Most smartphones nowadays are equipped with decent cameras that capture good photos with the right lighting, angles and composition. Even without using the latest smartphones with whopping resolution and incredible digital zoom capabilities, or even professional DSLRs that require technical photography knowledge and skills, you can always snap that perfect photo of your little one that you will always treasure forever.
I'm not a photography enthusiast, or someone with actual technical know-how of digital photography, but I do have some tricks up my sleeve in capturing good photos of my baby. However, if you are really trying to obtain or achieve studio-quality photography, this article may not help you that much, as you're better off hiring a professional photographer to create those awe-inspiring shots. This article is not intended as a crash course on photography.
For starters, I am using Huawei P10, a model released in 2017. It's not the latest model of Huawei dedicated for smartphone photography, but I still find that it can capture crisp images with good lighting and manual adjustments.
All images provided below are unedited, except those pictures with captions expressly stated as such.
Tip No. 1
Let there be light: NATURAL LIGHT!
Lighting is the key factor that will contribute to the overall clarity and vibrancy of a photo. With mobile photography, however, the main challenge is taking pictures in good lighting setups. There are latest phone models that perform exceptionally well in low light like the Huawei P40 Pro or the iPhone 12, but for most smartphones, the best hack is to take photos in natural lighting, when sunlight is mellow and not too bright, but not too orange-y or dusky (unless, of course, you are trying to capture sunrise or sunset!). The sky color, of course, directly influences the tones and temperature cast in an image, and we all know that photos don't look that happy or vibrant when the weather is rainy and grey.
The main advantage of taking photos in natural light is that the resulting image will capture the best natural color, not to mention the crisp outlines and details. I find that taking photos near or just beside the window, where natural light indirectly enters the room, produces the best results. Find an area in the house where sunlight lights up the room just enough to make the colors pop, but not too bright or too direct. If sunlight directly enters the windows, consider getting white, semi-translucent curtains to tone down the brightness and close the glass windows for a more muted effect.
Tip No. 2
Less is more! Create a simple or minimalist background.
I make it a point to remove unwanted things or clutter whenever I do a 'glam pic' of my baby. Less clutter in the background will emphasize our little ones' chubby, angelic faces, and the resulting contrast would also look good.
A nice, plain blanket or faux fur are good background props. Even a plain bedsheet would look nice on photos! You can also experiment on textures such as plain but ruffled blankets, quilts, and knitted cloths.
Tip No. 3
Make sure that little one is well-fed, and not overly tired!
Ah, we all know that sometimes, babies just won't cooperate after doing all the DIY photoshoot prep. Before the DIY event, make sure that baby is not hungry, or that little one have just finished feeding. Babies get cranky whenever they are hungry whilst having to put up with a lot of stimulation; dressing your baby up, waving your phones here and there, singing and clapping to get that cute face to smile, are stimulating activities that can eventually tire your baby. A satiated baby is more often a happy baby too!
One more thing: schedule a pictorial when baby is at her most relaxed state during the day, which means that the best time is actually in the morning. This is actually the advice of a baby photographer who we hired to do our baby's newborn photoshoot. Most babies are also at their 'mildest' or 'mellowest' in the morning after feeding.
Tip No. 4
Set a theme or color palette! Pick the right colors!
Just as important it is to set a nice, unobtrusive background is to match colors that go well together. You can easily find color palette inspirations in the internet to suit the theme and mood that you want. These days, most people go for pastel colors which compliment the soft and smooth skin of babies. Pinterest is a good source of design inspiration, as well as app websites such as Offeo. This article from Offeo features a stunning guide on soft pastel color palettes featuring spring and summer hues.
As a working stay-at-home mom, I find that I am not able to conceptualize more unique and creative milestone DIY photoshoots ahead of time because of my hectic work (and yes, I do find time to update my blog a few times a week!). You can also buy one to three milestone blankets that you can use as a backdrop to lay your baby on for a quick DIY photoshoot every month. Find colors that flatter your baby's skin tone, making sure to match the colors of the blanket and the baby outfits!
Here's a list of monthly DIY milestone photoshoot ideas that you can explore:
12 Disney Princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida, and Moana)
12 Elemental or Nature-Inspired Ideas (Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood, Snow, Cloud, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring)
12 Dessert-Inspired Ideas (Cupcakes, Chocolates, Ice Cream, Cheesecake, Cookies, Hard Candies, Donuts, Biscuits, M&M's, Oreo, Macarons, Christmas Treats)
12 Fruit-Inspired Ideas (Strawberry, Apple, Watermelon, Orange, Mango, Kiwi, Pineapple, Grapes, Banana, Avocado, Melon, Coconut)
12 Flower-Inspired Ideas (Rose, Sunflower, Daisy, Carnation, Tulip, Chrysanthemum, Orchid, Lily, Baby's Breath, Gerbera, Dahlia, Lavender)
...and many more!
