1) Baby on mommy’s chest in hospital. Get close up! Crouch so that you’re at eye level. If you have an SLR, Increase your ISO so that you don’t have to use flash. Otherwise, hold a piece of paper over the flash so as not to disturb baby (and blow out her face).
2) First bath at home. Document that first hair color because it’ll change soon! Little suds in the hair and drips on the face and toes are so cute.
3) Asleep in mommy or daddy’s arms (best if mommy/daddy is also asleep). Capture the exhaustion of parenthood!!
4) TV face (since they are transfixed, you can be assured of catching the shot; you probably even have time to compose the shot well since they’re not moving anytime soon). There’s a beautiful picture of me and my sister side by side, as docile as can be, and I’d always wondered how mom coaxed us into cooperating for a picture. Turns out that we weren’t cooperating. We were just in a TV coma; she stood in front of the TV to get the perfect photograph!
5) Toe Sucking. Since you can’t predict the onset of this entertaining activity, keep the camera closeby when he discovers those yummy toes.
6) Filthy baby. Mud, sand, flour, paint. Sometimes it doesn’t occur to parents to capture the messy moments, but then your baby will wonder later in life if she ever really had down and dirty fun or if she was constantly clean, apron’d, and well-mannered. You’ll enjoy remembering all the colorful aspects of his childhood.
7) Screaming scrunchy-faced baby. Our instinct is to come to the rescue and comfort our weeping little peanut. But if you can manage to snap a photo before you swoop in, raging mad and teary faces are so endearing.
8) Flailing baby. Some video footage would be good, too. Otherwise, your high-schooler will never believe that he really had such tantrums. Lie on the floor with your camera and capture different angles. Some will work better than others. And then you can return to the task at hand.
9) Tickled baby. This one requires a fast shutter speed, too. Also requires a second person to do the tickling. You’ll likely catch some uproarious laughter, and you’ll love the memories even if they’re slightly out of focus.
10) Slumbering baby. Not in the carseat, though, because you’ll get distracting patterns and warning labels. Document the real sleeping environment because it will be a sweet memory. When he’s in deep sleep, open the blinds, turn on the lights and you’ll get bright crisp images. Try to capture a characteristic position, with feet sticking out of crib or clutching a lovey.
COMING NEXT: 10 BEST POSED SHOTS!
