Do you want to take beautiful monthly baby photos during your little one’s first year of life?
If your answer is a big “YES”, I invite you to go on a short journey with me. I wrote a practical, step-by-step guide to give you all the basics. So you can go from taking monthly baby snapshots to capturing beautiful photos.
When my baby was little, I wanted to document his changes during the first year of his life. For this reason, I decided to take monthly baby photos of him. As I thought it was going to be a fun way to be able to see his growth in a 12-photo collage at the end of this little photography project. So, I set up monthly photos with the help of my faithful photographer assistant – my dear husband!
I’m here today to share all my tips and tricks with you.
I split this how-to mini-course into two parts. In part 1, I’ll share with you three steps you need to take before you start your monthly baby photo project. In part 2, I’ll share some more technical tips that you can apply each month during the actual photoshoot.
Who did I write this post for?
This blog post is ideal for moms who want to take non-snapshot monthly baby photos. If you’re happy with snapshots, then this blog post is not for you. But, if you want to take beautiful, more professional-looking monthly photos, then read along.
You can take your photos with your phone, a point-and-shoot, or your DSLR. But make sure to use the same camera every month.
Step 1: Decide where you want to do your monthly baby photos
To ensure the uniformity of your photos, you want to choose one place in your home where you can take the photos each month.
Your main priority is to choose a room with lots of natural light. That is, large and/or multiple windows.
Bonus point: choose a room that also has white walls. Avoid any room with colored walls as they will cast their color on your baby’s skin. For example, the walls in my dining room, where I take lots of photos of my son, have a lovely pastel, aqua color. The problem is: these walls makes my toddler’s skin look a bit blueish because their color is reflected on his skin.
So, for my monthly baby photos, my room of choice was our master bedroom because it has two large windows and white walls AND white furniture. Win-win!
Step 2: Decide where to place your baby
You have several options:
- The floor on top of a blanket or milestone blanket
- Nursing chair
- Sofa
- Your bed
- Baby’s crib
Most monthly baby photos I see are of the baby laying on the ground. But as you can see from this list, you do have lots of options. You can have him or her be seated too. As long as there is some back support, and you have the help of someone during the process.
[insert our photo: For my baby photos, I decided to have him seated on our bed because I wanted to show his growth in relation to the bunny (more about this below).]
The most important tip here is to choose a neutral background. A mistake I see again and again on Instagram photos is to place the baby on a blanket with lots of colors and patterns. This makes for a very BUSY background and photo overall. Yes, you can totally go for this option. But, if you choose so, then you need to dress your baby in a white onesie/vest. Otherwise, it simply won’t look good. Our eyes are easily distracted by contrast, patterns, and colors in a photo.
That’s why keeping a neutral background will help the viewer’s eyes to go straight to the most important part of the photo – your lovely baby!
For neutral colors, you can opt for a beige, grey, or my favorite – plain white. You can never go wrong with a white background when it comes to photography. Plus, the white brings extra light to the image and your baby’s face. Win-win again! In addition to neutral colors, you can also consider some soft pastel colors. But they might cast a color on your baby’s face as we talked about before. So, in doubt, stick to white and you’re good to go!
Pro-tip for blankets: if you want to add an extra element of interest in your photos, you can opt for a blanket that has texture. Our eyes love texture in photos, plus it adds an element of depth.
Step 3: Decide which prop you’re going to use for your monthly baby photos
The general idea is to include some sort of indication of your baby’s age or milestone that indicates growth. The two most popular ones are:
- Milestone blanket: I love these from Little Unicorn as they are more unique than the regular photo blankets you can find
- Milestone cards: I like this set because it does not only include the monthly numbers but also a variety of big developmental milestones
However, you can also think outside the box and make things more unique as I did. I used:
- Felt letter board
- A bunny from Liewood (they do not sell the bunny I have anymore)
I opted for a letter board because I wanted to indicate the month plus to add a specific milestone that my baby had reached at that point. For example, at four months my baby was starting to laugh, so I wrote “4 MONTHS” and “MY FIRST LAUGH”. At seven months he was a very chatty baby and his favorite babbling sound was “gaga”, so I wrote “7 MONTHS” and “GAGAGAGA”. My husband and I would decide together what to add to the board. Like this, the message was something really special for both of us.
This ability to personalizing the captions in your monthly baby photos is why I highly recommend using the letter board. Plus, it is something that you can use for other purposes too.
Side note: I’m a big fan of a minimalist way of life. When choosing my baby products, I always tried purchasing things that could be used for multiple purposes and/or throughout the years. So, if you’re anything like me, and you like to keep a minimalist lifestyle, then the letter board is a better option than milestone cards.
Now, what about the bunny, you might ask?!
Again, I love to personalize things and make them unique to us. So, here it comes the bunny! I purchased one that was bigger than my baby so I could see my baby growing in relation to its size. As I wanted to add some décor to our nursery, I purchased a soft toy that would pair well with his room.
Another option that I suggest is this one from cuddle + kind. They are really lovely. Plus, the company supports a great cause. But be sure to order it in advance as it is shipped from the US. This was actually my first option, but I wasn’t going to get it on time to my baby’s first month photos. So I went with the bunny instead.
Taking action today
Here is an overview of the steps we covered:
- Step 1: Decide where you want to photograph
- Step 2: Decide where to place your baby
- Step 3: Decide which prop you’re going to use
I invite you to take 20-30 minutes and already make those decisions. You only need to decide all of this once. And then you’re good to go!
What to do next?
Once you’re done implementing these 3 steps, you can read Part 2 of this monthly baby mini-course. This next post will go over the practical steps that you need to take during each month.
