Baby Photography With Magic!

I decided to mark Davids' first birthday with a studio baby portrait session. Being the first baby, to thirty something parents, first grandchild two sets of sixty something grandparents there was no shortage of cute baby clothes to dress him in. He’d have looked like a designer baby if it wasn’t for the ever present runny nose babies are prone to. Being permanently sleep deprived I’d not done any research into which photographic studio to use. I simply went to a Hertfordshire based studio that was easy to reach. As luck would have it turned out to be a really excellent baby photographers’. The young receptionist greeted us at the door which a welcoming smile, she was genuinely happy to see baby David. Babies know when they’ve made a hit, and he had, which clearly pleased him. He was relaxed and enjoyed the photographic shoot.

As a customer and a mother I learnt a lot from this photographic studio. This photographer had managed to put all the necessary ingredients together to maximize the likelihood of arriving at a good baby photograph. The professionalism of the photographers’ photos was clear just from a quick glance at the portraits adorning the walls of the studio reception. But whether the resulting portrait is to your taste and actually captures the baby as you see him is the real skill. Studio photographers fully in control of their art can produce a staggering range of style of portrait irrespective of the subject. Add into the mix the baby to be photographed and the possibilities are really only limited by the photographers imagination. With a baby photo what I personally wanted was a photograph of baby David which could emote a particular feeling in the viewer. That emotion evoked in a parent when seeing the total innocence and trust in the eyes of their baby. I would go as far as to say that a good baby portrait is only good if it combines total photographic control together with this magic ingredient. It’s that special magic ingredient that makes a truly great baby photographer.

Like any really worth while piece of art, it’s only art if it induces a strong emotion in the viewer. Given the subject matter, you would think that this would be easy and that a good photographer could evoke a strong emotional response every time. We are certainly inundated with cutesy images of babies and children by the media, but do these images actually meet the requirements of a good baby photograph. I would personally maintain that these images don’t. They are beautiful and certainly evoke pleasure in the viewer but so does a beautiful photograph of a sunset, or a car, depending on your disposition.

So how does the great baby photographer manage to capture the personality of an individual baby? That’s the great question, and if there were an easy answer to that then the whole of baby studio photography would be cinch. It is however possible to identify what doesn’t help in this endeavor. Poor composition, i.e. where the baby is not the central point of interest in the photograph has to be the first element to look for. This does not mean that the baby needs to positioned slap bang in the middle of the image and as far forward as possible. But when you look at the photograph the baby needs to be what you’re eyes are drawn to first. This might seem obvious, but just look at some of the plethora of baby images around you and you will soon be able to identify examples where other elements of the image compete with the actual baby. This may well be intended within that particular image but is not what you want for a timeless baby portrait.

My next article will deal with the next most important element required to capture that magic, Baby Photographic Moment!