “It’s ok,” I say… “I know I’m rubbish at telling jokes. Tell you what how about we just pretend laugh?” And you can’t make your subjects feel stupid alone – you have to throw the first few out there! Sometimes your crazy, maniacal throw-your-head-back fake laugh is enough to make them laugh for real. And sometimes, it just shows them that it’s ok to look like an idiot

And here's a video teaching you how to do it :-)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Baby Photography is an art

Nice article about how to go about choosing the right photographer for your baby photo book. The article talks about all the qualities to look for and how to tell if his/her personality with help to bring out the best in your baby

Sunday, December 12, 2010

10 tips for taking Photos for you Baby Photo Book

I really like this article from Reva - 10 great tips for taking baby photos for your baby photo book

Babies change so fast! One minute they're a newborn and the next a toddler exploring their world. Digital cameras and cell phone cameras have made it so easy for us to take pictures on the run and catch those day to day pictures. Sometimes we do want to do a posed portrait of our babies, maybe to commemorate a holiday or birthday. There are lots of baby photo ideas for some really cute portraits. Here are a few that you might want to try next time you want to do a "formal" portrait instead of a snapshot, maybe for your holiday cards or a birth announcement?

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Taking photo's like a kid

This is not, strictly speaking about creating a baby photo book but it's just such a fun article that I had to post it - make sure that you check out more of Scott's stuff

Like he says in the article:

Having fun with cameras can make you a better photographer. Relaxing, believing in yourself and being free with your photography will make you a better shooter. In other words – make photographs like a five-year-old.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

» Baby Bathe Secrets And Techniques

Google Alerts - "baby baptism gifts"
Do not lose sight of what today is all about…a celebration! So bear in mind to chill out and have enjoyable together with your planning and hosting. Click: Baby Baptism Gifts, New Baby Girl and Baby Formula Coupon ...
Filer Wedding - http://www.filerwedding.com/
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- Andy

Children's Photography: Tips for Taking Group Photos of Kids

5 Tips to Prepare For the Perfect Baby Photo Shoot
Taking a group photo of people is similar to orchestrating a movie-shoot. When taking a photo of kids, it's even more difficult to accomplish. It pays to have the right technology with you to help bring that perfect shot of smiling children to life.
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- Andy

How to Take Get Great Photos of Children

5 Tips to Prepare For the Perfect Baby Photo Shoot
Taking pictures of children of all ages can be challenging. Use these tips to make your shots come out great and make your client happy.
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- Andy

Capture The Moment With Baby Portraits

5 Tips to Prepare For the Perfect Baby Photo Shoot
Don't you just love capturing those Kodak moments with the baby? Ever wanted someone to give you some good tips for helping you capture them?
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- Andy

Friday, October 29, 2010

Baby Photography Plan

This is a great little process to use as part of creating your baby photo book - just follow the recipe and you will have tons of killer photos before you know it.

My baby photography plan is a great way to schedule in a series of photo shoots of you and your new baby. I have two children of my own and I know how much impact the new arrivals can have! Best intentions on getting regular photos go out of the window whilst you adjust to the new bundle of joy.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Article: Taking Cute Baby Photos – Capturing the Right Moment | Royalty ...

Just had to post this, it is the first time that I have seen babies described as small animals and laughed about it 


LTaking Cute Baby Photos – Capturing the Right Moment | Royalty ...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://royaltyfreephotos.blognub.com/free-photos/taking-cute-baby-photos-capturing-the-right-moment/&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f1:v1:d2:i2:lt:e0:p0:t1284260417:&cd=adhsNKQgf6Q&usg=AFQjCNGQIhTDqxIN_gMgY1qUEePy7zDYpQ


Capturing the Right Moment

Taking Cute Baby Photos – Capturing the Right Moment

Babies are cute and cuddly and make their parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, god parents, aunts, uncles and even neighbors very proud. They manage to make even the grumpiest of people put a smile on their faces. What is the problem with babies? Well, just like small animals, they get older and for those that are around a baby every day the differences are not so noticeable but everything about them changes daily.

