6 Steps to Get the Creative Shot in Baby Photography
Creative shots are all the rage at this new time and age of baby photography and as the industry veers away from formal and isolated portraits, photographers must have ample knowledge and training for demands on creative shots. Taking creativity and using photography as a medium to construct this kind of art requires a photographer to be witty with his/her equipment and also the props that will be used. Achieving creative shots are harder when the subject of the photo shoot is a baby because as a photographer, you need to be patient, understanding, flexible, and be someone who knows how to compromise. These traits should help you enough to spill your creative juices all over the studio floor. Here are 6 steps to achieving those creative shots:
Step 1: Consult the family
Before anything else, you must first know what the family wants to do. Do they want to go with a theme close to the baby’s interests like ballet, or princesses? Or do they have a specific theme in mind that you as a photographer need to be ready for? Consultation is a must in order to please your clients and give them the best outcomes that you can offer and so a small chat with the family is a good start to making cohesive fun-themed creative shots.
Step 2: Find the perfect location
The second step is a very tricky and game-changing decision. This is when you will need to further research about the theme that your client’s want. You have to know whether if it’s better to have the photo shoot at home, in a studio, outdoors, or indoors. While deciding for your location, you must consider different factors like the weather, the travel time and the actual time of the photo shoot, and if the whole location is safe for a baby. After deciding on this you must now find props.
Step 3: Find proper props
You have the theme and you have the perfect location plus a good schedule to keep the baby awake and ready for a photo shoot. Now, it’s time for some props. This may seem like a not-so-needed element for a baby photo shoot but if you are having a creative photo shoot, you must be well equipped with these things. Props aren’t hard to find and you can usually borrow some of the baby’s toys that fit with the theme to use as props. This way, the props bring color, vibrancy, and fun to the whole photo shoot.
Step 4: Set up your equipment
Setting up your equipment shouldn’t be a hassle if you equip yourself properly. The equipment used for baby photo shoots are usually a tripod, reflectors, light diffusers, and the perfect camera of your choice. Camera’s that have high apertures which means that they let in more light are more used than those which you have to set up for a higher ISO. Cameras with wide apertures focus faster, and do not need a flash. While lenses that require higher ISO’s tend to be very slow when taking photos and this is a no-no. Babies are fast and don’t stay at one place for a long period of time so if you can, and you probably should, use a camera with a wide aperture.
Step 5: Perform some camera tricks
This is where it gets exciting and fun for you. Camera techniques like moving your camera while shooting creates a sense of blurriness usually at the background of the photo. A shallow depth of field is always a good way to show emphasis on your photo, shooting through something like an arch of a statue and zooming in on the baby through it is a good perspective from a photographer. You can achieve that technique by shutting off your auto focus and manually focusing through the hole of the object making the frame of the object blurry and focusing on the subject through it. This technique can also be used on taking a photograph of the photographer for a more of behind-the-scenes style. Other angling techniques like getting down on the floor and shooting from the perspective of the baby or going way up high and shooting at a bird’s eye view is a good way to creatively continue with the photo shoot.
Step 6: Get messy
Lastly, you can get colorful and crazy and all over the place with these kinds of shoots. Cover your reflectors with colored transparent plastic to create a different color reflected on the studio walls or give the baby (with permission from the parents) some non-hazardous paint that he/she can spill and just play with. These great ideas can all spark and become huge creative shots with just a strike of effort and in a different perspective. Get out of the box and get messy!