5 Steps to Gorgeous iPhone Pictures of Your Baby

December 19, 2017  •  Leave a Comment

Your baby is the CUTEST, am I right??? And changing every day! Ideally you are investing in professional portraits every four to six months, but in between, how to best capture the everyday adorableness? Here are 5 things to think about!

    1. Find the best spot in your home
    A good picture needs good light! Look for a nice big window - you want lots of light, but not direct sun. If the sun is coming directly in, look for a window on the opposite side of the house, pull a sheer curtain across, or place baby just outside of the beam of light. On a super gloomy day, you just want the brightest window in the house. Turn off any interior lights - they can cast odd colors and shadows. The image below shows a good spot - the sun is shining on the opposite side of the house - placing baby on the bed close to the window will give lovely light for your picture. (Remember to never ever step away from a baby on a bed or other surface! Babies of all ages can launch themselves off in seconds!)

using window light for picturesWindow light for baby picturesOn the bed near the window is a perfect spot to capture sweet pics of your baby
    
2. Position Baby with the top of her head toward the window
    Think of shining a flashlight under your chin in the dark - spooky and funny, but not super flattering! The sun shines from above, so we expect to see light shining down from above people’s heads. Think of this when you lay Baby down for a picture - place Baby so the top of the head faces the window to avoid “ghoul lighting” that comes from below the face. Here is my "assistant" demonstrating - pic 1: no! pic 2: yes!

ghoul lighting"ghoul lighting"Here the subject's feet are toward the window so the light comes from below the chin - not flattering!

using window lightbetter lightingHere the light comes from above in a much more flattering way because the top of her head is toward the window.
    
3. Hold your phone at the right angle!
    Now we have beautiful light shining just the way we want it - time to think about where to hold the camera. An easy rule to remember is: No Nostrils! Hold your camera in such a way that you are looking down Baby’s nose. Experiment with different angles to find what you like, but try to always think of angling to see down baby’s nose, not up the nostrils. (So - NOT like either picture above...see? No one wants to see up someone's nose!)
  
 4. Use Portrait Mode
    Not going to lie, I love portrait mode on the iPhone! Have you played with it yet? So fun!! Try it if Baby is asleep or fairly calm- it doesn’t work so well with a squiggly subject! Here, Bouncer demonstrates how fun portrait mode is:

portrait modeiPhone portrait modeBouncer demonstrates the awesomeness of portrait mode
    5. Use an app to edit!
        there are a lot of great photo editing apps. My favorite is Snapseed- check it out! You can do a lot, from minor adjustments to major effects. Here is a cell phone picture of Puck before and after Snapseed:

cat hot air balloonSnapseed FilterThis is a cell phone picture of Puck with and without use of the Snapseed app to edit.
    
And then of course, share your sweet baby with friends and family! There can never be enough baby or cat or puppy pictures on the internet!

 

 


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