So how can you keep those cute images for ever? You can take the cutest baby photos that you can and have a permanent reminder. You can also enter baby photo contests with great shots and share the cuteness of your child with the world. But the problem is how do you take cute baby photos, and ones that are suitable for entering into a baby picture contest? The following gives you a few hints and tips for capturing the right moment.

The Baby:

- Make sure the baby is well rested and not hungry or in a bad mood otherwise your baby contest entries will be have to be for pictures of grumpy babies. Often the best time to catch a little one full of smiles and mischief is just after a meal or bath time.

- When you have trouble taking shots of the active child then perhaps consider sleeping shots. Many baby contest pictures are of sleeping babies. This avoids any requirement to “catch” them in a good mood specifically for picture taking. They are also less likely to move just at the exact moment you are ready to take the picture and this is a definite bonus to your picture taking.

- The age of your baby will impact on the type of shots you can take and even the type of camera. For those that are already crawling, you need to make sure that any movement shots are taken with high speed film for normal cameras. If you have access to a digital camera it must be adjusted to correct settings (read your manual). With a digital camera you can delete those imperfect pictures but with normal film you need to be much more diligent with your shots.

Angles & Formats:

- Make sure that you are on the baby’s level whenever possible. Try not to shoot too many shots from above.

- Make sure the photographs are much more of the baby than the background. The cutest baby photos have more baby than anything else in the photo.

- With digital cameras make sure the “focus” is centered on the child and not on any items in the background.

- Try to take your shots straight on to them, these pictures generally look more lifelike and the ability to zoom in is much improved.

Readiness:

- Every minute of every day can be the perfect moment for that prize wining cutest baby photograph. So make sure to have your camera batteries charged and at the ready as babies will be offering up perfect picture moments continually, it is your job to make sure you are ready as well.

Those perfect pictures will be the moments when you are generally not prepared. During the “awhhh” noise that people make when baby is looking particularly cute are the moments when you need to be pushing the camera button. This is very difficult to achieve without being constantly ready with the camera. These special moments are sad to miss, whether your intention is to have the pictures for yourself or for baby picture contests so you want to try to catch these “awhhh” moments forever if you can.

The Camera:

- As above, the type of camera offers up some restrictions with taking your picture perfect shots. The most economical option is of course a digital camera because you can easily look through all those cute baby pictures and decide which to keep or delete rather than having to print all of them. The digital option also means that should you have the prize winning shot for the baby photo contest you can immediately upload or email the photograph for entry.

- Digital cameras also give you the option to change the type of settings easily, as well as being able to simply adjust any settings of the photos themselves on your computer. Depending on the software program you have you can change your photos to black or white or give different special settings to make the shots perfect for yourself or others.

These are just a few hints of how to gain that picture perfect shot, the rest is easy. Just get that cute child of yours to do all the cute things that they normally do and the photographs are bound to follow. If you are interested in baby picture contests entry check out the internet for places to enter your cutest baby photos. Just remember, regardless of the results, your child is the cutest thing and those memories you are collecting with your photographs will be something to cherish forever.

Michiel Van Kets provides article services for Liz Murphy, webmaster of The Great American Photo Contest, one of the oldest and best baby photo contest websites on the internet. To win $2500, enter your favorite baby photos. Great American Photo Contest provides a safe environment where people can show off photographs of their children and win money just for participating.

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Article: Taking Cute Baby Photos – Capturing the Right Moment | Royalty ...

Taking Cute Baby Photos – Capturing the Right Moment | Royalty ...
http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://royaltyfreephotos.blognub.com/free-photos/taking-cute-baby-photos-capturing-the-right-moment/&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f1:v1:d2:i2:lt:e0:p0:t1284260417:&cd=adhsNKQgf6Q&usg=AFQjCNGQIhTDqxIN_gMgY1qUEePy7zDYpQ


This is a really cool article


Capturing the Right Moment

Taking Cute Baby Photos – Capturing the Right Moment

Babies are cute and cuddly and make their parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, god parents, aunts, uncles and even neighbors very proud. They manage to make even the grumpiest of people put a smile on their faces. What is the problem with babies? Well, just like small animals, they get older and for those that are around a baby every day the differences are not so noticeable but everything about them changes daily.

