Taking baby photos. Help!!!

HA!
she had a bug in her mouth.. and I didnt know it.

I love that one too! How'd it taste? (Sozlet was about that age when she ate a bug and informed us [in sign] that it was "spicy.")

she didnt have an explaination for it. But she kept shaking her head realllly hard NO NO NO.
hehe
i guess not too good.

Ahhh. I'll have to remember that trick!

That's almost better than the jelly bean in the belly button ploy!

ohh. thats a good idea too.
what else do you do Boom, when you want to take pictures?
I can still get away with a piece of scotch tape on her. It still facinates her,, but she has learned to take it off rather quickly.. so i need to think of other things. hehe

For kids about Bean's size one of my favorite ways to get expressions is "play airplane" - Lay on your back and put her one your lower legs with her head and a bit of her chest out over your knees. Then bounce and rock and wiggle.

You have to use a dinky little pocket type camera -- one that doesn't require focusing.

Keep a towel handy for drool.

You can get some funny stuff that way.

I like to use dinky, simple cameras with little kids anyway -- I like to get up close and whisper, I like to reach over and tickle -- you can't do that with a big, two handed camera.

hmm..
that is a good idea.
I wish i could take a picture of the camera i use.
I can do things like that with it, it is just big and bulky..

but, you have just inspired MANY more photo - shoots... hehe

another thing I like to do is peanut butter.
On the fingers, or arm. The focus she gets trying to lick it off is great!

When she was younger I used to roll her up in a blanket loosely and let her work her way out. THAT made for some wonderful pictures

http://www.shopcol.com/sonmavmvbrme.html

here it is.

I missed that "spicy" comment earlier - that is too funny. Sozlet would be a natural for Survivor Preschool.

I'm wondering if I can get that bug face using sour candies like those sour patch kids or something. Maybe the sell loose sour sugar in the baking aisle of the store......

Another thing I like to do with the little kids is play opera arias very loudy. Kids really concentrate on it and that makes for some cool expressions.

I do the same thing with teenagers sometimes because it seems to make them forget to be self-concious.

that is a great idea.
In her room I play the classical channel quietly at night while she sleeps. It makes for good 'white noise' to drown out the business of the house when we go to bed/wake up and she isnt disturbed.
When her and I spend time in her bedroom playing, I will turn it up and she gets this... spacey... look. Forgets what ever toy she has, what ever bug she is chasing and stands and stares.
It is like the off button I keep searching for on her back..
but never find..

I want an off button too!

I think the voice adds an interesting dimension to the music - familiar but not familiar.

I know next to nothing about opera other than it is very emotive and people react accordingly.

Have you taken photography classes?

I've taken a lot of photo courses, but mostly I learned from my dad and from experimenting.

I started young. My dad was a hobbist and put a darkroom in the house when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I was immediately addicted. My dad gave it up after a couple of years but my love affair is ongoing.

Wow. Lucky you.
I wish I would have had a mentor as obsessed as I have become!
With the type of camera I have, would you recommend specific photography classes? Or did you learn MORE just practicing?

Most of the classes I took were techncial - film processing, printing, lighting -- that kind of thing.

I studied photo at art school for a while, which I hated because.... it's hard to explain... but it seemed to have to do with having to "see" things in a specific way.

I think a basic photo class might be good if you're always using your camera on automatic exposure. Learning about f-stop and shutter speed relationships and how to use them to your advantage really opens up a lot of creative possiblities.

Probably what would be better is to join a camera club. Announce yourself as a novice who really wants to learn and you will be surrounded by mentors. The kind of feedback you get from a group is way better than that which you get in a classroom situation.

The great thing about digital is that it doesn't cost a bunch. Shoot a lot. Play with cropping. Experiment. Have fun.

Here's a great site with some really good tips: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2/3/38&pq-locale=en_US

wow!
thanks for the link!


Photoshop???
MGI photosuite?
It has never occured to me to 'fix' my pictures
a whole new obsession has just opened up to me....

I have heard that same complaint from a few other people who have taken photography classes.
It is like they are trying to teach you to 'want' to take good pictures and not 'how' to take good pictures.
I am personally convinced anything is a good picture if you know your camera well enough to make it that way...

I couldn't live without Photoshop even though the only thing I really do with it is crop and add boarders. Once in a while I'll "fix" something.

I use it at work all the time for zit and wrinkle removing.

I'll have to drag up one of my old threads and post some before/after cropping photos. Proper cropping makes all the diffence in the world - especially when you're trailing a kid around the yard and can't set up each shot to specification.

maybe with that I can take off these last 15 lbs...
no excersize needed.