Photo Tips
For the best announcements, you need the best photographs, and for the best photographs, you simply need to follow the basic rules outlined on this page.
Rule One: Background
It's time to declutter your photographs, and you wouldn't believe how simple it is going to be. Take a bedsheet. Preferably a white one. Or a blanket, again preferably white, or a nice pale shade. Lay the sheet down on the floor, and lay your baby on top of it. Stand above with your camera, 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 voila! 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. Keyword for Rule One: Bedsheet
Rule Two: Lighting
Lighting can make or break a photograph, but this doesn't mean you require fancy lighting equiptment. 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, then make sure it is facing the window and light. 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. Keyword for Rule Two: Sunlight
Rule Three: "SMILE!"
This rule is to do with capturing as many different emotions as you can. DO NOT, and I repeat, 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... When you have four near-identical pictures on one announcements, 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 photographs will make for a great invitation. Keyword for Rule Three: Personality
Rule Four: Frame It
In terms of designing the invitation itself, this rule is irrelevant, as we can always crop as required, but if you're looking for a great photograph to keep as a personal memory, this one is important. Framing a photograph well, really makes a difference to the final outcome. The photograph is of your baby, so take it of your baby, and not the surroundings. They're only little things and can be swamped by everything around them, so get in close! Through the eyepiece, or on your LCD, is the 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. Keyword for Rule Four: Close-up
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... experiement with differening poses. Regarding clothing... if you're comfortable with it, try naked, or just a nappy. These photographs are always really natural and really beautiful. 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. 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 Five: Experiment
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