Silent Sunday #Project 52

Shoot The Baby

"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!

Strong lines to structure a shot.

Natural light creating contrast.

Off Centre Composition.

I'm hoping to be able to capturte some great Silent Sunday and The Gallery shots utilizing some of the techniques I've learned!

"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!

Whatafind.com Panasonic Camera Review...Save over £50!

The savvy shopper's secret website, for designer brands at hugely discounted prices, was revealed on my blog last month.  Whatafind.com   is a real Aladdin's cave of treasures for the home and now includes a dedicated section on Toys with huge savings.

There is no doubt that there are great savings to be made across their easy to navigate website, but to enable me to honestly review the site, Whatafind.com  generously agreed to let me experience the service for myself by sending me one of their products.  I was absolutely thrilled to receive this camera.

The Panasonic FP1 12MP Camera in pink has a RRP of £150.

Amazon currently has it for sale at £125.58.

Whatafind.com is selling it for £69.99

That is a massive saving (53% off the RRP).

The goods sent from Whatafind.com arrived in a sturdy box delivered by UPS.  Whatafind.com make it clear that their products are returns, unwanted duplicates, not delivered, overstocks or end of line.  The camera box was clearly previously opened and taped up and a bit scruffy looking, but didn't look like it had been hit or crushed.  It was just a bit shop soiled and rough around the edges.

Inside the box, everything looked as good as new.  The accessories were all in their original packaging and looked brand new.  The instructions and the camera itself all looked pristine.

The camera is very slim and ergonomic.  It has a rechargeable Lithium battery and a sliding cover to protect the lens.  It has a good flash, a 4X optical zoom and Facial Recognition.  It can also record HD film for the PC and has red-eye correction.  I love the cropping facility on the camera allowing you to trim your photos and resave a copy instantly!

Here is a photo I have taken of Fred in the garden using the Panasonic camera.  I then cropped it on the camera and saved a copy of the newly cropped and centred image!  Impressive!!

I would highly recommend this camera.  It is slim and sleek and would easily fit into a pocket or handbag.  The slide down cover protects the lens and flash.  The 12 MP picture quality is excellent and it is so easy and uncomplicated to use.  If you are looking for a camera with Intelligent Auto functionality and ultra modern design that is discreet yet still takes good photos, then look no further.  And if you want it at a super cheap price head down to Whatafind.com now! (Other cameras are also available such as the Panasonic Lumix G2 in blue for £391.30, or the Next 10MP camera for just £22.95.)

You will have no excuse when it comes to submitting photographs for Silent Sunday or The Gallery!

Whatafind.com is definitely worth checking out before you commit to any major purchases...furniture, laptops, fashion, nursery equipment, mobile phones, luggage, gifts, toys...can all be discovered at bargain prices!  The stock is constantly updated which does mean if you see something you like, it's best not to wait too long in case the stock runs out.  In the same vain, it's worth bookmarking Whatafind.com and checking in regularly to see what is new.  I will definitely be comparing prices before I buy anything online again...there are amazing savings to be made at a time when every penny counts!

I've got a new camera!!!

Fabulous, gadget mad husband could not bear the fact that I was struggling with an automatic digital camera any more.  For ages the creative side of me has been frustrated with the lack of control regarding taking photographs.  Many a beautiful photographic opportunity has been wasted because my camera decided to focus on the background instead of on Freddy's smile. The slightly blurred pictures on the LCD viewing screen becomes a horrible smudged mess when uploaded onto the PC.

Littlest son is also not the greatest model in the world...his big sister Ella was one of those babies who understood her mother's need to capture every moment in photo form.  She would beam effortlessly at the slightest suggestion of a camera moment.  Freddy on the other hand is a far trickier model to capture.  He'll be all grins and little teeth until the camera shutter button is depressed.  My old camera has a noticeable delay that is just long enough for Fred to turn away.  I have so many photos of the back of his head it's untrue!  Other favourite avoidance techniques include the look down or the lunge, which are illustrated below! 

I have felt for a while that I am missing out on the photos I want, the ones I create in my mind but just can not translate into the end result.  However, I am not someone who finds it easy to spend money on myself.  You just have to look into my wardrobe to get evidence of my lack of personal spending (some of the contents are circa 1991...and not in a good retro way either)!  I do not own a handbag (I bung everything in Fred's changing bag)!  I am still wearing last year's mis-shapen fake Uggs (even though I desperately covet a pair of buckle-up DM ankle boots)!  So the idea of spending the best part of £500 on a non-necessity is something I could not even contemplate.

However, my wonderful husband felt differently.  He wants me to exercise my creativity, capturing those fleeting moments in Freddy's childhood forever.  He wants me to capture the sort of picture that we'll want blown up into a huge canvas for the living room wall.  He knows that I love competitions but simply can't compete in terms of quality (although blurred offerings are not uncommon I personally couldn't put my name to anything I didn't think was worthy of winning). So, to these ends he came home from work today having bought me a Lumix G2. 

He'd done his homework, read the reviews and decided that this was the answer.  I used to love my SLR camera from the pre-digital days, and this seems to combine elements from both old school SLR and uber modern digital photography.  He is excited about it!  Me on the other hand have my usual fear and trepidation regarding change...but I'm looking forward to overcoming that and exploring the potential that this camera has to offer.  Hopefully I'll have some nice piccies to post soon!!