Taking photos of babies is one of my favourite disciplines of photography… (It’s like my guilty pleasure)  When they get to about 12 weeks old they start smiling at you and making little gurgling sounds as soon as they see they can get some attention from it  

They have now become interactive and all you need to do to get them to smile is make funny noises and smile back at them, as easy as that.  It often happens that they will smile at you and the moment you bring the camera closer they stop smiling… Why?  This is because you are breaking eye contact.  They can’t “see” you anymore and they don’t understand why so they stop smiling.  So we often take our camera, look through the viewfinder and focus the camera, and then hold our faces right next to it so that we can interact with baby as well as capture that perfect shot.

Not all babies are easy to photograph at this age though, as they are starting to recognise faces and and you are unfamiliar to them, so to bypass this we start them with photos where mom or dad are holding them.  This gives your little angel some time to get used to the studio, the lights and this “new” person.  Once they have become more comfortable with their new surroundings, we get the shots where they are by themselves.  Lastly,  try to always schedule your baby photoshoot to slot into their routine.  When they have had their nap and their tummies are full is normally a good time

Riani Labuschagne

Baby Photo Studio