1. Snap away and delete the ones you don't like.
Taking pictures of babies is different than taking pictures of adults. Sounds like common sense right? But too many people tend to take only one or two pictures of babies (like they would for adults) and wonder why their pictures were blurred or that the baby's eyes were closed. The fact of the matter is, babies are unpredictable and they pretty much do what they want, when they want. So as the photographer, we must adjust to them. Patience is the key here. Rather than taking a picture and walk away, point the camera to the baby, focus the lens, wait, and snap continuously when picture taking opportunities arise. This does not guarantee a great shot, but at least you will have maybe ten to choose from, rather than one.
2. Have someone attract the baby's attention immediately above or next to your lens.
The most helpful thing a helper (mom, dad, aunt, etc) can do is to help get the baby's attention and somehow help squeeze a smile or giggle from the baby. However, if the helper is standing to the far right, the baby will be looking up and to his far left rather than looking forward to the camera. Unless you want a picture of the baby looking up and to the left, have your helpers attract the baby's attention towards the lens. Doing this will increase your chances of getting a nice shot of the baby's facial expressions.
3. Focus on the eyes and smile.
Arguably, the most interesting parts of a baby are her eyes and smile. So why don't we fill the frame and focus on those two things? When taking pictures of babies, I use a big aperture (f1.8 to 2.8) and focus on either the eyes or smile because I want to bring that part of the face out. Using such a big aperture focuses on a single point and everything else becomes somewhat less focused, which actually brings out the point of focus even more.
Notice how the focus is on the eyes and not on the baby's entire face in these two pictures.
4. Move around!
Babies can't move, so you should! Many times, people stay in one spot and take a bunch of shots of the baby from the same level and angle. The result is that you get a bunch of similar looking pictures. So my advice is to first get low to the baby's eye level and take pictures from there. Once you have enough of those, stand up and get some pictures of the baby looking up at you. Then try other angles and levels like going to either the right or the left of the baby. Take pictures of the baby from a variety of angles and levels and you will get some pretty interesting shots!
5. Take close-ups.
Babies are small by nature, so why don't we help them appear bigger by zooming in? Doing this will enhance the baby's features and bring focus to details. You should not feel the need to capture the baby's entire body or face even. Framing the shot so that only parts of the face is showing can lead to interesting shots.
6. Use manual mode if you have a dSLR.
I used to use aperture mode to take pictures of babies, but many of my shots were blurred because the camera sets the shutter speed, and more often than not, the shutter speed was way too slow. I did not like using the shutter mode because it doesn't allow me to select my aperture, and as previously discussed, selecting a desired aperture is desirable! Soooo, I've resorted to using manual mode. I generally keep my aperture around f2.8 to f4.0 and use shutter speeds anywhere from 1/100 to 1/3200 of a second, depending on how bright the environment is.
Those are my baby picture taking tips. Try them out and see if you are able to get better shots of your baby!
Check out the babies page on my blog for more examples
http://lusalaiphotography.blogspot.com/p/babies.html
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