So how can you keep those cute images for ever? You can take the cutest baby photos that you can and have a permanent reminder. You can also enter baby photo contests with great shots and share the cuteness of your child with the world. But the problem is how do you take cute baby photos, and ones that are suitable for entering into a baby picture contest? The following gives you a few hints and tips for capturing the right moment.

The Baby:

- Make sure the baby is well rested and not hungry or in a bad mood otherwise your baby contest entries will be have to be for pictures of grumpy babies. Often the best time to catch a little one full of smiles and mischief is just after a meal or bath time.

- When you have trouble taking shots of the active child then perhaps consider sleeping shots. Many baby contest pictures are of sleeping babies. This avoids any requirement to “catch” them in a good mood specifically for picture taking. They are also less likely to move just at the exact moment you are ready to take the picture and this is a definite bonus to your picture taking.

- The age of your baby will impact on the type of shots you can take and even the type of camera. For those that are already crawling, you need to make sure that any movement shots are taken with high speed film for normal cameras. If you have access to a digital camera it must be adjusted to correct settings (read your manual). With a digital camera you can delete those imperfect pictures but with normal film you need to be much more diligent with your shots.

Angles & Formats:

- Make sure that you are on the baby’s level whenever possible. Try not to shoot too many shots from above.

- Make sure the photographs are much more of the baby than the background. The cutest baby photos have more baby than anything else in the photo.

- With digital cameras make sure the “focus” is centered on the child and not on any items in the background.

- Try to take your shots straight on to them, these pictures generally look more lifelike and the ability to zoom in is much improved.

Readiness:

- Every minute of every day can be the perfect moment for that prize wining cutest baby photograph. So make sure to have your camera batteries charged and at the ready as babies will be offering up perfect picture moments continually, it is your job to make sure you are ready as well.

Those perfect pictures will be the moments when you are generally not prepared. During the “awhhh” noise that people make when baby is looking particularly cute are the moments when you need to be pushing the camera button. This is very difficult to achieve without being constantly ready with the camera. These special moments are sad to miss, whether your intention is to have the pictures for yourself or for baby picture contests so you want to try to catch these “awhhh” moments forever if you can.

The Camera:

- As above, the type of camera offers up some restrictions with taking your picture perfect shots. The most economical option is of course a digital camera because you can easily look through all those cute baby pictures and decide which to keep or delete rather than having to print all of them. The digital option also means that should you have the prize winning shot for the baby photo contest you can immediately upload or email the photograph for entry.

- Digital cameras also give you the option to change the type of settings easily, as well as being able to simply adjust any settings of the photos themselves on your computer. Depending on the software program you have you can change your photos to black or white or give different special settings to make the shots perfect for yourself or others.

These are just a few hints of how to gain that picture perfect shot, the rest is easy. Just get that cute child of yours to do all the cute things that they normally do and the photographs are bound to follow. If you are interested in baby picture contests entry check out the internet for places to enter your cutest baby photos. Just remember, regardless of the results, your child is the cutest thing and those memories you are collecting with your photographs will be something to cherish forever.

Michiel Van Kets provides article services for Liz Murphy, webmaster of The Great American Photo Contest, one of the oldest and best baby photo contest websites on the internet. To win $2500, enter your favorite baby photos. Great American Photo Contest provides a safe environment where people can show off photographs of their children and win money just for participating.

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Best 5 Photography Tips To Take Better Photos

5 Tips to Prepare For the Perfect Baby Photo Shoot
If you are looking to improve on your digital photos, then just follow these all important basic 5 photography tips. You will soon be taking perfect photography every time you snap away on your camera.
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Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Newbies Photography Tips

Another good article with a couple of nice tips for taking good photos

5 Tips to Help Parents Prepare for a Flawless Baby Photo Shoot ...

This article explains a few things about photography, and if you’re interested, then this is worth reading, because you can never tell what you don’t know, especially when you want to join some of forums and discussions about this topics, then this article will be useful for you more or less, in order for you to get some of new ideas from the discussions you have joined.

As there are so many photography novices are very concerns about their techniques to get good quality photographs. As we all know that there is no one who can be called the photograph expert, who could come to us and give some tips and techniques for novices like us, unless you pay a bit of money to join photograph school. What we are doing when we take photo graph is to find the best quality camera, and believe that that magic functions of the camera (as advertised) will help us to get good quality pictures without having other specific technique of photography.

