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Newborn, three months, six months, nine months, one year, etc. Some families are very diligent about having their baby's picture taken every three months during the first year. Having pictures taken so many times in a year's time can become a little strenuous on the pocket book, but may be well worth the cost if you aren't too handy with a camera. If you skip a few photo sessions here and there or never use a professional photographer, you might consider the benefits of taking some candid photos. Even if you do follow the traditional picture schedule, candid pictures have the ability to capture a completely different perspective of your baby's growth and development.
This sounds like an oxymoron, but plan to be spontaneous! With older children you can very easily follow them around with the camera and be somewhat inconspicuous. For example, send your older kids out to smell the flowers in the front yard...snap, snap, snap. Encourage them to chase each other around the yard, slide down the slide, and walk hand in hand...click, click, click. Occasionally ask them to freeze so you can take a few pictures. Great pictures can come out of playful moments. The same is true for babies. While your baby is lying on her belly on the floor playing with a toy, quickly position yourself in front of her with the camera on and your fingers ready. Babies are good at making eye contact and smiling upon initial interaction. Play on this by saying her name and as soon as she looks up with the big beautiful grin take a series of pictures. The majority of the picture should be of your baby, not the background images, so try to cut out the background of the picture by zooming in to capture the fullness of your little one's cheeks. The more pictures you are able to take, the greater the chances are for getting a few great pictures. Once you are ready to actually do something with your pictures, consider the following ideas for how you can use those candid pictures!
Tips and Tricks:- Save all your pictures to your computer's hard drive and back them up often.
- Invest in photo editing software for quick fixes, black and white photos, red eye reduction, and adding text to pictures.
- Upload pictures to a photo center. Many photo centers allow you to upload your pictures either online or right there in the lab. Many photo centers can create invitations, announcements, holiday cards, and other photo gift ideas.
- Create a monthly montage of pictures to be emailed to family and friends. Send the file as a jpeg to ensure it can easily be viewed. Note: If you save a picture as a Publisher, PowerPoint, or other specific software files, some people may not be able to view the images because they don't have those particular software programs on their computers.
- Gather the empty picture frames around your house and let your creativity fly. If you have a hodgepodge of picture frames and you are not displaying pictures in them because they are not uniform, consider spray painting them all the same color.
Decorating idea- Print your favorite pictures in black and white.
- Spray paint your unused picture frames black.
- Obtain black ribbon, adhesive scrapbooking dots, white paper the size of the frame you intend to use, and a pair of scissors.
- Because your ribbon will be displayed along with your picture, be sure your picture is smaller than your frame.
- Make a bow with your ribbon, but do not cut off the strands of ribbon that hang from the bow.
- Place the ribbon on the white paper so that it is one inch below the top.
- Place your picture on top of the ribbon. You should be able to see the bow above the picture and the two strands flowing down below the bottom of the picture.
- When the ribbon and picture look the way you want them to, cut off the strands of ribbon if they are too long.
- Use the scrapbooking adhesives to secure the ribbon and the picture to the paper.
- Display your picture and create a few more using the remaining black frames. Display them together to create an appealing focal point.
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