"What you have caught on film is captured forever...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything." - Aaron Siskind
Helen Webb's book "Shoot The Baby" (great title!) is a beautifully presented guide offering advice to parents on how to photograph babies and toddlers. It is aimed at Mums and Dads, not professionals, and its light hearted, rather than technical, style presents ideas on capturing the best of those precious first years.
The ideas work with a full range of cameras from mobile phone to digital SLR. Whatever format you are using, the tips help you create stunning photographs of your little one.
The book contains wonderful examples of beautifully composed photos of adorable little people! The top tips and the composition ideas make creating your own shots really achievable. With topics such as planning, lighting and achieving a winning smile, I felt inspired to experiment with my own Lumix G2. Freddy is not the most co-operative model, but many of the ideas in the book show how you can work around this.
The "Spot the Difference" section of the book highlights examples of what we do wrong and offers advice on techniques to improve our shots. Seeing the photos side by side, it was really clear seeing what could be improved. It was most useful!
There are also practical tips on printing, post production, editing and online posting. Digital photography can become a nightmare with thousands of pictures stored on a hard drive and never being viewed. Organisation is the key!
Author Helen says:
“The book aims to help the average person with the average camera take better photos of their anything-but-average baby. By exploring photography essentials and composition ideas in a light-hearted and easy to read way, I hope that new parents will now capture precious moments and milestones which do their babies justice.”
With suggested shot ideas to commemorate key events in your baby's life, alongside advice to address key areas of photography and the mistakes often made by amateurs, this book helps parents take professional looking photographs that capture their beautiful baby!
Photos are so precious! We are reminded to also capture tantrums, messy faces, grumpy faces or silly poses. They will be so special in years to come!
I certainly felt more inspired and more confident using the settings on my camera, and have been a lot more creative with lighting and composition.
Here are a few early attempts to improve my photography!
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| Strong lines to structure a shot. |
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| Natural light creating contrast. |
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| Off Centre Composition. |
"Shoot The Baby" is available at Amazon and at shootthebaby.co.uk RRP £12.99.
It would make a great Father's Day present for a proud, camera wielding daddy or grandad!