Do you want to take beautiful monthly baby photos during your little one’s first year of life?
If your answer is a big “YES”, I invite you to go on a short journey with me. I wrote a practical, step-by-step guide to give you all the basics. So you can go from taking monthly baby snapshots to capturing beautiful photos.
When my baby was little, I wanted to document his changes during the first year of his life. For this reason, I decided to take monthly baby photos of him. As I thought it was going to be a fun way to be able to see his growth in a 12-photo collage at the end of this little photography project. So, I set up monthly photos with the help of my faithful photographer assistant – my dear husband!
I’m here today to share all my tips and tricks with you.
I split this how-to mini-course into two parts. In part 1, I’ll share with you three steps you need to take before you start your monthly baby photo project. In part 2, I’ll share some more technical tips that you can apply each month during the actual photoshoot.
Who did I write this post for?
This blog post is ideal for moms who want to take non-snapshot monthly baby photos. If you’re happy with snapshots, then this blog post is not for you. But, if you want to take beautiful, more professional-looking monthly photos, then read along.
You can take your photos with your phone, a point-and-shoot, or your DSLR. But make sure to use the same camera every month.
Step 1: Decide where you want to do your monthly baby photos
To ensure the uniformity of your photos, you want to choose one place in your home where you can take the photos each month.
Your main priority is to choose a room with lots of natural light. That is, large and/or multiple windows.
Bonus point: choose a room that also has white walls. Avoid any room with colored walls as they will cast their color on your baby’s skin. For example, the walls in my dining room, where I take lots of photos of my son, have a lovely pastel, aqua color. The problem is: these walls makes my toddler’s skin look a bit blueish because their color is reflected on his skin.
So, for my monthly baby photos, my room of choice was our master bedroom because it has two large windows and white walls AND white furniture. Win-win!
Step 2: Decide where to place your baby
You have several options:
- The floor on top of a blanket or milestone blanket
- Nursing chair
- Sofa
- Your bed
- Baby’s crib
Most monthly baby photos I see are of the baby laying on the ground. But as you can see from this list, you do have lots of options. You can have him or her be seated too. As long as there is some back support, and you have the help of someone during the process.
[insert our photo: For my baby photos, I decided to have him seated on our bed because I wanted to show his growth in relation to the bunny (more about this below).]
The most important tip here is to choose a neutral background. A mistake I see again and again on Instagram photos is to place the baby on a blanket with lots of colors and patterns. This makes for a very BUSY background and photo overall. Yes, you can totally go for this option. But, if you choose so, then you need to dress your baby in a white onesie/vest. Otherwise, it simply won’t look good. Our eyes are easily distracted by contrast, patterns, and colors in a photo.
That’s why keeping a neutral background will help the viewer’s eyes to go straight to the most important part of the photo – your lovely baby!
For neutral colors, you can opt for a beige, grey, or my favorite – plain white. You can never go wrong with a white background when it comes to photography. Plus, the white brings extra light to the image and your baby’s face. Win-win again! In addition to neutral colors, you can also consider some soft pastel colors. But they might cast a color on your baby’s face as we talked about before. So, in doubt, stick to white and you’re good to go!
Pro-tip for blankets: if you want to add an extra element of interest in your photos, you can opt for a blanket that has texture. Our eyes love texture in photos, plus it adds an element of depth.
Step 3: Decide which prop you’re going to use for your monthly baby photos
The general idea is to include some sort of indication of your baby’s age or milestone that indicates growth. The two most popular ones are:
- Milestone blanket: I love these from Little Unicorn as they are more unique than the regular photo blankets you can find
- Milestone cards: I like this set because it does not only include the monthly numbers but also a variety of big developmental milestones
However, you can also think outside the box and make things more unique as I did. I used:
- Felt letter board
- A bunny from Liewood (they do not sell the bunny I have anymore)
I opted for a letter board because I wanted to indicate the month plus to add a specific milestone that my baby had reached at that point. For example, at four months my baby was starting to laugh, so I wrote “4 MONTHS” and “MY FIRST LAUGH”. At seven months he was a very chatty baby and his favorite babbling sound was “gaga”, so I wrote “7 MONTHS” and “GAGAGAGA”. My husband and I would decide together what to add to the board. Like this, the message was something really special for both of us.
This ability to personalizing the captions in your monthly baby photos is why I highly recommend using the letter board. Plus, it is something that you can use for other purposes too.
Side note: I’m a big fan of a minimalist way of life. When choosing my baby products, I always tried purchasing things that could be used for multiple purposes and/or throughout the years. So, if you’re anything like me, and you like to keep a minimalist lifestyle, then the letter board is a better option than milestone cards.
Now, what about the bunny, you might ask?!
Again, I love to personalize things and make them unique to us. So, here it comes the bunny! I purchased one that was bigger than my baby so I could see my baby growing in relation to its size. As I wanted to add some décor to our nursery, I purchased a soft toy that would pair well with his room.
Another option that I suggest is this one from cuddle + kind. They are really lovely. Plus, the company supports a great cause. But be sure to order it in advance as it is shipped from the US. This was actually my first option, but I wasn’t going to get it on time to my baby’s first month photos. So I went with the bunny instead.
Taking action today
Here is an overview of the steps we covered:
- Step 1: Decide where you want to photograph
- Step 2: Decide where to place your baby
- Step 3: Decide which prop you’re going to use
I invite you to take 20-30 minutes and already make those decisions. You only need to decide all of this once. And then you’re good to go!
What to do next?
Once you’re done implementing these 3 steps, you can read Part 2 of this monthly baby mini-course. This next post will go over the practical steps that you need to take during each month.
