Capturing Baby {Months Three and Four}

This is the second in a 3-part series of newborn and baby photography tutorials that Keli Hoskins put together for I Heart Faces. You can read the first parts of her series here:

• Capturing Baby’s First Two Months

Now that the sleepy newborn phase is over, the next stage is full of sparkly eyes and gummy grins. Babies are starting to pick their heads up and look around and smile at the people that they know and love, so I’m sharing a few areas to capture during this age in a more natural environment.

1. Heads up!

 Tummy time is the perfect chance to capture those adorable grins.

Or drool.

When thinking of the best times to photograph your baby, try to take your pictures right after their morning nap and feeding time. They are the happiest during that time of the day, and you will often have the best light then, as well.

If you use a Bumbo seat or a bébéPOD, you can use this opportunity to get close up pictures of your baby’s face, hands and feet.

[For the safety of our babies, please always follow the safety guidelines and height restrictions for these seats when using them for photographs.]

2. Head down.

Put baby on their back near a window, and stand between the window and the baby [without blocking the light] to get those great catchlights in their eyes.

Embrace the spontaneous moments of love between siblings.

3. Rolling.

This is the age when babies usually start rolling, and that’s always a cute thing to document. Plop them on a bed with a pretty blanket and open up the blinds to get as much natural light as possible.

This immobile time is also a great opportunity to capture the baby on a special blanket or quilt.

4. Awareness

Babies are becoming more and more aware of their surroundings. Take this time to capture their wonder and intense concentration over the smallest things, such as toys…

big people…

little people…

and the games big siblings play.

5. Details

Don’t forget to capture the details of your sweet baby’s daily life.

•  The chubbiness that may be starting to show up on their legs and arms.

• Something that means a lot to them.

• Something that means a lot to you. This picture may not seem like anything special to outsiders, but my middle child basically lived in a wrap on my back for the first 6 months of her life due to severe reflux and allergies. I will never forget those days and how baby-wearing truly saved my sanity.

6. Reality

At the end of the day, make sure you capture the reality of life with a baby. It’s not always clean and beautiful and perfect and full of pure white sweaters and ruffly diaper covers.

If you’re lucky, it’s even better!!

In other words, embrace the spit bubbles.

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Keli Hoskins is a busy mom of 3 kids, 5 and under. She spends her days changing diapers and cleaning the house and playing Candy Land and doing laundry and snuggling babies and making dinner and occasionally taking pictures. And that’s just the stuff she does for fun! You can follow her life and photos at Kidnapped by Suburbia.

Tagged as: baby photography, baby photography tip, Infants, keli hoskins, Photography Tips