PREPARING A SLIDESHOW FOR FIRST BIRTHDAY

PREPARING YOUR NEWBORN FOR THE FIRST YEAR

1st Birthday Tarpoulin (Collage of pictures from the photoshoot

Celebrating first birthdays is extra special. Parents are usually thankful that their children reached the one year stage and that is why most people have a very big celebration. A friend of mine has a new born baby last 2010 and as soon as the child was born, she was thinking of ways to capture every moment that her child was growing up. During this time, my friends and I were just starting our photography hobby/career. All of us decided to create a group meeting every month for a photo shoot session with the baby.  Thus, this resulted in our combined efforts to make a video slideshow especially for her first birthday. 

ASK INPUT FROM THE PARENTS

When making a slideshow, you must first consider what the parents would like to see. Since the parents would love to see how their child is progressing from her first month up to her 11^th month, I had decided to feature each photo session and official photographs chosen for each month. 

CONCEPTUALIZE

Second thing to consider is, you must have original ideas for each month in order to have spontaneity. If all you just do is self-portraits without any themes, it wouldn’t look interesting at all. So as a demo example, I would be featuring the slideshow of Francesca Larin that we had made.

1^st Month Concept  – Newborn Concept

PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Hancel Darroca & Darwin Tenebro

In this concept, we had made the baby sleep in her parent’s arms. The photographers emphasized the baby’s body parts showing how small and delicate it is in contrast to her parents’. The baby is naked and sleeping while the shooting was happening.

2^nd Month Concept  - Think Pink

 PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Hancel Darroca & Darwin Tenebro

This concept was taken out of the current materials that we had. The baby had a pink fluffy blanket so we wrapped her there. We used a pink stuffed teddy pillow as a cushion for the baby while she is sleeping

3rd Month Concept - Mother and Child

 PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Hancel Darroca ;  VIDEOGRAPHER - Cuchikoo

This was just conceptualized during the shoot. We had this idea of Madonna and child and we thought it would be nice to show how special the relationship of mother and child. The photographers direct the mother and what to do and there are some extra people to support the baby if she needs adjustment in position with her mother.

4th Month Concept - Baby Lady Bug

 PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin;  VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo

It just so happen that the baby has a lady bug costume. We decided to make use of it. We just showed spring time at its best. A chair was propped near the wall and the baby would be holding on to the chair. An assistant would be holding the baby at the back of the chair to make sure that she doesn't fall.

5th Month Concept - Baby in the clouds and butterfly concept

 PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Darwin Tenebro, Vincent Ama, Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin;  VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo

The butterfly was just thought of in post processing. Since it was really hard for us to take a photo of the baby looking directly at us, the photographer (Japs) decided to make something with the existing photos that he has (this photo can be seen in the slideshow below). Since she was looking at her fingers it is like she is looking at a butterfly hence, the theme. Using a lot of white soft styro, we decided to make it like a cloud enveloping the baby. In the post processing you would only see the white stuff there but it is not that obvious.

6^th Month Concept - Christmas Theme

PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin; VIDEOGRAPHER - Cuchikoo

Obviously, this was done in December. Christmas is a very popular theme for photo shoots. The photograph was conceptualize during post processing (photographer - Japs ) putting a sleigh in the background. Same as the chair concept, the baby is also supported at the back of the chair while being shoot.

7^th Month Concept – Playing around with colours

PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Darwin Tenebro, Hancel Darroca & Leo Larin;  VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo

Different coloured cloths were used to play around with the baby. We just let the baby have fun with the cloth for it to look natural. Since it is hard to force babies to pose for you, you have to make do with what poses she is making. In short, the photographers adjust with the model and not the other way around.

8^th Month Concept – Valentines Day

PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Vincent Ama, & Leo Larin;  VIDEOGRAPHER - Cuchikoo

This shoot was supposed to be a concept of the cupid holding her bow and arrow but unfortunately it was really hard to do because the baby was not in the mood for shooting. (See the video below showing the baby tantrum) Since the baby was fascinated with the red balloons, we just put all the balloons in the carpeted floor and let the baby play there and boy that is when we had our best shots taken from. 

