This little man was So Cute, I couldn't decide which photos to include, so I just posted a bunch.At first, he was very very serious. I noticed that he often fixed his eyes on his blue fish-shaped teething toy. So with my left hand, I swooped the fish around, while saying "WHOOOOSH!" in a really theatrical way.
This was very effective. He burst into delighted giggles, and didn't tire of my repeated Whooshings. Meanwhile, I photographed with my right hand. What I really wanted, besides smiles, was for him to look up so that his eyes would be large and lit nicely, and looking at the camera. In general, for humans of all ages, it is more flattering when eyes are looking up. Not that this baby has to worry about it, but it helps to remove any eye bags. And eyes just look bigger, and the light brings out the iris colors.
Simple white onesies are great for baby shoots. Flattering on all babies. Also good for natural light photography, because light reflects off it, and helps to light places like under the chin, nose and brows. I also like to photograph knit items on babies. The textured yarn emphasizes the smoothness of baby skin.
These were taken at 1:30pm, which is in my least favorite window of time to photograph. The diffuse lighting in the shade was wonderful however!