Think out-of-the-box and have fun conceptualizing your baby's next milestone DIY photoshoot!
Tip No. 5
Go Macro
Capturing the subtle, tiny details of your baby's face, hands and feet will also yield incredibly stunning photos that you will always treasure forever. If your smartphone has so-called macro capabilities, which allows your camera to take close-up photos without losing a decent focus, then go ahead and capture a close-up photo. As they say, dahil minsan lang silang bata, capturing these intimate moments is a beautiful way to preserve our memories of our children as little bundles and oodles of joy.
Don't worry if it seems that your baby has some rash, fuzziness or baby acne that will become noticeable when you photograph closely. These adorable imperfections, in fact, make the photos more natural, sentimental and intimate. Keeping it real and close to how we saw, felt and held our children as babies will make us tear up in the future when we look back and reminisce these moments.
Tip No. 6
Edit, if you need to!
There are many times when factors such as lighting, angle and timing just won't cooperate, and you will be hoping to capture a good shot out of some fifty plus images that you captured (been there, done that!). When those dark shadows need some adjustments, or the colors just won't pop, it's okay to turn to editing applications to give your photos a boost in overall image vibrancy and white balance and cropping unnecessary portions. Keep in mind, however, that image quality (resolution) will not technically improve with editing, and that some natural details may get lost in the editing process.
Most smartphones nowadays also produce passable (with some, even stunning, like the Huawei P-series) results in terms of color and white balance, so the resulting images are already post-processed to a decent degree. Experimenting on using these tools can be quite tricky at first, and if not used correctly, these may even ruin the original photograph, so make sure to tread lightly. In fact, if by first look you think that the photo looks great already, you don't really need to edit further!
I usually follow three checks when editing mobile photos: Crop, Clean, and Color (3Cs!). I also use any of the following free mobile photo editing app: Adobe Lightroom and Snapseed, and for desktop editing, Photoscape X (Free version).
CROP
Start by cropping the image to retain the subject of your photo, leaving ample space to fill the picture and emphasize your subject. A commonly used cool trick in photography is to follow the Rule of Thirds. It is a technique to compose or position elements in an image by dividing the image evenly into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, and the subject is positioned at the intersection of these lines. See gallery below for sample cropping.
Notice the blue lines in the second and third picture representing imaginary lines to divide the photo into thirds. The last photo, which is cropped, shows Baby Ayu positioned where the leftmost lines or grid intersect. This positioning makes the image more interesting. As she is looking on the right, it makes sense to position her on the left.
CLEAN
This represents adjusting the white balance, shadows and highlights of the image. White balance refers to the balance of the colors in an image with reference to the light source. Essentially, it means that a photo with a good white balance should look natural, and that the colors look accurate. In the above photos, the white balance is fantastic, even without the need for additional editing. However, for photos taken in dull lighting situations, adjusting the white balance may help improve the look of a photo. Use the auto white balance or auto-levels feature in your mobile photo editing app to adjust. See sample below for applying auto-level or auto white balance.
Before and After White Balance Adjustment
COLOR
If you want to make the photo more vibrant, there are many editing options to go for, namely: saturation, temperature, contrast and ambiance. However, when to use these tools depends on the quality or characteristics of the image itself.
Saturation is the factor of intensity of the colors, while temperature is the cast of the light source on the image itself, if it is 'cool' or 'warm' to the eyes. If the photo looks dull or faded, consider upping the saturation factor and adjust as necessary to enliven the image. If the colors look warm or cool when they shouldn't be, then adjust the temperature as necessary. I find that adjusting the temperature of photos taken under fluorescent lighting to a bit of a warmer side improves the feel of the picture. Also, when the sun casts a bright hue that look too warm to my eyes, I turn the notch to the cooler side just a little bit to balance the feel.
Contrast is the overall difference in the light and dark areas of the image. This improves the clarity, light and shadows, as well as the render of textures or details in an image. I use the ambiance adjustment tool to adjust contrast and saturation at the same time, which kind of hits two birds with one stone!
In this photo, you can see that there is an improvement in the vibrancy. Adjusting contrast and white balance can also 'lift' textures or details otherwise not noticeable in the original photo. See how the colors improve in the leaves, skin tone and the hair.
Do you have tips and tricks up your sleeve in taking pictures of your little one? Comment below and share with the rest of the community!
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