9^th Month Concept  - Autumn

 PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Vincent Ama, & Leo Larin;  VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo

Here a blanket was put inside to protect the baby from the rough surface of the basket. Since it is autumn, perfect concept are falling leaves. We tried to look for dried autumn leaves for props. Looking for the perfect tree was hard but we saw a bunch of nice looking leaves in Port Melbourne and decided to get some for our photo-shoot. 

10^th Month Concept – Mini Me

 PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez

The parents’ bought a cute teddy for the baby and this is not all, the teddy has a matching clothes with the baby which is really cute. This is Mini Me. Since the baby also enjoyed playing around with the stuffed animal it wasn’t hard to shoot it because the baby was smiling all the time.

11^th Month Concept – Winter

PHOTOGRAPHERS - Japs Rodriguez, Vincent Ama, & Leo Larin;  VIDEOGRAPHER – Cuchikoo

Winter time is the coldest time of the month, so what do we need to do in order to show it in the photographs, winter clothes, of course. We asked the parents for winter costumes and we put a white backdrop to emphasize the cold (since snow is white having it as a background would let them think it was snowing there, and having snowy particles for the video is also nice for this particular concept)


IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO THIS EVERY MONTH HERE, I WOULD LIKE TO RECOMMEND SOME COSTUMES FOR YOUR SHOOT

 

PROPS FOR YOUR SHOOT

Once you had created a theme, Props are important for each photo sessions. We tried to find a prop for each theme that we have so as to make it livelier. For the newborn concept, most of the time babies are naked for this session. The photographers emphasize how delicate and small newborn babies are in the photograph. 

Since we did not plan in advance what concept we would have for each, we ask the parents what the child would be wearing and from there, we conceptualize. This is to minimize expenditures. As we all know, costumes can be a little expensive so if they have something nice for the photo shoot then that is what we would gain ideas from.


PROPS & COSTIMES USED FOR THE WHOLE SHOOTING

1. Pillow – essential for a comfy spot where the baby can rest if she needs to, it could also act as a support for an uncomfortable pose
2. Chair & Table – used as a platform for the baby
3. Mink Blankets – nice and soft for the baby to play around it and be comfortable in
4. Teddy Bear – nice prop to make the baby happier
5. Dress (Whatever nice is available in her wardrobe) – available clothes in the wardrobe are nice to play around with. But having new costumes are also ok. This would depend on the budget of the parents with the photo shoot sessions
6. Winter Jacket – used to convey winter theme
7. Basket, dried leaves – used as a prop for autumn theme
8. Balloons – nice background for the picture plus, babies like balloons. 

HERE ARE SOME PROPS THAT YOU CAN USE FOR THE SHOOT


WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF TANTRUMS

Now, if you are planning to take of the shots while the baby is awake, then prepare yourself for the worse. A kid would have tantrums most of the time. It is better to let the baby do what she/he wants and let them enjoy the moment. If they don’t then you are in for a big trouble. During our photo sessions the photographer and assistant photographers have to be entertaining in order to make the baby smile and happy. Since we are portraying a happy baby for each shoot then we have to make her happy. Here are some behind the scene shots during our photo sessions.

MAKE YOUR IMAGINATION RUN WILD

Be open to new ideas and new concepts as you shoot. This is very important because as you shoot, new concepts would buzz in your brain. These ideas have to be turned into reality in order to make it happen. Let your imagination run wild while shooting.

HAVE FUN

Last thing is, you should have fun while doing it. Treat it as a new project that would give you an opportunity to experiment and hang out with your friends.

In the slideshow, it would also be nice to mix videos and photographs of the baby outside the photo sessions. This would develop the character of the baby. I took out some pictures and videos that the parents’ uploaded in their facebook pages.

 

FINAL PROJECT

Here is the slideshow that I had made to show all the photo-shoots that we had.