Baby Brendan © Tim Pannell Photography

Babies are amazing.  You never know what you’re gonna get when you shoot a kid that’s just a few months old.

Basically, you get everything set up and then put on your seat belt, ’cause it’s most likely gonna be a bumpy ride.

The best word of advice I can give you is, don’t get too attached to getting a specific shot, it will only bring you heartache, pain and extreme amounts of personal suffering.  Take what the little guy or gal gives you and be grateful for it.  Relish it.

I used my basic portrait lighting setup for this shot of Brendan.  The diagram is the same as in the “Beginning Photography Tips” post.

Babies are completely entertaining, completely beautiful, extremely simple, extremely complex, unique little creatures that don’t give a rat’s behind about your lighting setup, camera, f-tops or kind of photo that  you might want.

It’s almost like Christmas whenever I shoot a baby.  Who knows what’s gonna come out of that box.  It’s exciting and fun.  Only on a few occasions have I taken the exact picture I set out to take when shooting a baby.

If you guessed that those were my favorite baby shots that I’ve ever taken……..you’d be wrong.  The “surprise”, the “unexpected”, the unplanned shot is almost ALWAYS more interesting than the meticulously planned out formulaic image that’s pre-envisioned.

Baby Hailey © Tim Pannell Photography

I can’t stress the importance enough of planning the shoot out ahead of time and yet being flexible enough to adapt to the situation as it actually presents itself.  Never fit a square peg into a round hole.  It never works.  I’ve said numerous times that when it comes to photography one should never say never and never say always.

In this instance I’m breaking my own rule, that’s a STUPID rule.

Ooooh, I’m feeling a little naughty……….I like it!  I like it a lot!