Lay the sheet down on the floor, and lay your baby on top of it. Stand directly above with your camera... and voila! You have a photo of your baby.... not of the stained carpet, or the toys on your floor, or the ironing board in the background, or a bookcase sticking out of your babies right ear.
If you want your baby sitting up, throw the sheet over your settee and sit the baby on it and there you go! You have a photo of your baby, not your shiny flash-rebounding leather sofa, or your crazy floral print cushions.
The sheet on the sofa also works for photos of baby on their front, and again, for photos of baby lying down for side shots, as well as the birds-eye shots you'll get on the floor.
Rule Two: Lighting
Lighting can make or break a photograph, but this doesn't mean you require fancy lighting equipment. Theres no better lighting, than the sun! Which room in the house gets the best daylight seeping through the windows? Whichever room that is, this is the room you will be taking your photographs in.
Lay the bedsheet down on the floor directly in front of the window, and chances are the sun will fall nicely onto babies face for you to take the birds-eye shots. Or if you're taking photographs on the settee or on a bed, then make sure it is facing the window and light.
Important: DO NOT take a photo facing towards the light source. Make sure its YOU with your back towards the light, NOT your subject, otherwise your baby will be in shadow.
Rule Three: "SMILE!"
This rule is to do with capturing as many different emotions as you can. DO NOT keep forcing your baby to smile. If you've spent all day taking photos, and haven't got a smiling one... this does not mean it has all been a waste. I can guarantee if you were to look back through the days photographs you'd find plenty of beautiful shots.
While photographs of your baby smiling might be great to look at in the first instance... when you have three near-identical pictures on a birth announcement, or in a frame on your fireplace, it's really not that fantastic.
Try and capture all sides of your babys personality. A smile, a cry, an innocent gaze, a hand-suck, a frown, a tongue, a looking-away-from-the-camera, a sleeping baby, a laughin baby....A mixture of different emotions will make for a great selection of photographs to look back on!
Rule Four: Frame It
If you're looking for a great photograph to keep as a personal memory, this rule is important. Framing a photograph well, really makes a difference to the final outcome... and I'm not talking silver or pine...
The photograph is of your baby, so take it of your baby, and not the surroundings. Your baby is such a little thing and can be swamped by everything around them, so get in close! Look through the eyepiece, or on your LCD, is the whole photo of your baby? or is there tons of background? If theres background, move closer... Your baby should fill the screen.
If you're doing close up shots, get close up! Take some photographs of your babies hands and feet while you're there! Try different angles too.
Rule Five: Posing & Arranging
Heres where it gets fun! You need to let your imagination run wild! Poses vary from age to age.
For newborn babies you can lie them on their belly, on their back, cup their head in your hands, wrap them up in a little ball in their favourite blanket... experiment with lots and lots of different poses. And don't worry about capturing them when they're awake (think back to rule three!)... newborn babies sleep... and thats when they look their cutest!
Regarding clothing... if you're comfortable with it, try naked, or just a nappy. These photographs are always really natural and really beautiful. If not, then put simple things on them. A teddy bear patterned sleepsuit, or a cute blue vest. Fancy dresses and shirts on newborns are great for parties, but not for photographs! You'll find they'll tend to swamp the babies, and draw the attention away from what it is you're really taking the picture of!
Maybe wrap a bow around your naked baby, or lay a flower on them to cover their bum. If you like the black and white photographs, with one item in colour, then give your child a flower, bright coloured bear, or a cute coloured nappy cover, so that they can be edited in this way.
If you're feeling particularly adventurous, try baskets, tin baths, fairy wings... go wild and have fun!
Photography is not meant to be a tough task, so enjoy it!
 Keyword for Rule One: Bedsheet
Keyword for Rule Two: Sunlight
Keyword for Rule Three: Personality
Keyword for Rule Four: Close-Up
Keyword for Rule Five: Experiment
I do hereby certify that all photographs shown on this article were taken by me in my living room, either on the floor or on my settee, using a bedsheet, sunlight, and no photography equipment (aside from my camera), and no photography training or qualifications! If I can do you, you can too!
© ellaannouncements.com September 2007
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