Do you swoon at all the gorgeous Pinterest photos of babies in special milestone images? I sure do.
I desperately wanted to do a series of photos of my wee man sitting in one particular chair each month for his first year. I thought I would be able to manage that as a very serious non-photographer. I mean how hard could it be after all?? I sit him in the chair and then take a photo. Easy right?!?
Not so easy as they make it look, obviously.
I have kept those photos to myself to have a laugh about how epically I failed! Although maybe I should share them as a Pinterest fail…
Firstly I thought I could somehow place a tiny baby on a huge chair and then move away from him to take a photo… with no help from anyone else propping him up, and no other things holding him up either. That was a no! (Not sure what happened with my head there. I blame postnatal hormones for that one!)
And then I had absolutely no idea about how to position him on the chair so he didn’t look like he was falling (or so that he wouldn’t fall!) or where the light was coming from to try and make the photos at least a little bit lovely even if he wasn’t positioned so well…
Ok, I am not going to even keep going here, but I think you get the idea!
Actually one of my favourite wee video clips of him as a baby is one that I took when he was 2 months old. I was laughing so hard while trying to prop him up and he kept doing a drunken grin at me and then falling over! Every time I watch it I laugh all over again at the dopey grin on my tolerant child and the crazy new mama I was who thought she could do a photo shoot with her new baby!
The professionals make this stuff look so easy and the rest of us either have to have a friend or pay to get those magical images of our cute littles… or we can turn to the wonderful things out there to help us!
And there are increasingly more resources out there for us. I found a few blog posts of really helpful tutorials and some really amazing ideas that I wanted to share. I have also found some props and stickers to make it easier for the non-photographers amongst us!
So let’s start with the props and then move on to the tutorials and ideas.
Props for Baby Milestone Photos
Remember those super cute moments like the first time baby crawls! These can be used as props for photos but they are also cards with space for you to write details on the other side to record your memories. I love that it is called “Mushy Moments” because let’s face it, they are! So I have started with this since even the most awkward-with-a-camera-person ever can still create something lovely to keep.
Somewhat similar is this scrapbook with spaces to fill in for the first 5 years of your baby’s life. They include a stamp pad to make an image of just how tiny their little hands and feet actually are – because when they turn into a big stomping toddler it is really hard to remember!
I had to include a selection of these milestone blankets to take photos on. What a wonderful idea! And there really is a range of images to find one that suits you. What I like most of all is that you can put your baby on the blanket and take a photo and BOOM you are done. My kind of photo shoot 🙂
This chalkboard is also a cute idea. It allows the creative mom to do something really cute… and the mom who doesn’t think she is creative to record basic details to still make for a great photo! Win-win.
Again a super simple idea. These are blocks that can sit next to your baby and once they are old enough they could possibly play with them while you take the shot!
I am sure everyone has seen a range of these stickers around. They really are a great idea for easy milestone photo props. And there are so many out there that I just included a few to get you started… I recommend you click through and browse yourself!
Just for little boys…
This last one includes the awesome stickers “I pooped on Mom” and “I barfed on Dad” which is certainly a milestone worth laughing about!
Just for little girls…
And this is the girl’s version of “I pooped on Mom” which while not lady-like is certainly likely to happen!
Tutorials and ideas:
Here is my round up of my favourite ideas from around the web:
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I love these themed monthly photos. But the best part is that it is done by a photographer with instructions to try for yourself!
These photos have been taken with the same giant teddy bear. I notice that the bear is big enough for the baby to be easily propped up on. Now that is thinking!
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This is a variety of clever photos of baby with numbers. Such a good idea.
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I like that this is fairly simply styled but creates really effective and gorgeous monthly photos.
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This is more for inspiration but look at these amazing photos of baby in a bubble bath!
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…and from the same photographer a berry bath photo shoot!
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And because I don’t want to leave you in a swirl of insta-gorgeous images that you don’t think you could ever do, here is more inspiration and advice on how to do monthly photos.
I just could not resist so I had to include this list I found of some milestones for mom! It includes things like your first solo outing with baby, maybe to the shops. To be honest I am still waiting for number 9… but maybe that is just my kids! 😉
Anyway, are you feeling creative yet?!? I know I am!
Now, who has a baby I can borrow… if I promise to prop him up well? Hmm… maybe I will stick to bribing kids who can move for themselves to stay still! But I could still use these props and ideas 😉