The Perfect Photo Shoot

Last weekend we took our 6+ month baby boy to our favorite photo studio – Avon MotoPhoto – for his baby portraits! (You may have watched yesterday’s slide show).

What a contrast from the last photo shoot! We are part of MotoPhoto’s Snuggle Bug Portrait Club, where you can have a photo shoot as often as you like (okay, I’m sure they mean within reason!). Our plan is to go in at the milestone months (3, 6, 9, 12). What a difference three months can make, in how babies change and how they behave! Instead of crank-a-saurus, this time our boy was quite the ham, giggling, rolling, and loving all the bright lights, goo-goo-ga-ga noises, and smiling faces directed his way.

Here are some tips we’ve learned for creating a perfect photo shoot with your baby :

• Bring several outfits – just don’t plan to use them all! It’s good to have options, and get the advice/feedback of your photographer. For instance, I thought I’d want a blue dress shirt and jeans, but in the end, the best shots were in a beige pants/vest outfit and a striped cotton romper.
• Baby skin is beautiful – sometimes the best shots are simply a diapered baby (and with cloth diapers, you can get a little fancy!).
• Bring props – a favorite blanket or toy will make the baby feel comfortable. We wrapped our baby in a fluffy white and blue blanket. We also chose one of his favorite toys, a stuffed dog with lots of texture, which made for one of my favorite photos when he took a big bite of the dog’s nose!
• Have fun – your baby will relax and be smiley if you are into the game! We got down on the floor, made silly noises, tickled him, waved feathers to make him look in the right direction – it was fun for us, and for baby too! And our photographer is so awesome – Suzy was right in on the action too!

We can’t wait for the 9 month photo shoot – hopefully we’ll be able to do some baby art photos (shots of baby body parts collaged together). So, what do we do with our baby portraits? Last time we had prints made up in sepia tones and framed. This time I think the colors were so great, I’ll have color prints done. Next time, I’m thinking perhaps a retro finish for the prints (or possibly for the one year photos).

I’m creating an album of selected photos from each shoot to chronicle his first year. I’ll share more with you as the album goes together!

Do you do formal baby portraits? Take your own pictures? What are some creative ways you share and display your photos? Share with us!