That time with children flies is something that everyone who has had one around knows perfectly well. If this is so in infancy, with babies it seems like a matter of the blink of an eye. Babies change from day to day, in a way that takes your breath away.
That’s why I invite you to photograph your baby with all the passion you have left in those sleepless hours, because one day he’s a newborn baby and the next he’s already walking 😉 .
If you are looking for ideas for some original baby photos, in this article you will find a few because, as photographers of whatever level we have, we are going to try to give the best of ourselves.
Tips for photographing babies
I start with a few basic tips for photographing babies beyond the final style you seek to give your photos.
- Prepare the session in advance. Have some of the photos you want to take in mind, this way you will avoid being blocked at the time of the session. Then don’t forget to let yourself go and improvise.
- The room should have a comfortable temperature.
- Take advantage of the moments when the baby has just eaten and is deeply calm.
- Have all the accessories prepared and at hand.
- The baby’s safety should always come first.
- Make the mother feel comfortable too, have water ready, a place to rest or breastfeed the baby if he needs it: calm mother-calm baby.
- Never use the flash.
- The best light is soft and diffused, but you can experiment with it artistically.
- Focus on the eyes.
- Play with different perspectives and frames.
- Indoors, move closer to a window to take advantage of natural light.
- Photograph in RAW to have the highest quality and to be able to adjust, for example, the white balance.
- Use a medium or wide depth of field to put the focus on the baby.
- If you have a bright goal, it’s time to put it to work 😉 . A 50mm or 85mm can be ideal for these types of photos.
- Look for details: ears, mouth, lanugo (body hair in the case of newborns), feet, etc.
- Take care of the background, especially if you photograph at home: no cables, plugs, discarded clothes… Look for a plain background such as a wall, a light curtain, etc.
- Take care of the locker room if there is one.
- Capture all their expressions: smiles, yawns, anger…
- Experiment with different types of light, I recommend that you try the high and low key technique, for example.
If you want to go deeper into baby photography, in these very complete guides you will find absolutely everything you are looking for in this regard: material, tricks, lighting, composition, etc.
How to get original baby photos
I am one of those who thinks that inspiration comes to you when you are working, so to get creativity in your baby photos, the first thing you should do is encourage yourself 🙂 .
The baby month by month
Personally, I love these types of collages where you can see the month-to-month evolution of your baby. I didn’t do it at the time, and now I would love to have something like that, so if you’re on time, don’t miss the opportunity.
- Use the same setting in all the photos. To do this, try to make it beautiful but simple, so that it does not cost you to assemble it each time.
- Dress the baby in the same or similar way in each of them.
- Control the lighting, try to make it homogeneous in all the images.
- Take care of the white balance.
- Always use the same orientation: if you start vertical do not change later or vice versa.
- Make sure the baby is always in the same area of the frame.
- Use the same team and distance, so that the attention is focused on the changes of the baby.
- If you want, add a number in the image indicating the month. You can write it on a blackboard, create it with flowers, cardboard or whatever comes to mind. So you can see the age with the naked eye. Here you have a sample
I leave you with this example of a composition month by month:
The baby month by month
Magical worlds for your baby
If you are the king or queen of creativity, you will love these kinds of artistic baby photography ideas. It is about creating magical worlds through scenarios that you can perfectly assemble at home.
Choose a scene you want to recreate, find a background (a blanket or fabric), think about the different elements that will appear around it and how you want the baby to interact with the scene (do you dress it up?).
In this video you will see very funny examples that will surely inspire you. As you will see, some are very easy to do and others are more laborious, but not complicated at all. If you want some really original baby photos, press play 😉 .
The magic of point of view
If you want to get creative when photographing a baby, sometimes it’s as simple as simply changing your point of view on the scene in front of you.
When we photograph a baby, our physical superiority invites us to always photograph it from above. It’s fine, those photos must be had and they give a lot of themselves, but I invite you to look for other points of view.
Use a normal point of view, at eye level, which is what we use with adult portraits but often forget with babies.
Photograph the feet in the foreground or the hands, look for different approaches, ways to portray it, don’t limit yourself, turn it around, look at it at 45º, from below… you’re always in time to erase what you don’t like, right?
The edition in original baby photographs
Sometimes a very simple edit can achieve the most creative and cool results. It is a mistake to believe that because we do not know Photoshop we cannot get original photos, many times less is more and a good idea does not have to be complicated to execute.
I leave you this super creative example that I loved. A great way to get a series of very original baby photos, right?
If you liked it, you can see more examples of this style in the account of this Japanese fatheror take a look on Pinterest.
Don’t forget the baby’s family
Sometimes we focus so much on babies that we forget the importance of the newborn’s relationship with their family members.
Try including them creatively as well. It can be simply through their hands, their fingers, their backs, their entire body, etc.
You can play with the size scale, with the contrast of the skin of a newborn and adult hands, etc. and above all with a whole love story behind that relationship.
The beauty of the everyday
The everyday is not only what we have most at hand, but also represents the reality of that baby’s day-to-day life and, in addition, allows us to comfortably work on our photos.
Every day is full of opportunities that you should not ignore. Not everything is a set, a perfect moment with perfect clothes or matchless light.
Personally, I think everyday photos make for the most beautiful memories, so don’t overlook them. First baths, naps, meals… Giving context to that story that is beginning to be written is in your hands 😉
EXPRESS TIPS!! For a spectacular result without complicating your life too much, look for the light from the windows, focus well on the eyes, use an aperture around f/4, a speed above 1/125s, a low ISO (if you can), and a lens with a focal length around 50mm.
Inspiration gallery with original baby photos
Finally, an inspiration gallery is always good, many times the images are worth more and are better stored in our retinas than all the theory that can explain it to you, so here we go with a few original and beautiful baby photos 😉 .
If you look at the images you will see that some are original due to the props and costumes, due to the creation of some spectacular setting, but there are also those that simply use light to create a nice backlight or those that use focus or composition to stand out.
You don’t need great time efforts to get artistic, original and creative baby photos 🙂 .
I hope you have finished this article with inspiration through the roof and, above all, that it serves to dust off your camera and start taking pictures of your baby or the baby of whoever you want in the most beautiful and creative way you can 🙂 . You will surely have a spectacular memory.
We read in the next article but do not forget to share this if you think someone could take advantage of it too. Thank you very much!