So. My former manager, Amanda recently had a baby girl and has invited me over to take some photographs. I immediately did the following:
1. Bought a new camera
2. Purchased a new lens
3. Shopped Etsy for newborn baby photo props
4. Downloaded a book on "The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer"
5. Went to Home Depot for a piece of paneling and some molding for my backdrop and flooring*
6. Shopped Strawberry Patches for the perfect "wallpaper" for backdrop
7. Set up my "studio" and practiced with a most cooperative model
8. Curled up in the corner and sucked my thumb.
I feel so inept when it comes to photography! Seeing great pictures gives me goose bumps, but capturing goose bump producing photos is a struggle for me. Fortunately Amanda has no expectations and if the photos are lousy I'm blaming them on the baby. After all, she's too young to defend herself.
Here are my practice shots. My model was fabulous. She never once cried or peed on my props. We could have gone on for hours, but I started losing my light (that's professional photography jargon for, it was getting dark - read that in my new book).
*I did want to share this neat tip with you. Customer, Michele Hartman was in the store buying fabric for backdrops for her photography shoots and was kind enough to share this tip with me: Here's what you do. Purchase a sheet of paneling at a home improvement store and ask them to cut it in half. You'll end up with a 4'X4' piece for the flooring and a 4'X4' piece for the back wall. Michele then covers the wall with a piece of fabric using double stick tape. This can easily be changed as desired. Her cool tip was to add a piece of molding across the bottom for a finished look. The fabric totally looks like wall paper and can be easily changed as desired.
Here's a SOOC shot. (Straight out of camera (unedited) - that's book jargon again) You can see the two pieces of paneling and the baseboard. (Sorry. That baby stand in is a bit distrurbing looking).
I just leaned the wall piece against the bar b que to hold it upright
Here you can see that the molding makes the fabric look like wall paper.
Here you can see that I need to press the crease out of the fabric backdrop and pull the fabric taunt and secure the molding with tape. But I love this idea for an almost instant back drop. It's so quick and easy to switch out the fabric for totally different looks. (God knows I have the fabric)! I think the best part is that it all stores flat; under the bed or in a closet and you can get it in your car for when you take your camera on the road. You know, for when you become a famous professional photographer and book your photo shoots all over the country.
Seriously. I can't wait to wrap my arms and camera around baby Katie Suzanne. I'm just hoping she cooperates half as well as her stand in did. I'll get back to you on how it all goes on Friday. Wish me luck!
Encourage one another,
