Jen here with another First Year post!

It’s been a while since Logan and I took our picture together using my DSLR.  When deciding upon which of Me Ra’s photo recipes I wanted to try this month from her awesome book, Your Baby in Pictures, I looked for one that would combine one of Logan’s current milestones and me.  The past few months, Logan has enjoyed standing up on her own two feet  – with my help, of course – much more than she has enjoyed tummy time.  And I’ve enjoyed it, too, because I get to see her adorable, chubby thighs in all their glory!  I just want to nibble her up!

Me Ra’s Standing Proud, Part 1 photo recipe would be perfect for capturing Logan standing, those yummy baby thighs and me.  Let’s dive into the recipe and show you some beautiful results!

Prep

This image calls for Logan to be standing up on a high tabletop or counter.  I decided upon our kitchen island, which gets great natural light mid-morning.  Mid-morning just so happens to also be Logan’s happiest time of the day.  Me Ra points out that Mom’s standing behind the counter is a great way to hide any remaining baby weight in her tummy area.  Bonus!

There are two focuses in this image.  Me Ra suggests that baby wear a simple white onesie to help keep the focus on Logan’s pudgy legs.  I decided I would wear a solid darker color shirt to help further keep the focus on Logan.  The other focus is on the connection between Logan and me.  To help tell this part of the story within the image, I knew I would need to get in close to Logan – the closer together we were, the more vibrant our connection would become.

Compose

My on-camera flash is always turned off.  I turned my camera to Continuous Shooting mode so that the camera would capture Logan’s movements.  I selected Aperture Priority mode and used the low f-stop of 2 to help blur the kitchen in the background.  Then came the best part – I handed the camera to my husband!!  I asked him to compose a vertical shot that would fill the frame with Logan and me in order to keep the focus on Logan’s legs and her connection to me – we would not want too much empty space above our heads or show too much of the kitchen counter.

Capture

I asked Jason to focus on Logan’s eyes, then recompose the image so that Logan and I filled the frame.  When he was all set, he pressed the shutter to capture the image.

Jason did great, don’t you think??  Thanks, babe!

Now it’s YOUR turn to try out this photo recipe with your little one!  You could capture this image with the help of a tripod, but it’s a lot easier if you have some human help.  Why not enlist the assistance of your husband, relative or friend in taking this image, and then you can take some of them with baby standing?  Me Ra and I would love to see what you capture – please post your favorite image to Me Ra’s Facebook page so we can enjoy them!

Meet me here next Monday when I share with you some of my favorite images of Logan sitting up all on her own like the big girl she’s quickly becoming.

First Year Cheers!

Jen