In fact, this is quite true but just some part of the whole truth. We take photograph by ourselves only when it is informal occasions, such as when you are traveling to other places with your friends or take photographs during family part. However, in our life time, there are still so many occasions that need formal picture and may need a photograph professional to take care of this stuff, the example of there occasions are weeding ceremony or wedding reception, graduation ceremony etc. That is precisely why at most important occasions people hire the services of a professional photographer.

Therefore, we may need a professional for these occasions but in the mean time, the cost for hiring a professional photographer is very high and very difficult for someone who has very limited budget. So for many photograph newbies, then try to find photography tips in order to help them to get good quality pictures without paying fortune for professional. Here is some tips for you, which I have gather some of them for professionals that I have known recently.

Firstly, try to get everyone into the picture frame. It is the fact that sometimes when novice taking photograph, they did not ask everyone who want to take a picture included in the picture frame, then when the film is developed there is someone is not included in the picture and this is really ashamed. For you, as a beginner this mistake is usually happened, Therefore you have to make sure that you guide everyone to include themselves in the frame before taking a shot because they will never know until the photographer tell them.

Secondly, when you shooting outdoor, many of beginners have trouble with sunlight direction which really effect to the quality of picture. You have to make sure that you will not shooting directly with the sunlight, which will create the dark shade on the picture. You can see that there’s practical value in learning more about photography. Can you think of ways to apply what’s been covered so far.

Image taken on 2008-07-31 16:28:18. Image Source. (Used with permission)

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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Seven Ways to Get Pro Results From Your Compact Camera

Another excellent article from scotbourne - this one talks about how to get the best from your Compact Digitial camera, so as I think that most of your are using CDCs to create your baby photo book it probably a good share

-Take care, Andy

For some people, a serious compact is all the camera they will ever need. In some cases it’s all the camera they can afford. Lastly, some people just prefer not to drag all the heavy gear that seems to come with shooting a DSLR. In all of these cases, a good compact camera can indeed produce pro results. My final piece of advice is simple. If you want to get pro results from your compact camera – treat it like a pro camera

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

School photos you don’t want to miss

This article talks about slightly older children and the fun you can have with School photographs - maybe they would work in your baby photo book - sort of a "next phase" section

Once you’ve got your school photo collection, turn it into a beautiful photo book for you, your family, and close friends. You can even use the pictures for a class yearbook – perfect for parents, classmates, and teachers.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Clutter Be Gone

I just love Scott Bourne's work - this is a great article on de-cluttering your photos which is really useful for budding baby photographers - your kids probably have tons of toys and the temptation is to have them in your pictures - well sometimes it's a good idea and sometimes it's not

The beauty of a single simple object is that it provides a clear focal point for the eye. If you have one simple, single object filling the frame, then the viewer doesn’t have to guess what you want them to look at.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Photo Book Review – Expressive Photography: The Shutter Sisters Guide for Shooting from the Heart

I'd never heard of the Shutter Sisters before,but wow what a great concept and fabulous execution - they make a great point that any photo genuinely taken from the heart is going to be spectacular and is probably one of the things that will make your baby photos really stand out.

The Shutter Sisters are a group of women who operate a photography blog. Ten of the sisters have joined forces to create this book. Each of the sisters writes one chapter on a subject including such genres as Portraiture, Stillness, and Togetherness. Each chapter is illustrated with images taken by the writer and other sisters. There are also excerpts from the Shutter Sisters’ blog and sidebars telling us to “See It!” with shooting data and “Shoot It!” urging us to experiment with a certain type of photograph.

And here's their website - awesome!

Adorable Babies

Oh my god! can you image if your baby photo book was full of snaps like this

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Photo Book Ideas

This is a nice article that outlines a really nice way to use a baby photo book to commemorate a special event - enjoy

Not so long ago my father turned a small family visit into an impromptu opportunity to marry his long time girlfriend. I was seven months pregnant with my youngest and he figured (rightly) that this might be my last trip to Canada for a long while. He rallied my sisters, an officiant, some close friends, and in under two weeks their entire wedding had been planned and executed.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Baby images create long lasting memories

Totally agree with this article, it's basically why I started to develop baby photo books

Whether you’re having a baby for the first time or you have other children, it’s important to capture baby images as your child grows and changes.  There are many wonderful photographers that specialize in infant photography that can capture beautiful memories of your child that you’ll cherish for years to come.  From newborn pictures to photos at different stages of growth, keepsakes of your baby’s development are important to have as family heirlooms.

