1st Birthday Photo Ideas and Tips

I will preface this post by saying we are not by any means professional photographers.  We are Mom's with nice, entry level DSLR cameras and have learned how to use them to their full potential (we shoot in manual, images are in RAW, and we edit in Photoshop, plus we have had lots of practice over the past few years).  Besides our own children we've taken a few photos of other children for their first birthdays, so we thought we would share our ideas and tips with you!

First up- the cake smash.  We love it!  Sure, it is a big trend right now and might be nonexistent in a few years but it is fun and makes for some cute photos :) 

Chalkboard printable for sale here

 

 

 

Our tips- take a ton of pictures! Make sure you get a good shot of the cake before hand, the first bite, the messy face, messy feet and the aftermath of it all.  We all know one year olds do not sit still, except when a cake is in front of them, so take advantage and snap away.

 

We really love the simplicity of non posed photos without any props.  As mentioned before, one year olds are all over the place.  You will literally lose your mind trying to get them to sit still for pictures.  I took these pictures chasing my son through our yard and love how they turned out. 

 

Notice the mini pumpkin in his hand?  That was how I got him to sit still for a few minutes, plus he is an Autumn baby so it goes well :)

 

Other Tips:

 

Buy yourself a reflector! They can be bought for less then $10 on amazon.com or made at home with white foam board, a white sheet etc...

 

On camera flash is not your friend.  Don't use it, ever.  Sometimes, like at night or indoors in a poorly lit space flash ends up looking better then jacking your ISO way up (makes photos very grainy), try it both ways and see what looks better when editing. In the end  though neither really look good and you should avoid taking photos in those situations and schedule a different time.

Space the 1st birthday photo shoot over a period of a few days.  That way you can have some outfit and scenery changes without stressing yourself out and you will increase the chance of getting some great pictures.