5 tips for great family photos (with a self timer)

As our baby turns 6 months, I've realised we don't have a single photo of the four of us.

Getting some professional pictures taken is definitely on my to-do list but we've just not got round to it. Life has been busy.

Last weekend I was determind to get a picture - the four of us, our little family, my camera and a self timer. Easy right? 

It took patience, a lot of patience with a toddler running into the garden after every shot and being dragged back to the sofa for 'just one more!'  We got there in the end though.

Here are some of my tips for getting that family shot:

1. Choose your weapon - you may have an SLR or compact camera and a tripod. You may be looking to balance an iPhone on a pile of books. Choose what works for you and work out how to use the self timer function.

2. The set-up - my advice (particularly if you have young children) is to decide on your location in advance (ideally close to a window with some natural daylight). Clear away clutter and any distractions. Use an adult to pose for a trial shot and see how it looks. If you have everything set up in advance, you just literally need to bring the children in and get going.

3. Patience- we bribed our toddler with a biscuit and entertained her with songs. She was not playing ball but we just kept persevering with the self timer, taking numerous shots.

4. Eyes to camera? Do you want everyone looking at the camera? We tried shots some looking at the camera and some away. The image I chose was less posed and more natural. This is the style we prefer but the beauty of the self timer is that you are in charge and you can try lots of different options.

5. Editing - my editing for clients is done on my desktop computer with Photoshop software. Increasingly for day to day family pictures of our life at home I upload my pictures straight to my iPad using an Apple card reader. I then use the VSCO or Snapseed apps to crop, tweak colours and contrast or change to black and white. 

 

Before & After

Before

After

As you can see I chose to be close to a window with plenty of light. I had originally tried to include a painting we have in our kitchen but in the end decided the painting was a little too distracting and cropping in closer would work better. I also decided without the painting, I preferred the picture in black and white form.

Using the self timer is definitely something to try out. It takes a little planning but great to have a family photo ready for framing on your mantelpiece. 

The magic of stories

Bedtime stories are a big deal in our house.

Stick Man, Not Now Bernard and Giraffes Can't Dance are just some of the favourites on loop each evening. They take pride of place at the end of our 2 year old's bed. 

Some of her books are gifts, recommendations from friends and their children (Goodnight Moon).

Some are stories I loved as a child and have tracked down on eBay late at night (There's a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake).

Then there are some new discoveries that caught our eye in a local bookshop.

Stanley's Cafe by William Bee I found when pottering on a lazy Sunday morning in Wimbledon Village. This particular morning I put myself in charge of the book selection, refusing to be sucked in to buying another book with a certain pink pig on the front.

It was the beautiful illustrations that first caught my eye.

The book tells the simple tale of Stanley the Hamster and his day to day life working in a cafe.

Setting up the cafe for the day, cooking breakfast, baking a birthday cake, washing up and home to bed. Stanley's routine was quickly picked up by our 2 year old. It wasn't long before she knew the character Myrtle (regular customer) likes 'a nice cup of tea' (much like mummy).

When our little girl wakes up in the morning she will often be heard (on the baby monitor) reading Stanley to her toys in a kind of gibberish language but with the intonation of an adult narrator.

A few weeks ago I discovered Stanley's Colours. It's a smaller in size board book introducing little ones to colours through modes of transport. Our little girl would listen intently and I could see the penny drop as she gradually started to pick up and repeat the names of the colours in front of her.

The end of the day always feels the toughestThe exhaustion of having two children under 3 kicks in, the caffeine has worn off and my bed is calling. But storytime and watching our toddler devour the words and stories in front of her is magic.

Before you know it that 'just one story' has turned into five and a happy little girl full of imagination has nodded off to sleep.

Top 10 tips for photographing your baby's first year

Use natural light in your home rather than a camera flash

So much happens in your baby's first year and it's a hectic and incredible time. I'll be honest, a huge amount of the photos I have taken of our little girl have been on my phone as it's quick and convenient. However camera phones have limitations and it can be worth dusting off your compact camera and playing around with the settings to get more from your images. 

Here are ten tips for how I think you can get more out of photographing your baby's first year:

1. Birth

So it probably won't be at the top of your hospital bag list BUT whether it's your camera phone, a compact camera or DSLR, make sure you pack a camera in your hospital bag. Chances are you will be pretty busy with a new baby on your hands breastfeeding, sleeping and not knowing what day it is but there will probably be the odd moment where you will be wishing you had a camera to hand. I was in hospital four nights and there were times (bleary eyed) where I just couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures of our new baby snoozing away in the bassinet beside me.

2. Location, Location, Location

A photo shoot on a bed with natural light streaming through a window on the left

Think about the room which has the best light in your home. Think about what time of day it has the best light - a bedroom might be a good option. Clear some space, avoid a messy background and if needs be cover a sofa or bed with a cream or white (or plain) sheet. This creates a nice, clean, light backdrop for which to photograph your baby and your mini shoot can commence.

3. Ditch the flash

Flash can be really ugly. If you have a room with good natural light, you can avoid using flash and your pictures will look so much better. If you have a compact camera play around with the light sensitivity (ISO) and push it up to a higher level. If you have an iPhone, an app such as Camera+ will allow you to have control over your settings and change the ISO. This is something definitely worth experimenting with.

4. Detail shots

Close-ups of tiny hands and feet, eyes, nose, ears, and baby's first smile make great images. These are all pictures to treasure and worth having in the family album. Many cameraphones and compact cameras have a macro setting (usually a flower symbol) and this will allow for close-up shots. Be prepared to put in some time as you will need your baby to be very still but these are great shots to have.

5. Relationships

Family relationship shots are great to have in the family album

It's incredible watching a special relationship develop between your new baby and their father, mother, grandparents and siblings. It's even better when you can catch those special moments through images. It could be dad simply holding the baby or rocking him or her to sleep, bathing them or reading the baby a story. I'm always trying to capture those relationship shots.

6. Using the seasons

As your baby starts to move around and explore their surroundings, it can be a perfect opportunity to use the seasons in your photographs. A drab, grey miserable day can be brought to life with a pop of colour - it could be your baby wearing a bright coat or mum or dad carrying a colourful umbrella. Autumn provides a wealth of warm, golden colour and can be a great backdrop for photographs, as can Spring with blooming pink and white confetti-like cherry blossom.

7. Baby's firsts

Hard to resist those pictures of baby's first taste of food!

From their first taste of food to their first birthday - have your camera at the ready as there's bound to be some great moments. For our little girl's first birthday recently we bought balloons and bunting. Not only was she excited by them, they provided a dash of extra colour to the photographs.

8. Editing

Adobe Photoshop is the editing software of choice for many photographers who choose to pay monthly or annually to use it. If you fancy dabbling  to see what it's all about you can download a free month's trial through Adobe. There's also a fantastic free app for iPhone called Photoshop Express which allows you to do quickfire editing on the move. A great tool to have particularly if you use social media and fancy sprucing up your images before posting.

9. Printing

It's all too easy to take lots of pictures these days, upload them to a laptop or computer and forget about them. The best advice someone gave me recently was to print my pictures and keep them in a box  - old school maybe but really worth doing. Photo books are great value these days and the printing quality continues to improve. The Printspace, a London company are my go-to printers of choice for images. Beautiful, quality images,  available in a range of finishes and quick delivery.

10. Investing

Get professional images taken. I realised early on after our daughter was born that I wasn't going to be appearing in many of our pictures of her early years as I was the one behind the camera. We chose to have a photo shoot at home. We were exhausted, new parents but I am so glad we had those images taken as they are very special to us.