Baby Sister

These are the photos taken a couple of years ago when Lexi was just a few weeks old. The most recent photos were posted a couple of days ago. These were taken on my living room floor again with window light. I just put them both on the floor on top of a sheep skin rug and shot above them. The rugs are great for babies. It keeps them warm and they tend to sleep really well on them. I found small rugs up to IKEA in Salt Lake (my favorite new, organized, clean place to spend a few hours, to shop...and eat the cookies filled with jam, hang-out) They are around 20.00 and perfect for a newborn. Go through them and find one a little bit more round"ish".

One of the photos is obviously more sepia than the other one. I always add about "5" of red and "3" of yellow to my black and whites to get rid of the digital bluish tone. "Sepia", around 15 and 12 on the red and yellow. To give it a bit of glow, I go to filter, down to distort and over to Diffuse Glow. It will then open to another window. Graininess- mess with that and see what you like, but Glow Amount at 1 or 2. and Clear amount 15. This all depends on the photo, just be careful not to blow it way out, then it will really look funny.

Baby B

This beautiful baby boy was so simple to photograph, mostly because he slept the entire session. His mother tried and tried to get him to wake up and no such luck. But while they are asleep, this is the best time to do any hand and feet detail photos.

Again, just very simple in a natural lit window. My window faces west, so I only have the morning light until around 2p.m. I keep my Fstop at 2.8 because we are just in my living room and this helps in blurring out anything you may see in the background. You don't need a fancy studio to take good photos. Just a good eye for beautiful soft light. Allow plenty of time to take infant photos. I always plan for at least 90 minutes. I use the mother to cradle the infant. I believe it looks a little bit more natural than trying to "prop" them up against something. If your just starting, don't have them bring any clothing. It is just distracting. Start simple and just focus on the baby and the available light and making beautiful photos.

Keep your room warm and the house quiet while photographing an infant. Keep them bundled and held snug to avoid the "julting" that may startle the baby.

If the baby starts to stir, try rubbing the baby right between the eyes and small circular motion and they usually fall right back asleep. Just be patient. It's worth it.

Keeley and Lexi

I have photographed Keeley and Lexi for several years. Beautiful girls. It's pretty obvious that Keeley loves the camera, and Lexi, well, she's two. It was a quick shoot to get this Christmas Card for her mom. You don't have to stick to the famous "red and green" theme. Mix it up!! The brushes of the swirls are from twopeasinabucket are some of my favorites to use. The designer's name is Rhonda. Just play with them. They are a bit tricky to use, but give it a minute, they really are fun.

This was window light in my customers living room, using the white foam boards on the bottom, back and one on the side. I have used them for reflectors before but not as backgrounds. I got this from Nicole Hills photo class, great tip. It beats trying to straighten up white fabric during the photo shoot. They are only really good for one or two small children and really are okay when they get dinged up. You won't notice the dings, especially if you use a low F stop. Fun shoot. Thanks, Raylene for sharing your beautiful girls with me year after year.

Tomorrow, I am going to post Lexi's newborn photos. I had photographed them almost two years ago, but they were some of my favorites. I thought I would share to show you some different ways of putting them with an older sibling. I also used some filters that might get you to try some new things with your photographs.