DIY Newborn Photo Tips- From one Amateur to Another

I love taking photos of my kids..and when they are newborn, you

REALLY want to capture their tiny little cuteness!

Newborn Photos are soooo adorable...

and with a few tips and tricks you can get really cute photos YOURSELF!

I am not a professional..I just like to take photos..

and take them a lot...learning as I go!

I thought I would try out some cute newborn poses with my

Micah and share what I did to make these shots happen!

CAMERA: Canon Rebel T1i

LENSES: 18-55mm and 50mm

(I shot most of these on manual. If you are learning your

camera check out you tube for great tutorials. I learned a lot that way!)

Here's my round up of tips for getting great shots.

Plan on taking your time...can't rush this newborn cuteness!

Nurse to comfort and calm the baby.. hold your hand on him or her to make them feel secure while you pose...let off at the last minute before you snap some shots!

NATURAL LIGHT makes the difference. Most of these were shot in

the early afternoon while my 2 and 4 yr old napped.. some were shot in the late afternoon.

I moved my coffee table around to get different shots..some in direct light and some not.

I liked the variety of shots! But if you have limited time..go for the indirect light..

overall you get great photos with detail! (my favorite is the one above!)

Sophie was a little helper during one of the sessions...

Big Sister snuggler/comforter. I went to switch my lense

and caught the below ones of her quick. ;)

I LOVE my green and white striped blanket

(clearance from target 4 years ago.. but they have similar styles sometimes)

I knew I wanted some shots with that blanket..

I love the textures that it and the fuzzy blue blanket give!

My mom crocheted a sweet little hat for Micah. Isn't it cute?!

She has made up her own pattern so that the hat doesn't

have that weird point..so much sweeter. Maybe I'll get the pattern out of her to post! ;)

For this shot..I stood on the coffee table..carefully..

waiting to capture that smerk that he kept teasing me with!

Worth the wait..love this one!

 

Photographing your baby at different times..sleepy time..or his or her awake time...

gives you a variety of faces! I love the sleepy ones..but the ones with his eyes wide

open are what he looks like too and I don't want to forget it!

I could stare at this kid all day.

oh wait.. I do! ;)

one last thing....

Photo EDITING:

I use photoshop for all my photos.. 'Levels' is a big help in getting the right lighting!

If you have photoshop but want to get better at it..again..watch you tube tutorials!

I also use actions. you can search for tons of free ones!

It makes editing a breeze! you can use actions and

then tweak yourself till you get it the way you want.

Here's a ton to check out via a Pinterest Search.

And here's some favorites of mine.

LOVE this one..

Happy photo taking!! :)

Hope these tips and photos give you inspiration and motivate

you to pull out your camera and take some photos of your baby!!

My girls are used to me well documenting their lives...haha.

My sienna (2) pretends to take photos of me with her play phone...

 while she takes pretend pictures she says "one more"..."awww cute"... "one more!"

she might have heard these things from me.....possibly. ;)

My First Senior Portrait Session

I am super excited to share with you guys some photos 

from my first senior portrait photography session! I am doing this on the side for fun..and I had a blast going around town with these girls taking photos!
Gina and her BFF Emilee were modeling it up like pros. 
No need to tell them to laugh and smile..because they did it on their own! ;) 
I love taking photos..and they were just as excited about the whole thing so it made it easy and fun!
**I loaded this post up with photos so local kids can check out my style of senior portraits**

MY CAMERA: Canon Rebel T1i
LENSE: 50mm

Sophia joined in for some of the photos!

I think She was confused why the camera wasn't on her!! haha. 
You can see me in the window below. ;) Got a mama-entrepreneur in action! ;)

Life with a 2 yr old & Trick or Treating 2010

Sophia never ceases to amaze us.....she is seriously rocking the terrible two's but at the same time she is a complete sweetheart! 
I guess we get the best of both worlds with her. :) 

Ben has a motorcycle...and i was telling her in the car one day that mama didn't like it..that it's dangerous. and obviously daddy got to her first on this subject..because she very adamantly told me "nooo it's cute!" over and over and over again. i couldn't win. haha.

She says full sentences now allll the time. the first time she did it we were like ohh so cute. but now those full sentences are her telling us what is up haha. for the most part we try and not laugh when she is bossing us around because i'm guessinggg that it's not a good idea to respond with a smile haha. 

trying to nip that in the bud asap.

sienna got her shots yesterday..and it was brutal. she was not a happy girl. sophia never responded like that. but sophie could tell i was stressing..and she kept saying "its ok mommyy...it's alright...." that is the exact phrasing i always say to sienna when she is crying haha. she picks up on everything. 

she even says it like i do!

Sophia isn't a fan of the lettuce.....but i told her the other day that it's what bunnies eat i'ts bunny food! and with hopped around a bit..(i have no shame) and now she can't get enough of it! mama wins!

Been loving Little Einstein's lately..her favorite show. one episode gives me a break of intercepting sophie trying to sit on sienna in her swing..or feed her crackers. i'll take a break any way i can get.

i LOVE being a mom of two..it definitly has it's challenges. and i'm still getting used to being a stay at home mom/work from home mom... it is a bit tricky at times. But i'm learning more each day how to balance it all. I think i'm learning to not give msyelf such high expectations..and to be more positive about what i am actually able to get done and not focus on what i'm notttt getting done. 

We had a great night of trick or treating!

I wish that i could have done creative home made costumes this year but it just wasn't happening with moving/newborn/rebranding myself going on. it was a miracle they got in costumes at all! 
it was soo cold but we layered them up!

we reused our monkey costume for sienna this year, we got that for 10 bucks at target the day of halloween when sophia was little. i love hand-me-downs. :)

Here's some shots from our fun that night!.....
getting ready...i painted sophie's nails pink and she LOVED it. 

met up with some friends for trick or treating!  

aren't they cute?! sophia was in awe of their costumes hehe.

 

the girls ran all over together! it was so cute.

me and my lil monkey. :) we ended the night at another friend's house! 

FAVORITE SHOTS. (sophie trying to feed sienna the banana..haha.) 

Finally headed home and had snuggle time with sienna while looking over sophie's stash! hehe.