Babys First Year Blog
How to Get Better Photos of Your Baby in Front of the Christmas Tree
While every setup is different when it comes to where the natural light is compared to your Christmas tree, there are a few tricks that can help you get a picture that slightly rivals ones from years past. You know the ones — the baby is all BRIGHT! and WELL LIT! in front of an almost black-looking tree. I’ve been playing around a lot with different set ups and lighting techniques over the past month and while I haven’t yet gotten *the* tree photo that I have in my mind, I’ve figured out a few things that work and a few that don’t work so well at all. I figure the tree will be there for at least 23 more days so that’s 23 more days to practice and get the perfect photo.
Keep reading to find out a few tricks for improving your in-front-of-the-tree shots with whatever camera you happen to have available.
I’m lucky to have a window on one side of my tree. In the past I had to get pretty creative with reflective, shiny surfaces (think silver cookie sheets and white poster board) to get decent light shining in a baby’s face. I thankfully have a small arsenal of reflectors and off-camera lighting but a well-lit window is still my light of choice.
The first two photos were taken with a $150 Kodak point-and-shoot camera while the rest were taken with my Canon 40D and a 50mm 1.4 lens. To anyone with a DSLR a 50mm is one of the best multifunctional lenses you can get. A 1.8 can be bought for under $100 and is really fun to have around. (You have to move your body around with a 50mm, it doesn’t zoom in or out like other lenses which can be strange for some people to get used to.) Short of a maid, nothing will make a messy house look better than a shallow depth of field. *ahem*
Play around with different settings, different angles and find out what works best in your house. Once you know you can plop a happy baby down any time during the day, practice until you get exactly what you’re looking for.
Now to actually print them out and put them in picture frames before NEXT Christmas.
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Many thanks to Canon for sponsoring this post and for providing me with a brand new shiny PIXMA printer to play with.
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8 Comments
Beth commented on Dec 02 11 at 4:19 pmOoo! This is just what I needed. I have a great DSLR but still figuring out how to put the thing to good use. Thank you!
Candace commented on Dec 02 11 at 4:37 pmMy very first DLSR arrived in the mail a couple days ago (squee!!!) and this is just what I was playing around with today. (must break out the cookie sheet, thanks!)
Katie commented on Dec 02 11 at 5:29 pmI’m trying this weekend. Thanks for the help. I just don’t know how to get little man to actually sit still long enough to capture any decent shot…
Keri Always commented on Dec 02 11 at 5:56 pmWhat was your aperture on the next-to-last one? DSLR with external flash on lowest setting? Just curious.
domestic extraordinaire commented on Dec 02 11 at 7:41 pmIs it wrong that I love crying baby photos. Yeah, I am probably going to have to answer for that someday. Just know that I have never pinched any baby to get it to cry so I can then take a photo of said crying baby.
caseymullins commented on Dec 03 11 at 9:14 pmI bribe my seven year old to stand behind me and dance on the really wiggly days.
Megan commented on Dec 04 11 at 1:07 pmI’ve bribed my eight year old to do the same thing. He really saved the first picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus at our breakfast with Santa yesterday.
suzanne @ pretty*swell commented on Dec 13 11 at 10:02 pmLove this! Vivi’s expressions are divine. Thanks for the tips — especially the one about raising up the baby to eliminate the empty space under the tree. Gonna give it a shot.
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