Your family will cherish these pictures for years to come, and you’ll be amazed when you look back on these photos, as your baby grows older.  No matter what style of photography you choose, baby images are precious memories to keep forever. 

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

tips for taking party photographs

If you have a new baby you'll probably be celebrating more that once during  the next few months - adding some party pictures can add contrast and make an interesting counterpoint in your baby photo book.

Parties are a great time for family and friends to come together and have some fun.  Here are 8 simple tips to help with taking the party shots that last.

 
Image by Dustin Diaz

Sunday, September 12, 2010

How to inscribe your baby photo book

Once you've got your baby photo book you might want to inscribe it with something personal - here's a short article on how to get it right.

Books are a perfect gift for new babies. Classic bedtime stories, fairytales andlearning books will be read to the baby for years to come. Giving a baby a book can foster a love of reading and learning at an early age. Books can be made even more personal if you choose a book that was one of your childhood favorites and inscribe it with a message for the baby, your name and the date.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

More resources for developing technique

Found this photography book today and it looks pretty cool

The book is aimed at photographers who already understand the fundamentals of exposure and focusing, but have never given much consideration to nature photography. For the most part, the ideas presented are at the most general level without much specific advice.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

How Would You Photograph a Birth Scene?

This is a little edgy - but if it's something that you BOTH want to do - you may as well do it properly and make it page 1 of your baby photo book

via Digital Photography School by Darren Rowse on 9/6/10

Image by Andrew®

Our last community workshop gave one of our readers some great tips on how to approach photographing a model so I’ve decided to post another reader question. This one is a question I get quite a bit – how do I photograph the birth of a baby?

Here’s the latest question from one of our readers – Drew.

“My wife and I are expecting the birth of our new baby daughter in two weeks time and I’m wondering if you might have any advice on how to photograph the birth?

It’s such a special time for us as family that we want to capture it somehow but I’m a little nervous about how to do it tastefully, meaningfully and without my camera dominating the event.”

I know not everyone will have experience in this one and that there are probably different opinions on whether people would take a camera into this situation – but if you’ve got some advice or tips we’d love to hear them.

What advice do you have for Drew?

PS: As a dad of two and an avid photographer I’ve found myself asking the same question. I know some families choose to make a birth a camera free event and can respect that – while others take an ‘access all areas’ approach. In our situation we did take and use the camera but were certainly not using it during the seconds babies arrived.

One piece of advice that I did share a while back here on dPS that came from a friend who took a lot of photos through the birth of his kids was – sometimes images in black and white can be good for this type of situation where color images can be be quite overpowering and graphic. My friend took a lot of photos during the birth of his babies but they were so vivid in color that it was very confronting. He experimented with converting some to black and white and found that the images were still very powerful but not quite as confronting.

The other piece of advice I’d give is to talk about it before labor starts! You probably want both of you on the same page before you start pointing cameras on a day like that!

Looking forward to hearing your tips on photographing the birth of a baby!

Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

dpsbook.png

How Would You Photograph a Birth Scene?

Monday, September 6, 2010

Talking maternity photos using infared

In this article Stan Trampe talks about techniques on talking maternity photographs, which got me thinking that it might be nice to have a couple of "pre-baby" photos in the baby photo book, so as to show a more complete picture.  One of idea he mentions of one that I had never thought of which is to shoot in infra-red! It produces a very different result - very interesting - check it out!

One technique that I like to use in my maternity photo shoots is infrared. Infrared produces a soft grain that is flattering to both face and figure, and should you be shooting outdoors it gives your model an almost otherworldly appearance, with vegetation taking on a white glow, and any clothing or fabrics that you're using can turn out looking completely different in print form than expected. Is it often seen in traditional maternity shots? Not really, but it's exciting and different, and many of my mom-to-be models have been genuinely enthused when they see these shots.

