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By the time our children turn 5 years old, most of us will have taken thousands of pictures of them. My husband and I have had iPhone cameras for a decade now. We went from storing about 300 pictures a year before kids to about 1000 pictures a year after my daughter was born. Despite that large number, we still have regrets about the baby pictures we did not take with both our children. Here are the biggest baby photography regrets we had and how to avoid them.
Not Having Professional Pictures Taken
When I was pregnant, my husband and I talked to many couples who recently had children, but the one topic we never talked about was photos. I asked our friends a ton of questions about the hospital and the birth process, but I never asked about photos. I just thought the hospital staff would come by and take the standard pose like my sister and I had done years ago. Yes, that’s my baby photo.
They never did take the “hospital photo” of our children because our hospital didn’t have a nursery. The babies roomed in with their moms. There was a hospital photography company, but by the time they came by to offer their services we were about to check out and anxious to get home.
Looking back it was clear, we should have had the hospital take pictures anyway. The service was complementary and we were under no obligation to purchase photos, but we probably would have.
Our next mistake was not getting photos taken of our children with a professional photographer when they were newborns and during the first month. Department store photo studios and chain store photographers are not the same as a professional photographer! Unless you get really lucky, most of the time there is a huge difference between chain store photos and an expert that takes baby photos. In hindsight, I think we were nervous about taking our children out when they were so young and we worried a little about the money. Both of those were silly reasons not to get better photos taken of them.
Not Taking More Pictures at the Hospital
Be sure to get photos of yourself and your baby in the hospital and plenty of them. More than likely you will have about 48 hours there. These are the most precious first moments of your child’s life. Document them. Better yet, get a birth story photographer. For an example of what they do check out this post by Ashley Berrie photography.
Taking Pictures Of Swaddled Babies with Hats
One of the things that drives me crazy about the pictures we took with our daughter when she was first born was that she was swaddled like a burrito in most of them. I think we were nervous first time parents and we didn’t want to do anything wrong. So learn from our mistake and don’t have your baby swaddled in all their first pictures. The same goes for hospital baby hats. Take them off!
You Will Regret Not Taking More Pictures Of Your Kids Together
Looking back I wish I had taken better pictures of my kids together after my son was first born. I think we were so caught up in survival mode that we just failed to do it. While I have some cute ones of them together that we took I wish I had done more. Again this is where using a professional photographer would have helped. We didn’t start having a true professional photographer take our children’s pictures until my son was 1 and my daughter was 3. It makes a huge difference!
Not Taking More Pictures of You and Your Baby
I am the person in our family who always takes out her phone to grab candid and posed shots of others. This often means I am not in the pictures as much. When you are tired and recovering from the birth of a baby, the last thing you want to do is be in pictures. If I could go back I wouldn’t worry about it and I would just ask someone to take a picture of my babies and I as often as I could. Most people just don’t think about it. At least now they are at ages where I can do more selfies with them.
Not Taking Good Monthly Photos
My husband and I actually did take monthly milestone photos of our children in their first year marking each month of their life. I am so glad we did this because they grow so fast. The problem is we should have thought it out better. We tried to sit our kids on the couch propped up by pillows which didn’t always work so well. Some months I love the photos and other months are a bit meh. Take my advice and set up a nice photo shoot with your baby laying on the floor. Put a nice blanket under them for the backdrop, a monthly sign and a few of their favorite things around them.
I hope this information helps you if you are new mom or dad or expecting your next child. Your children are only young for such a brief time. When they are grown their childhood pictures become a treasured keepsake and history of their lives.
Do you have photo taking regrets that you would pass onto other parents? Tell us in the comments.
Are you not quite ready for kids, but getting ready for a wedding? Do you need to find a wedding photographer. Check out this post How to Get Wedding Photos That You Will Always Love to be sure you know how to find the person that will truly capture your special day.
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