Here are 10 quick tips on taking great baby photos. Remember, the better your photos, the better your photocard, birthday invitation etc will look.

1.  Move around

Babies are small, and so you should be too.  If you’re always taking a picture on your feet, you’ll continually get shots looking downwards at your baby.  You need to get down and move around!  Take close ups and get the action from their level.  If they are crawling, you crawl!  If you have a digital SLR, you’ll probably need a wide angle lens to capture all the special movements.

2.  Switch to Macro Mode

Many digital camera’s today have macro mode.  In most cases, on the point and shoot cameras it is identified by a flower.  Babies are small, and you can capture better pictures of their feet and hands if you switch to macro mode. Capturing your baby in this mode accentuates the detail that is often missed when shooting in regular mode.

3.   Keep Shooting

Its true.  Most seasoned photographers will tell you that sometimes the best shots they get are the ones they didn’t really shoot for.  So keep shooting.  Besides, with a digital camera, you can delete the ones that didn’t turn out.

4.   Go black & white

This is a quick win for the artsy side of things. Simple switch to black & white photos and you will notice that you have a whole world of unique photos of your baby.

5.    Soft Lighting

This is a must when capturing pictures of babies.  Babies are soft and cuddly and so we should capture that! Take pictures with indirect lighting. Take it near a window or under a shade, or on an overcast day.  You’ll notice that pictures become much softer!

6.   Capture a story

Let’s not get too carried away with the standard dead on head shot.  Think more about the story you are trying to tell.  You want to capture the moments and expressions, for example, the moments when your baby gets a new toy or even his reaction to something sour! Those are the kinds of pictures that will bring back fond memories.

7.    Keep is simple!

Sometimes, its easy to get carried away with props.  But having too much clutter in the picture will make you lose focus on the baby.  Keep it simple, clean up the items in the background or try draping a white cloth over everything in the back. Then put a few blocks or toys with baby and start shooting!

8.   Get details

Be friends with your zoom.  Get close up shots of feet and hands. Capture their face and wide open eyes.  Let your baby hold your thumb or finger and show the comparison between your hands and his.

9.    Different facial expressions

Remember this one! Naturally we want to take pictures of baby smiling so we continually try to make then smile.  But wouldn’t it be great to capture the moments when they are reacting to something? Don’t be afraid to snap a picture of them crying, or making a sad face with their lips turned downwards.  Or how about a picture of baby thinking, eating something sour, sleepy, yawning etc.  Try to take different facial expressions, so that we you look back at your photo album, you have a variety of things to look at.

10.    Use props

Finally, use props.   It always adds to the uniqueness of a photo.  Give baby pots and pans to play with and put and apron on him.  Or put him in a basket full of toys! Give him glasses and a suitcase or sit him in front of a laptop.  One of the easiest things to do is use props.   You can even buy a bunny costume and let him wear it to suit your theme.  It you’re making a baby invitation with a princess theme, see if you can take a picture of her wearing a princess gown with a tiara.