You don’t really need a fancy camera or fancy studio to get great informal family and kid “lifestyle” photos – your phone camera and living room will likely suffice! One of the best parts of having a camera phone is that it is always there, it’s easy to carry, and it’s not obtrusive. That means you can get some great candids in your day-to-day life. Really, the basics of photography are mostly about good lighting, and in Chicago, we may not have garbage disposals in our lovely, vintage houses, but we do usually have great windows.

1. Put that baby by the window. Make sure that they are facing the light and that you aren’t throwing any shadows on them. Look for nice, soft shadows under their noses, and not squinting eyes from too-bright direct light. Keep the light in front of them and slightly to the side so that they are facing the window and not back-lit. You don’t want the light behind them, or even right directly in front of them. You want a little bit of an angle, so you get soft shadows to keep things interesting and not flatten out your baby’s sweet little features with direct light. Most camera phones have a standard wide-angle lens, which means you’re going to be able to get a wider shot and get more of your background in there, but it also means that close-ups of people are going to distort the face a little, so try not to get in too close.

Even Sam hates being back-lit. Your camera phone will not be able to handle the contrast here, so don’t try.

But don’t up-light their poor faces! This is pretty ghastly,  and results in shadows going UP their faces, instead of underneath their features, where shadows belong. This looks unnatural because it IS unnatural. The sun shines from above, as should all flattering light.

Who wants to look up someone’s nose? Not even a cute baby nose.

2. Pay attention to the catch lights (those pretty white highlights in the eyes). This also helps to make sure your light direction is optimal. Try getting the catchlight in either the 2 or 10 o’clock position for a quick and easy way to ensure good lighting, but experiment for your own tastes, too! If you have bay windows, you may end up with multiple catch lights, and those look even sparklier! Experiment to see what you like best. But when looking for the best, most flattering light, look at the eyes!

See those white rectangles in his eyes? They make them sparkle! This is what you’re going for. Without the catch lights, eyes look dull and lifeless.

3. Make them smile. This can be achieved with tickles if they’re young and still sweet or bribery if they’re older and ornery. Or, if your baby is a crank-monster with colic, you grab the camera when they smile and coo, even if there is a ton of mess in the background. The cute baby smiles make mess invisible, did you know that?  Completely true.

He’s so cute you don’t even notice my mess in the background, right? IT IS INVISIBLE.

4. You’re going to want to edit that photo now, because while your camera phone is fine, it’s still not THAT great. Luckily there are a ton of apps out there that work well. I recommend PicTapGo or Camera+. Usually you’ll need to add more warmth and saturation to your photo. Daylight is cool-toned, and your phone is not going to capture a lot of vivid color.

Not a lot of editing needed, just a touch more saturation, and I added vignetting (shadows around the edges of the photo) to help de-clutter the background.

5. Upload and enjoy the Facebook/Instagram “likes” on your adorable photo, because no one gets annoyed with hundreds of baby pictures on Facebook or Instagram, right? RIGHT???

<3