You’ve probably seen photos of Baby’s First Year Photos, pictures at every month milestone, and dream of doing your own. Here are some helpful tips to make them the best they can be!

No fancy camera needed, though if you have one, I highly recommend you dusting it off for these!

LOCATION

Choose a spot in your home with good light. Light makes and breaks photos. Choose a spot near a big window or sliding door where the light shines in, but doesn’t make a really noticeably bright spot. You’re looking for soft light, but bright.

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS

Sounds silly right?! Trust. Overhead and room lighting in your home is likely incandescent, yellow, and comes from above. All very unflattering lighting, and it will add a yellow color cast to your baby’s skin and eveything else for that matter. So turn them off! This little tip will also help you to find beautiful natural light in your home.

GROWTH MARKER

Decide if you’d like a stuffed animal or other growth marker in each photo. Choose wisely! This item will be in photos that you will have for YEARS to come. make it a classic toy, a very favorite item of yours, something that you won’t tire of.

THEME

Do you want to incorporate the season or holiday of that month in your Baby’s First Year Photos? Or do you prefer a simple image with the same stuffed animal or on the same chair etc for each month? Hint, as kiddos get bigger, they get harder to contain! A chair or a crib is easier to keep them in one spot than on a blanket on the floor!

Once 6-8 months rolls around you’ll have a roller, a crawler, and a walker on your hands! Be quick! Babies don’t have much of an attention span. Use something to grab their attention and be prepared with camera in hand in good light!

QUANTITY

Take A LOT of images for your Baby’s First Year Photos! If you’re using a digital camera, make sure you have a fast shutter speed and a High shutter sync on. This helps to take as many photos as possible in a short timeframe. If you’re using a cell phone for your monthly photos, turn on LIVE capture. This takes a mini video that you can slide through and choose the split second that your baby looked or smiled at you.

PLANNING

Set a date or a weekend each month to do the photos on. Plan ahead and have everything you need on hand before you bring baby in. You may only have a minute or two where baby laughs or is in the mood!

Try Try again – Since it’s your Baby’s First Year Photos and you’re in your own home, nothing says that you can’t try for the best images over an entire weekend or even the whole week! Keep at it until you get THE photo you are after!

Have an assistant – Two pairs of hands are better than one, especially when you’re getting to the ages where rolling, crawling, and walking are in play! You’ll be thankful to have someone be the photo taker and another be the baby wrangler. Moving baby back into the spot over and over, or shaking a toy, making silly faces and sounds over you until you get the one!!

If you found this helpful, tried any of these tips, or have a question for me be sure to leave a comment or reach out to me at ashley@reneeash.com!

If you enjoyed these tips and images, check these posts out!

The best ages for baby pictures

5 Tips to Have the Best Baby Milestone Photos

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