Here's a couple of tutorial videos from Gavin Hoey who's awesome

How to take Infrared photos with a digital camera

And

How to process your digital images on photoshop 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Ways to "get creative"

I'm always looking for new ideas and ways to get my creative juices flowing and this article just made me smile :-)  It's not about taking pictures of babies but it may give you some ideas about how to crate an environment where you can get some great snaps for your baby photo book

It’s perhaps a little cliche – but we’ve all done it. A camera, a photographer in front of a mirror. Here’s 10 shots that caught our eye today with photographers, their cameras in front of mirrors (PS: this is the theme of the next weekly photography challenge – so get your thinking caps on and polish up those mirrros).

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Make your own photo book - step by step instructions

This is by far the best "make your own photo book" that I have seen.  If you prefer the personal touch you should check out this site and create your own baby photo book,  it's lots of fun and the owners do a really nice job of breaking each step down into manageable pieces

This is where you'll go to find all kinds of news and reviews of photo books and photo book creation services, including:

  • Any new web pages that may appear on Make Your Own Photo Book.
  • Additional tips and information for creating photo books online.
  • Updated photo book coupons and coupon codes.
  • You can subscribe to our RSS, too, and get the information

    There's also this video on how to use your Iphone to put the photos togther

    Tuesday, August 31, 2010

    More great family photo tips to help start your baby photo book

    I found this great article from Best family photo tips If you are starting your baby photo book, either for yourself or as a gift, it's a really nice resource that will help you to get started.
     
    After everything is said and done, taking cute baby pictures is the only thing that matters. How, where, and when it's done play a part, but all we want to do is to capture that magical essence of our baby for our baby photo book

    Taking better pictures of your children and babies is a lot easier than you think. Believe it or not, the most confusing part of baby pictures is not knowing...

    What a Cute Baby Picture Looks Like!

    Without having a background in modeling, photography, or advertising; the biggest challenge to creating magical baby pictures is knowing what the final photograph is supposed to look like. In other words, the average person doesn't see many examples of adorable baby pictures.

    birthday girl framed
    Once you actually see a completed picture, it's not too hard to tell a mediocre photo from an outstanding one. 

    More great family photo tips to help start your baby photo book

    I found this great article from Best family photo tips If you are starting your baby photo book, either for yourself or as a gift, it's a really nice resource that will help you to get started.
     
    After everything is said and done, taking cute baby pictures is the only thing that matters. How, where, and when it's done play a part, but all we want to do is to capture that magical essence of our baby for our baby photo book

    Taking better pictures of your children and babies is a lot easier than you think. Believe it or not, the most confusing part of baby pictures is not knowing...

    What a Cute Baby Picture Looks Like!

    Without having a background in modeling, photography, or advertising; the biggest challenge to creating magical baby pictures is knowing what the final photograph is supposed to look like. In other words, the average person doesn't see many examples of adorable baby pictures.

    birthday girl framed
    Once you actually see a completed picture, it's not too hard to tell a mediocre photo from an outstanding one. 

    Sunday, August 29, 2010

    Makeing the best use of available light for your baby photo book pictures

    Check out this article from Scott Bourne it shows you 6 great ways to improve you baby photo book pictures when you are working with natural light

     
    The best way to improve your photography is practice  Don’t worry about producing masterpieces each time you got out. Use your camera as a sketchpad to explore possibilities and don’t be afraid of making mistakes. 
     

    And a cool video for some more inspiration

    Sunday, August 22, 2010

    Which Digital Photo Editing Software Should You Use?

    Found this great site that talks about using digital edit software on your pictures - another tool for you to use when your making your baby photo book

    When you consider all the variables in the picture taking process it's nigh on impossible to get every one of these parameters spot on every time

    And here's a video from HP that's full of good ideas

     

    Saturday, August 21, 2010

    Baby Photography Tips

    More awesome tips from professional photographers, can you image how stunning this guy's baby photo book must be

    They are the most photographed subject in the world. They are cute, they are cuddly. Babies are a wonderful subject to capture, but require skill and patience taking a good photo.

