First Birthday Portraits

I've been impatiently awaiting my grand niece Fiona's

first birthday!

That's because I wanted to photograph her with a white

background, cake and pink balloon.

I photographed these in my make-shift studio I set up

in the garage to capture AWESOME light!

I wrote this blog post about it if you want to try this

easy studio idea.

I was a bit worried because the day we took these it was cloudy

and threatening rain.

Since we took these at the front edge of the garage,

my camera and I were getting a few sprinkles.

While editing, I threw in some vintage wallpaper...

an editing technique I LOVE!

I tell more about adding Magic Wallpaper in

this blog post

These portraits with the added wallpaper are my favorite.

I also tried a pretty bokeh background

Whenever I photograph babies or toddlers,

I set up three photo stations.

I plan this out before the baby arrives,

setting up props, selecting clothing and hair accessories.

I found that turquoise wash tub at a thrift store

and was excited to use it with the matching quilted pillow shams hanging on

the fence...yep, all from thrift stores!

Fiona was still in a smiley mood...YES!

But as with every baby/toddler shoot...by the third

station...they get tired.

I thought she looked like a little cherub in this next photo...

So I added some angel wings!

Those were the only two photos I captured

before she was off the chair...

And, finally melting down...

essentially saying, "Aunt Jill, that's ENOUGH!"

I hope you can use some of these techniques in

your own photography and it doesn't have

to be a special birthday.

Check out these photography blogs:

Ashley Sisk and Sarah Halstead

Kent Weakley

Jaymi McClusky

Mom Tried it

The Crumby Mummy