6 month old Baby Photo Shoot

This 6 month old baby photo shoot with Ava, was a joy to do. Ava’s big sister 3 year old Amy joined in too and we got lovely photos of the both of them. 6 months is such a lovely age, babies are very expressive and Ava was so smiley! She even woke up smiling. I must have done close to 500 baby shoots and you don’t see that very often. Ava was just starting to sit, although she was a bit wobbly. So Ava’s Mum used her hand to prop her up a few times. I was then able to photoshop Helen’s hand out of the picture. We did images on Ava’s back and tummy and also in a prop. Ava didn’t like staying on her back for long, so I had to be quick! I’ve been told babies can concentrate for a minute for every month, so at 6 months babies can concentrate for 6 minutes. There are lots of breaks and I’ve got quite proficient at reading baby cues. So I generally know when they’ve had enough. The shoot normally lasts an hour (with lots of breaks) and I can get quite a few different pictures in that time.

I normally find 3 year olds the most difficult to photograph. They are at an age where they are independent and it’s difficult to get them to be in a picture if they don’t want to do it. They have also found their freedom, so understandably don’t want to sit still. But Amy was great, such a lovely big sister and we were able to achieve quite a lot. This was a lovely 6 month old baby photo shoot, it is usually one of my favourites and this shoot was no exception!

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So smiley! and just adorable. 6 month old babies like grabbing their hands at this stage and I love being able to capture this.



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Both Ava and Amy’s first teddies are in this picture. I love it when parents bring items that are sentimental and we are able to incorporate them in the shoot.

 

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Etsy Shop Digital Backdrops

Here are the digital backdrops I’ve created over the last month. I’ve used a few for myself, for my own galleries, and I’m sure I will be using the red sledge Christmas backdrops very soon! (My Christmas Shoots start in September.) I’m updating and adding to my Etsy shop each week, and I’m really enjoying the process.

I started doing the digital backdrops after one of my newborn shoots. My clients desperately wanted a certain setup, which I said was of course no problem. It wasn’t a complicated set up. The first hour of the shoot was a breeze and the newborn slept like a dream. We did the beanbag pictures, which all went smoothly. The beanbag pictures are flow posing the baby on their back, side and tummy and then we did the parent and baby images. For what ever reason, it could have been wind! she woke up and didn’t want to do any more pictures. But I hadn’t done the setup the clients wanted! I knew we’d already got great images in the first half of the session and I didn’t want to upset or distress the baby in any way. So we called it a day. After the shoot I photographed the setup without the baby and then was able to composite an image (from one of the earlier beanbag shots) When the parents saw the setup they bought the picture and were very happy. My brain then started to whirl, if for whatever reason this happened again, I could just composite the baby from the beanbag into a prop shot. It’s been fun creating digital backdrops, and I have many more ideas!

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops?ref=hdr_shop_menu

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Digital backdrop, Newborn dark wooden bowl
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Digital Backdrop, Red sledge, snowy background.
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Digital backdrop, red sledge with teddy

 

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Example of what the digital backdrop can look like… composited baby onto the red sledge.

 

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Example of what the digital backdrop can look like… composited baby on the sledge with the teddy behind

 

Newborn Photo Shoot with Azari

A wonderful newborn photo shoot, with the lovely Azari. I’ve been photographing this family for the past couple of years and they’re all great. The oldest Jai even helps me out, and a very good photography assistant he is too! Azari slept the entire shoot, so we were able to achieve quite a few poses. I love this image with the bonnet. It was one of the pictures chosen to go up on Mum’s wall, one of three 20″ x 16″‘s sized prints. I love them all, but when I look at this picture I find it very gentle and calming. Azari was premature by a few weeks, and we actually did the shoot very close to her due date.

Harriett chose all black and white prints and I must say I do love black and whites. They are just so timeless. The printer I use is a canon ipf8400 and it prints wonderful pictures. The inks are pigment inks too, which means they will last up to 75 years. So, wonderfully, maybe these prints will be passed down to Azari’s grandchildren.

We did pictures of Azari on her own and with her two siblings. (I always do the sibling images first) Aston is now the middle child, and at 18 months old found the shoot a bit confusing. We managed to get a beautiful shot of the three of them though, and I’m so pleased we did. Sibling shots can be the most challenging in a newborn photo shoot. This is because, not only are you trying to get a good picture with all that entails, i.e. thinking about the lighting, posing, details. But also safety has to be paramount. In this instance, my go to pose for siblings which is lying them down, didn’t work. So instead I was able to put Aston on the white wooden chair and Jai to his side, holding his sister. It is a beautiful picture, I’m very proud of it, and Mum loves it.

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Newborn baby Azari, she was still very flexible, and was very comfortable in this position.

Etsy Shop, Digital Backdrops

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuraDigitalBackdrops?ref=hdr_shop_menu

So digital backgrounds seem to be becoming quite a big thing in the photography world. I have a studio and figured that whilst it isn’t being used for paying shoots I could create some digital backdrops of my own. Both, to use for myself and to sell. I have, over the past five years amassed a collection of backdrops and props. So I have created an etsy site. I only have one backdrop in the shop at the moment! but throughout the coming weeks I am planning to keep adding more and more.

 

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Above is the digital backdrop. An oval basket on a wooden floor with wallpaper backdrop. Below is the image with a baby added. This is really useful, particularly if baby is fussy and doesn’t want to be moved very much. Then, if the parents have their hearts set on a particular set up, we can still achieve it.  Victoria x

 

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