    More great tips for taking baby photos

    I loved this quote from Shawn Edwards, if you can afford it, you may want to consider using a professional to help create your baby photo book (if you're like me though, it's way too much fun to let someone else do it  )

    Baby photography can be a joyful experience for the parent as well as the baby. Even the very act of photographing the baby will yield precious memories

    Should we use black and white photographs

    I would says yes! it's definitely worth considering including some black and white photographs in you baby photo book

    If you can capture something like this - WOW! It really doesn't get any better than that, can you image the joy his parents are going to experience looking at this photo for years to come.

    7 Tips for winning a photo contest

    If you thinking about entering any of your baby photo book shots in any baby photo contests the you may like this article

    Great photographs force you to stop and take a second look and initial impact is what separates winners from “also rans” in any horse race

     

    Pose for Effortlessness

    Found this great article on the digital photography school site, you will have to modify the techniques a little for working with babies but the basics are solid and it's a good start on your baby photo book

    via Digital Photography School by Matthew Dutile on 8/18/10

    Posing is a subject that stumps quite a lot of photographers. Whether our first or thousandth time working with people, sometimes we just look at our subject and draw a complete blank. It’s a scary moment. There are a number of great articles on some of the basics of posing on dPS already, and I recommend you check them out.

    Even with an understanding of the rules of flattering portraiture, I’ve seen plenty of photographers grabbing their subjects and moving them around all akimbo like a wooden artist’s mannequin, just searching for a pose that works. Sometimes we’re working so hard to exactly create the pose we want, we forget to just step back and let a pose happen. It’s the non-posed pose…of posing. Say that five times fast.

    So if you feel yourself floundering around without a clue what to do, here are some exercises and tips I’ve found helpful, while minding a few of the rules of portraiture. Just remember, there is no rule that can’t be broken.

    The Hands Say It All

    Hands can be one of the hardest parts of posing, because they’re a subtle element that often can speak volumes to the comfort (or discomfort) of your subject. They can instantly add a great depth to your image, or crush it with awkwardness. I recommend picking up a catalog from any local department store and studying arm and hand poses. Watch how they’re turned, where they rest in peoples’ laps, if they grasping or open, etc. Try replicating some of these poses.

    If you’re still feeling a little stumped ask your subject to take 30 seconds and try grabbing or moving their hands in as many positions as they can. Make it a little game and see if you can beat them at different hand gestures. Pay attention though and watch for any that catch your attention. Have them stop, redo the gesture and work from there. If you’re still having a lot of trouble, give your subject something to hold or do. The same principle works well for feet. Have your subject tilt them in, toe one up, kick a little, etc, and watch for what catches your eye.

    Know Thy Subject

    Know thy self… err subject. As a people photographer, your job is generally to make your subjects look their best. This is very much a science of practice that every photographer is continually working to improve. Look for ways to enhance flattering features in your subjects. Work for angles that thin them out, show off a great pair of eyes or capture the personality or trait that makes your subject their own unique person. It’s there if you search for it. Great portrait photographers are masters of pulling out and expressing their subjects’ personalities. Practice, practice, practice.

    Study and Replicate

    The best way to learn how to pose is to study catalogs, editorials, ads and other photographers you admire. You’d be surprised how much you can learn by spending an hour analyzing various poses in a catalog. Tear out a few pages and bring them along with you. If it helps you become more comfortable posing that’s a big plus. Eventually, learn to then leave the tear sheets behind and work from your own creative ideas.

    Stop Posing

    That’s right. Stop posing. Sometimes the best pose is not a pose at all. It’s an action, an in-between “shake it off” and unguarded moment. When your subject is tense, it’s extremely noticeable. It makes anyone viewing the photo feel a bit uncomfortable. I like to ask my subject to start walking forward while I move backward with them. Sometimes you’ve got to get downright silly and really break them out of their shell. Start skipping with them. Jump and spin. Rock a hard fashion pose. Bust out your smoothest dance move and ask them to do the same. You didn’t think you’d get to keep your humility as a working people photographer, now did you? Get goofy yourself and it’ll help relax your subject and bring out those natural expressions and poses.

    Posing and paying attention to the subtle details in hands, feet and expressions takes effort and practice. It’s a constant refinement and a new adventure with each unique subject. Learning to recognize what makes a person unique and draw that forth will go a long way toward helping you pose for effortlessness.

    Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.

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    Pose for Effortlessness