There are two basic camera types you can consider for photographing your family, point-and-shoot and SLR (Single Lens Reflex). Point-and-shoot is small and very compact. It can fit in your pocket. SLR is larger, a bit heavier and needs to go into a medium size purse or a camera bag.

Which one is best for you? I recommend having both. The point-and-shoot is a great little camera to have on hand for capturing those quick moments as they happen. It’s easy to pull out of your purse and and start snapping. The SLR is for those times when you know you want to capture something specific and you are willing to have a larger camera in your purse.

Recently, my family and I went to Aruba for the holidays. I purchased a small little point-and-shoot to take with me. It was the first time I have traveled without my big camera gear. The separation anxiety was pretty severe but I made a promise to my family that image taking will not be the focus of our vacation. I felt so free not to be bogged down with a 40lb camera bag full of lenses and external flash units. Do I regret not taking my big gear? Yes and no. I really wished I had an SLR for some of the images  but for the most part, I had more fun with my teeny camera. It was so great to be able to pull out this cute looking baby blue contraption and just start clicking away. I wore it on my wrist like a piece of jewelry. It was fun! Did it produce great images? They were good enough for our memories but did not capture images the way I normally would. If my little point-and-shoot had the ability for manual exposure control, I could have created better images. If the lens allowed me to open the aperture a bit more I would have created even better images. But in the end, I was very happy with the memories I captured  because this camera allowed me to do something else. It allowed for some super cool stealth maneuvers, something I just can’t do with a giant lens and a heavy camera body. So I was able to capture incredible moments, that happened so quickly, without having to walk around strapped to massive gear. I was even able to capture images of my husband and I together just by holding out my hand and pointing the camera at out faces. That was super Cool!

If you have an interest in photography I suggest you have both a point-and-shoot and an SLR. But if you decide to invest in the larger camera you need to take advantage of it and this will entail learning a little more about photography in general. Don’t be afraid of the technical stuff. Once you understand the three most important functions of your SLR -  aperture, shutter and ISO -  you will be well on your way to mastering some great photo capture.

I did find an SLR camera that is very compact. Have a look at this one – The NEX-5K from Sony

Taken with my little blue Samsung point-and-shoot

When photographing your baby you need to get down low, at their level. This will produce a powerful image by giving your baby more importance to whoever views the image. If you photograph your child sitting on the floor and you are standing, the image will be one of a small child looking up to the world. If there s too much background the child looks even smaller in relation to his environment. If that was the intent, great, but I wouldn’t want all of my baby photographs to be captured in this way.

When I work with babies at the studio I am usually squatting, sitting, or lying on the floor.  The camera is usually directly at their eye level or just slightly above. With that being said, there is one pose I create where I am practically standing directly above the child and the child is sitting on the floor looking up. This particular pose is very close cropped of only the child’s face. It really brings out their large eyes and you don’t notice the background, their environment.

Some babies don’t notice the camera some babies do. Some really like it, while others don’t. The trick to capturing a good baby photo is to introduce your baby to being photographed slowly as if it is a normal activity. Don’t make is a special thing. Don’t get too excited, just pretend nothing out of the ordinary is happening and never let your baby play with your camera. A camera is something they will get accustomed to and will know it is something you hold some of the time. Once they have the camera, it becomes their toy and you can’t have it back. Every time you take out your camera they will of course want it. Once they get used to you holding the camera don’t ask them to perform for you. Make it a play date. Ask them the same questions you would if you were playing with them. if you ask them to smile, or say cheese, or to look at you, you are asking for them to perform, you are demanding they do something they weren’t doing before. This can backfire. But if you just play as you normally would and snap away they will soon forget about this extra little thing you are holding and that’s when you will capture really great moments. Be patient, it takes time to introduce your child to your new way of playing with them.

What is the right light? Light that wraps your subject. What does that mean? It is making sure that there is light everywhere, behind, in front, to the left, to the right of your subject. Each of those lights can be in different proportions to create a particular mood or feeling but for now let’s just try to get the all of the light in all of those areas I mention. You can get advanced later. It’s not that hard to achieve, don’t be scared, you will end up with a much nicer image if you experiment.

In a dark room at night, make sure you use your flash. The flash will not only light your baby but also bounce off the walls, ceilings and furniture. To get the best light, your subject should be relatively close to some background so the light can bounce off of it but they should not be sitting against this background. A sofa or a wall will do. Have your child a little away from this background. The lighter the colour of this background the more light will bounce because dark colours absorb light while light colours bounce some of the light back. A big fluffy white chair and getting in really close will produce the kind of portrait you see here. Setting your camera on macro mode will also help.

In the day time, place your baby next to a large window with either their left or right side pointing to the window, not their back. On the other side of baby place a large white sheet. You can drape it over two chairs or hang it from something. This will cause the light coming from the window to bounce off the sheet and bounce some light back onto baby creating what is called bounce light (or fill light). Like a light tunnel. You will stand between the window and the sheet to capture images of your child. Get in nice and close to their face. You can use your flash as it will create a softer more filled in look to your lighting and soften skin. This is the basic lighting set up of professional photographers when they visit your home. Instead of a sheet, they use what is called a reflector. The reflector and sheet perform the same task, both add extra light which makes a nicer image.

Try it next time and let me know how it worked out. Of course, professional photographers have other skills and equipment in addition to using this fill light. I will write an article about this a little later.

Before I talk about turning off the flash let’s mention turning on the flash first. In mid day full-sun where there are no clouds, please please please use your flash. Without flash your baby’s face will have dark shadows under the eyes, nose, and chin. With flash your baby’s face will be soft, without the harsh shadows. In early morning or early evening sun this isn’t such a big problem because the sun is lower but I still recommend using your flash. Turning off the flash can create some great images but you need to have some wrap-around lighting present. Wrap-around lighting is when the light comes in past your subject, hits something like a wall and bounces back onto your subject.

Some images look amazing in black and white but have you ever wondered why? It is because there is a good balance of contrast in the image. Some colours when converted in black and white come out looking gray while others come out looking black. Take red for example. Red in black and white will look black, while blue will look gray.

There needs to be a good amount of light gray and dark gray in a black and white portrait to achieve balance. Some images will have a more dramatic look, like an image of a baby’s face set against a black background and some images will look soft like an image of a baby’s face against light or white colours. Keep this in mind and photograph your baby specifically for creating a black and white photo. The thought you put into what they will wear and what background you will use to capture the photo will pay off and you will create a great baby photo.

The macro setting on a point-and-shoot camera is a great feature for up-close photos of your baby. Try to photograph your baby really close with little background showing, unless of course your goal is to photograph your entire living room too.

There is one pose I create in my studio where I am practically standing directly above the child and the child is sitting on the floor looking up. This particular pose is very close cropped of only the child’s face. It really brings out their large eyes and you don’t notice the background, their environment. My lens is a macro lens for this particular photo that I capture. You can try this at home on a hardwood floor or even standing on a bed while baby is on top of a pile of soft white pillows.