It's so hard to believe I first shared the personalized alphabet book I made for my son 7 years ago. It's been an extremely popular post ever since so I thought it was time to bring it out of the vault. And with all the options out there for creating photo books now, it couldn't be easier to do! But it can still be surprisingly hard to think of something that's salient to your child for each letter - I'm hoping sharing my picks might help.Please enjoy and let me know if you … [Read more...]
Free Printables Pack: First Day of School Signs
I'm so excited to have our resident graphic designer, MJ, back today with an ENTIRE FREE PRINTABLE PACK that I just know you're going to love!The idea of these printables are to use them to start a new 1st day of school photo tradition that allows you to document not only the kiddos' super cute new outfits and excited grins, but also their changing dreams and aspirations. Great idea, right?!You could do some really interesting things with these photos - a coffee table book, a hallway … [Read more...]
Preparing for Preschool with a Personalized Photo Book
If you have a kiddo starting a new school this year (be it preschool, kindergarten, or even daycare) I highly recommend you check out this post from a few years ago! Our DIY preschool photo book was such a major hit oldest child that I'm bringing it back, yet again, for our third new preschooler. The idea comes from a child life specialist and was suggested to me by a friend when I was fretting over C’s transition from being at home full time to entering preschool two … [Read more...]
One Quick Trick for Taking Better Photos with Baby
First and foremost today guys, I wanted to tell you all that this is STILL going on! But only for a few more days, so don't miss your chance!Now that you've done that - today's tip will be a big help!As hard as it is for me to believe, my youngest is already 14 months old (how did that happen?!). He grows and changes so much at this stage that - like many Moms in my shoes - it's extra important to me to take lots of photos.Not only that, to take photos with the two of us together! I … [Read more...]
How to Get Professional Looking Newborn Photos at Home
Today we've got a tutorial I've been wanting to include in our Photography & Memory Keeping section for such a long time!Capturing a child's fleeting newborn stage is so important to so many parents out there but trying to get that elusive, perfect pic of a sleeping infant can be beyond frustrating and hiring it out can be prohibitively expensive.Of course not every type of shot can be achieved by a novice, the photo above of the baby propped up on her hands, for example, is done … [Read more...]
The Best DSLR Camera & Equipment for Getting Great Photos Every Time
Today we're switching gears away from parenting resolutions towards photography and memory keeping. If you're anything like me, taking better, more meaningful photos of the family (and then actually doing something with those photos) is an ongoing goal. I'm still working on it at my house but I will say that I made some serious progress once I finally committed to purchasing my first (and so far only) DSLR camera 4 years ago. It was a scary move - a big purchase for someone who had absolutely … [Read more...]
Photography & Memory Keeping: How to use TiltShift on Your Camera Phone
Kristin, one of our professional photog contributor's here, is back today with another super helpful iPhone camera tutorial. I've always wondered how to use those fancy tiltshift apps with my iPhone but have been too intimidated/busy to really explore them.I'm super excited to have Kristin here to add to our Photography and Memory Keeping category by de-mystifying it all and show us exactly what we need to know to jump in and start using the feature today. Have you ever noticed that when … [Read more...]
Memory Keeping: Free Family Tree Template
I've got something great to share with you guys today. In an effort to continue to fill our photography & memory making section with do-able ideas for busy parents, I've persuaded Andrea Genevieve Michnik from the Tiny Prints Blog share with us a really lovely family tree project.You can do this one on your own or with the kids and there's even a free printable template to make sure you can't mess it up. That's my kind of project!Here's Andrea... Teaching kids about their heritage … [Read more...]
How to Use the iPhone’s Burst Mode to Get Perfect Pics of the Kids Every Time
Do you guys know about the iPhone's burst mode? If not, you HAVE to read this tutorial - it will make a huge impact on the pics you get of the kids. And it's so easy too! What I love most about my Canon 5D Mark III (the professional camera I use for my job as a children's photographer) is the quick response.I click the shutter when I see the shot I want and I know there's going to be no delay. I can time my shots perfectly. And, when you're working with kids who move quickly, you need a … [Read more...]