A bonafied Paterson girl – and a few photography tips

Our friends kids call me “aunt” and I absolutely love it.  I had never been a real aunt though, until a couple of months ago and I must say, it is very good.  My brother/sister-in-law had their first child, the most beautiful Paterson of them all to date (I’m hoping mine will at least be equal or greater on the “perfect” scale – sorry Jodi!).   And, arriving in perfect style, my neice was born on St. Patty’s day – our family’s namesake. 

Patty & Jodi gave me the amazing privilege of doing their family’s first photo shoot.  With such gorgeous subjects it’s hard to get a “bad” shot, but I thought I’d go through some of what I did to get the pictures I wanted.  Lighting was my top priority.  I love the look of natural light, so I wandered around the house looking for the window that would give my “subjects” the most attractive look.  Since I was shooting a one month old, I grabbed my husband and used him as my test subject to make sure I knew the exact location I wanted to use before trying to move the family around.

Once I found my location, I thought through the pictures I wanted and took as many as possible in one place.  Babies are great to work with, but you need to make sure you are quick at what you’re doing so that they don’t get worn out.

Taking a couple pics of the same shot was also important to me.  Since babies move suddenly and quickly, Mom and Dad may look perfect, but baby might have moved or visa versa.

The last small thing was to not be afraid to direct the shoot.  When you have a small baby, you want to make sure that they are held in a way that both the parents and the baby are close together.  The most natural way to sit together as a family doesn’t always translate well in a picture (ie people’s heads are too far apart, baby is too low in the picture, etc).  Don’t be afraid to move people around until you’ve got the look you are trying to achieve.

These tips are basic but incorporating them can help your next shoot be less stressful and produce the look you are going for.  Hope it helps!