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Strollerderby
Gadget Claims It Will Improve Baby Photos
Time is running short to get that perfect shot of your kids for the annual Christmas card, if you’re the sort of person who does such a thing — I am not. However, I do enjoy taking pictures of my kids in my own amateurish snapshotty way and I find getting a baby to both 1) hold still and b) look at the camera is an enormously ridiculous challenge.
Not sure how I feel about this solution from Shutterbuddy, though: a $20 surround for your camera in that supposedly baby-attracting black and white checkerboard pattern we see all over toys and so forth. The idea is that you’ll put your camera on a tripod (since I can’t imagine wielding a camera in your hands with this thing attached to it while trying to line up a shot and attract your baby) and get your baby to look at it. The pattern supposedly holds the baby’s attention long enough for you to get a shot of your baby’s little face looking at the camera.
Professional photographers always seem to find a way to make this work. I don’t know if it’s the fact a photo studio is an unfamiliar environment for most kids, or if it’s the photographer’s chatter and noisemaking, but they always seem to get my kids’ attention for long enough to get at least a couple good photos. And I find that getting good baby shots wasn’t that hard, but getting them of my zippy toddlers was impossible. Something that would transfix them would be ideal.
This is a good idea, and might even be a good baby gift for a parent-to-be who loves taking pictures and will want to get a million of their baby. Not sure it’s worth $20, though. What do you think — would you use this, or do you have other tried and true techniques to get a good shot of your little one?
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2 Comments
PlumbLucky commented on Nov 18 09 at 1:49 pmCan’t say I do…as soon as he hears or sees the camera, he’s on a mission to play with the bright, shiny object with all the cool buttons on it! So we at least have the “pay attention” part down.
Kelly commented on Nov 23 09 at 10:13 amHi, Amy,
I handle ShutterBuddy’s promotions and wanted to clear up a bit of confusion from the article about the product. ShutterBuddy is the black-and-white checkered gadget that straps onto the camera, not the tripod. (The tripod was just included in the photo for display purposes.) The tripod isn’t needed; one could just attach the lightweight ShutterBuddy to any point-and-shoot camera and snap away…It’s a fun product with a back story that many parents could relate to: http://shutter-buddy.com/aboutus.php
Thanks, Amy!
Kelly
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