San Antonio Sibling Photos | Tips for Great Sibling Portraits
As parents, we adore our children and we want photos of them looking like they adore each other. 🙂
Every parent could use tips for great sibling portraits.
Tips for Photographing Your Baby at Home | Chelsea Lietz Photography
Photographing newborns is my thing!
My passion, my job, my talent, and my joy.
But when I can’t safely photograph your new arrival, I still want you to have beautiful images to remember and cherish.
I’d like to share a few tips to help you photograph your newborn yourself from the safety of your home.
10 Tips for photographing your baby at home
- Use soft window light. Turn off all indoor lights and go near a window that is bright but not getting direct sunlight. Do not use a flash.
- Angle your baby so the light goes down the baby’s face from a slight angle. (See the diagram below.) You never want your light source to point up the nose or up the bum.
- Don’t worry about posing. Newborn posing is trickier than it looks. Let baby be natural and just focus on a clear view of his/her face. If your baby is awake and arms are getting in the way, swaddle.
- Choose blankets and clothing that are simple and not distracting. I love soft solids or items with texture.
- Choose a time when baby is happy and comfortable. This usually means recently fed, changed, and warm.
- Make sure your images are in focus. With a cell phone, touch the screen to auto set the focus and exposure to the face, eye, etc.
- Capture the details. Tiny feet, small flaky hands, kissy lips.
- Skip the props for now. Especially something you want to pose baby in/on. Go for simple and sweet. You might use the nursery you spent hours decorating or meaningful items like a special lovie or a blanket grandma made.
- Maybe skip the filters. They often make skin tones the wrong color or overexpose the skin (blown out white). If you want to edit, try fiddling with exposure, contrast, and shadows. Less is more.
- Get in some of the photos, Mama. Please.
10.5 Book Chelsea Lietz Photography for a future professional session. I promise we will still capture the beauty and magic of your new baby and your growing family.
Every Storm Runs Out of Rain…
In compliance with city and county mandates, Chelsea Lietz Photography is currently closed. I cannot offer sessions of any type at this time.
But when it is safe to do so, I would love to photograph your family.
Worried that your newborn will be too old? Please don’t worry! I can photograph babies of any age and create beautiful images.
Missed her actual birthday? Not a big deal! We can still capture a birthday session with all of the fun… nobody will care if they were actually done a few weeks after the actual birthdate.
Your senior missed out on prom, graduation photos and special moments? Let’s capture them this summer!
Realized how lucky you are to have grandparents and great-grandparents around? Plan a Generation session with them.
Need to update those family photos? Let’s plan something together. Photographs of your loved ones will always be important and I look forward to creating lifelong keepsakes for you soon.
Use the CONTACT ME form on this website to touch base about future sessions. You might also want to see the Pricing and FAQ pages.
Stay home, stay safe. We belong to each other. See ya under the rainbow!
Chelsea Lietz Photography specializes in newborn, baby, child and maternity photography in San Antonio, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Stone Oak and New Braunfels. Tips for photographing your baby at home.
Please “like” me on Facebook and Instagram.
San Antonio Photographer | 12 Tips for Photographing Your Own Children | Tip 1
In the age of selfies, photographs are part of everyday life.
This is especially true for parents… We don’t want to miss a thing and everything they do is cuter than the thing before. We flood facebook feeds from the moment we get their first photograph on ultrasound. We “overgram” their every move on instragram. We snap iphone pics and ask for “fancy” cameras for Christmas. Let’s face it, children are cute and they grow too fast. Documenting their lives is fun and truly important.
These photographs create a record… because truth is, it is easy to forget things in our sleep-deprived perpetually-busy state. They preserve memories for the future. They give us proof. We *need* these momentos to embarrass our kids at their weddings. Am I right? 🙂
We all take photos of our children. Usually every day!
And while I strongly support hiring a professional photographer at least once a year, I also want to share some tips with you so that you can take better photographs of your own children- with any camera at all. I’m going to try and keep it at a beginner level with one advanced tip or two.
I will be sharing one tip a month, so don’t forget to come back and learn more! You can also search the blog for “photography tips” to see all of the posts.
When you see a beautiful photograph that moves you, chances are, the lighting is appealing. Light is crucial in photography, even with a snapshot.
Today, I want to urge you to turn off your flash and harsh overhead lights! When shooting indoors, look for the sunlight. Try opening your blinds and curtains and using this indirect light for your photographs.
Flashes can be a necessary evil in certain situations. But my camera doesn’t even have one. And the flash on my phone is turned off. These on-camera flashes are harsh, unflattering, and often cause red eyes or startled looks. They wash out skin tones and create harsh shadows. Overhead lights make strange shadows and destroy your white balance. If you can find enough light without them, turn them off!
When photographing my kids indoors, I place them near windows or doors with indirect light. (this means no harsh rays shining right in… unless you are going for that effect) I watch how the light hits their faces. Ideally, you want it to shine down their face and slightly from the side, or side light them.
You can also shoot into the window for a different look. (see the bottom images below)
Advanced tip: if you want to use natural light, but there doesn’t seem to be enough of it, raise your ISO. The shots of Brynn in her crib below were shot at ISO 3200. This creates some grain in the photo, but I don’t mind it.. especially in the black and white versions. Did you know you can change your ISO on your phone camera, too? ISO is how sensitive your camera is to the available light. Read more here.
I photograph my children often, usually with my cell phone. I am on instagram! Follow ChelseaLietz if you like. 🙂
Here are some of my recent images of my own children using natural light inside. (these are with my big girl camera)
Chelsea Lietz Photography specializes in newborn, baby, child and maternity photography in San Antonio, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Stone Oak and New Braunfels. San Antonio Photographer. Please “like” me on Facebook.
Tips for Photographing Your Own Children | Chelsea Lietz Photography in San Antonio
Take better photographs of your own children!
I am very happy to announce that I will be sharing a personal blog post each month with candid photos of my kids and tips for taking better pictures of your own children anytime, anywhere, and with any camera!
Keep an eye out for January’s post later this month. In the meantime, keep snapping! Kids grow too quickly.
Chelsea Lietz Photography specializes in newborn, baby, child and maternity photography in San Antonio, Texas and surrounding areas including but not limited to Stone Oak and New Braunfels. Please “like” me on Facebook.
Follow the series on tips for photographing your own children!