With babies days are longer and years are shorter. You are still learning about parenting and your baby turns one, just like that. It’s a bittersweet feeling to watch your little munchkin turning one. Not just mom dad, but everyone in the family starts preparing for this special day in advance. While doing all the preparations, it’s a good idea to keep one day for your baby’s photoshoot. After all turning one is a big milestone.
I am not a professional photographer. But I experienced that with right camera, backdrop and lighting conditions it’s not tough to take professional looking photographs. I am sharing how I did my baby’s first birthday photoshoot and you can use this idea not just for first birthday but for any special occasion.
Choose the perfect Backdrop/Location: It’s completely upto you that where do you want to do the photo shoot. It can be done at home or somewhere out. With a kid you just have to make sure that they are comfortable with the place. When you choose some outdoor location then check out the weather condition for the place in advance.
I did Jianna’s photo shoot at a State Park. Choosing State park has its benefits like you can click with greenery or with some wooden boundaries (see the picture below), trees, small roads inside parks and many other small things. At outside locations you get natural backdrops which is a big benefit over doing the photo shoot at home.
If you do it at home then you have to create a photo booth kind of setup and you need to explicitly choose some backdrops.
Add some Props: Props are very helpful for photoshoots. It makes the picture little different from a random click. Also Props distract your kid and keeps them busy. Props can be bought or you can make them at home. I used few different props: one of Jianna’s favorite teddy, a ‘Happy Birthday’ balloon and a sign of ‘1’. If you choose to do your photoshoot outdoors then keep something on which kids can sit. Like I kept one chair and used that as a prop too.
Dressing Up: I made one tutu skirt for Jianna which she wore with a matching onesie that says ‘My First Birthday’. Making tutu at home was very easy and fun. It took me around 3 hours (my first attempt ever) for completing this skirt. For accessories I didn’t do anything except the crown. The crown here is also an attempt to DIY and it also took 2-3 hours for getting it done. I used the same tutu skirt for her cake smash photo shoot too. Photo shoot is a fun activity but it’s really tiring too. So less is always more with them.
Make sure you have some help: When you are behind the camera you might need someone for helping you. You will need help for keeping your baby at the right spot, props needs to be placed at right place at right time. Jianna’s dad accompanied us for her photo shoot. When Jianna was running here and there, he brought her back to where I wanted to click the pics. Sharing few behind the scene pics.
Editing makes a difference: I took around 40-50 photographs but all of them didn’t turn out great. Little Editing can make big difference. As I mentioned earlier, I am not a professional photographer but I do know some editing. Pixlr is a free photo editing tool I used for editing the pics. It’s very easy to use and has all basic options for photo editing. Remember excess of everything is bad so don’t go crazy with the editing. Just brighten them up a bit and add a bit of contrast to give them a more polished look. See Below some of my edited pics.
I was very much satisfied with how the photographs turned out. You can be more creative and do lots of experiment with props, dresses and backdrops.
So, what do you think? Are you little inspired to try it and be your baby’s photographer? Or you still prefer to go for some professional help? Let me know in the comments below and subscribe to Jisncribe to receive more amazing tips/ideas and stories.
Major thankies for the article post.Really thank you! Keep writing.
Thanks for reading.
such a lovely baby,so cute,
belated happy birthday..
Thanks for the wishes Umesh
Love this!!! I made a tutu for my daughter’s first birthday
Oh great ! tutus are so easy to make and they look lovely.
Thats the most lovely TUTU dress I have seen. You have the knack of making the right click at the right time. Kudos to the duo
I try to capture random pics but its really tough with a kid . still i like the outcome.
I’m my kid’s photographer EVERY day, ha ha. Momarazzi!!! This is such a cute series. Will make great memories.
yes I loved capturing these pics.It was really fun.
Aww I love the little tutu she has on! She’s so cute! Such a beautiful photo of her!
Thanks Brittany
My daughter just had her first birthday and I did something like this too! She had on a tutu, necklaces and a little pink boa with no shirt on. She had so much fun digging into the cupcake we got her. 🙂
Congrats on your baby’s first birthday. Cake smash is super fun and I am sure your little one must ahve enjoyed it too.
I wish I had been a lot more confident in my skills when my son was young. I am starting to get confident, but haven’t attempted a photoshoot with him yet. I hope to try to do fall/Christmas photos with him soon though.
Give it a try Ashley . Fall is wonderful time to get some nice clicks.
Beautiful photography! I have 4 kids and didn’t do first birthday pics with the last, I so regret it. Great article ❤️
You can try it on your kid’s next birthday. Its never too late 🙂
Love this idea! My baby turns one next month and photoghers are so expensive! I know I won’t do as good of a job as a professional al but they will be better than nothing!
You plan it and you will realize that its a great idea.
Such a lovely pictures and lifetime memory. Congrats and lots of bithday wishes to the little one. she is super cute
Thanks Jiya 🙂
Aww your little one is totally adorable!!!! Her birthday shoot turned out so cute!!
Yes I was very much satisfied with how it turned out. Thanks for reading.
You did a fabulous job and saved a ton of money too! She is precious!
YEs she is 🙂 Thanks for reading.
You did a great job! The first year flies by so fast. Kudos to you for figuring out a way to take awesome pictures without the big price tag.
Thanks Brandi. I bought my own DSLR with the money I was supposed to give to someone professional 😊
How adorable is your daughter. Beautiful images to treasure for a lifetime
Thanks Sarah . Photographs helps to cherish each moments once it’s gone.
Aww, these photos are so cute! And thank you for sharing the free photo editing tool, I need to try it out.
Glad that I could help .