Jen here with Monday’s First Year post!

Before I met Me Ra last year at her CONFIDENCE workshop in Tampa, I had checked out her amazing book called Your Baby in Pictures.

Right off the bat, I loved this book’s mission: to help moms capture beautiful photos of their babies during their first year with the use of easy photo recipes.  I thought it was a really helpful book in that it highlighted a baby’s milestones, showed gorgeous examples of images capturing these milestones and revealed what she calls “photo recipes” so anyone could capture the images using either a point-and-shoot camera or DSLR!

At the time, I wasn’t even pregnant (little did I know that would change two months down the road!) but I knew that one day, this book would be a great go-to guide that would help me document my baby in pictures my husband and I would treasure for a lifetime.

Fast forward to January of this year when I became a mom and whipped out this book a few days after coming home from the hospital!  I love all these photo recipes but one of the images I was most excited to capture was of my husband, Jason, nose to nose with a sleeping Logan.  I love the thought of an image capturing tiny Logan up close with her daddy – what a great size comparison that says “Daddy’s little girl!”  So without further ado, let’s look at this photo recipe and the resulting images!

Preparation

The “Nose to Nose” photo recipe is from the chapter “0-3 Months: Tiny Yawns, Tiny Cries, Tiny Hands.”  At the beginning of chapter, there are five tips for photographing a newborn, my favorite one being “celebrate skin on skin.”  So before I nursed Logan and Jason rocked her to sleep, we undressed her down to her diaper and Jason took off his shirt.  This way, as soon as Logan fell asleep, I could begin shooting.

Setting

The location I chose for the shoot was Logan’s nursery.  I felt the gray walls would serve as a good, clean backdrop and be a nice contrast to Jason and Logan’s light skin tone.

Composition

The composition of the shot the “nose to nose” photo recipe calls for is a horizontal shot that gets as much of Jason’s and Logan’s heads in the frame.  To emphasize how tiny Logan is compared to her daddy, I wanted to feature all of Logan’s head in the frame and only some of Jason’s head.

Camera Settings for DSLR

I set my camera to a very low aperture – f/1.6.  There was not enough light for my camera’s ISO to be at its lowest at 200, so I turned it up to ISO 640.  My shutter speed was 1/40.  When I was ready to shoot, I focused on Logan’s nose, which draws the viewer’s eye to that spot.  I stood slightly off to Jason’s side, which allowed me to create a shot that focuses on Logan a little more than Jason.  Here is the final result, straight out of the camera without any edits.  What do you think?

I love how the blank wall serving as the backdrop allows the viewer to completely focus on the subjects.  I love how the low aperture softens Jason’s skin.  And I love how Jason closing his eyes brings a sweet intimacy to this image.

Here is a variation of the above shot using the same camera settings but a slightly different composition.

One day, Daddy’s little girl won’t be so little anymore, but I know Jason and I will always look at Logan and see our beautiful little baby.

Now it’s YOUR turn!  Try this photo recipe for yourself, and then share your favorite image on Me Ra’s Facebook page!  We can’t wait to see what you capture!

Meet me here next Monday when I share a really fun way I’ve been shedding the pregnancy weight I gained!  You’re gonna love it!

First Year Cheers,

Jen

*Jen is teaching an April and May Workshop for Moms in Georgia.  Click here for more details on Jen and her workshop dates!