Excellent advice from Intrepid and Sozobe: natural light, up close, something (like their dad's hands) for scale. At this age, babies will be exceptionally tuned in to their mother's voice. If she could speak without making them want to pick them up or hold them, they'd turn towards her voice. This might not be easy, but the sound of her voice CAN relax them, as well as attract their attention, so it's worth a try. This could help you capture images of them looking tuned in but at ease. Also, if there's any practical way for you to place them in a way that there are highlights in their eyes, their image will assume desirable vividness and life. Good luck! Should be fun.
Oops.
In sentence three of my post above, the word "her" should follow "want." Sorry.
Thanks Miklos - those are some nice tips.
Things are a bit easier now that they're older - but getting their attention is still key.
Anne Geddes!?
Aaarrrggghhh!!
Just tooo sweet!
Follow all the above advice - and just take a heap if pics. And tomorrow you can do it again if they don't come out!
If they're old enough to talk, a tip I picked up from boomer is to have them tell stories. They want to make sure YOU'RE paying attention to the story -- and want to see your reaction to the story -- so they look at you a lot, and you get some really cool expressions. (Both while they're telling the story, and pleased-with-themselves expressions if they've just told a good part.) (Be a loud, appreciative audience!)
This is one time I really appreciate my old, non-digital camera, though -- being able to click and capture that instant instead of the delay with the digital. (I don't have a "real" digital camera yet but I borrow sozlet's cheapie sometimes... that may be worse than most in terms of the delay.)
