Ten reasons why 8 months is the best age to photograph babies
When is the best age to photograph babies?
One question we are asked on a regular basis is when is the best age to photograph babies.
Throughout the first year there are several milestones that you’ll either be capturing yourself or you’ll be visiting a portrait studio for.
Newborn photography is particular popular as are first year cake smash photoshoots but when I’m asked when is the best age to photograph babies I always give the same answer.
Sitter sessions
When babies are around 8 months old and they can sit comfortably then that is the best age to photograph babies.
We sometimes refer to these photoshoots as “sitter sessions”.
It’s a great title for a photoshoot as it describes exactly what you need baby to be able to do during a shoot.
Normally this is around the time that children are getting Christened but capturing that milestone isn’t one of my reasons that make 8 months my favourite age.
Ten reasons why 8 months is the best age to photograph babies
1. Chubby babies
Who doesn’t love a chubby baby? There really is nothing cuter than photographing an 8 month old cubby baby. At this age babies teach their prime in terms of chubby. When they get more active that baby weight disappears so you only really have a small window of optimal cuteness.
We did consider bringing in a rule stated that we will only photograph chubby babies.
2. The end of maternity
As babies approach their first year the end of maternity leave looms closer. For some parents this is a really difficult transitional time. For babies separation anxiety also becomes a thing as the begin to experience a new childcare environment.
At 8 months you are experiencing an enjoyable time with your baby where these sometime negative experiences and feelings are less prevalent.
Happy parents + happy babies = awesome photos.
3. They wear clothes well.
I’ll be honest I despair at some outfits that arrive at the studio. It’s not lack of taste or anything along those lines, it’s that a 3 month old baby does not wear clothes well. No matter how cute they look some outfits just don’t sit right.
At 8 months outfits fit and sit just that little bit better.
There’s also a very good chance you’ve accumulated quite a few outfits that your baby hasn’t worn. A Photoshoot is the perfect time to get them out.
4. Everything is hilarious when you’re 8 months old.
Happy babies make good pictures so it does help that 8 month old babies find many things absolutely hilarious. We don’t pretend to be comedians so having an audience that will laugh at just about anything does make our job that little bit easier.
5. So easy to incorporate props
We should preempt this ramble to acknowledge the fact that baby photography is far from easy. We use the term “easy” relative to other baby photoshoots that incorporate props. When is comes to props we’ve always considered less to be more. A cool looking vintage chair, car or suitcase, in our opinion, is probably all the props you need.
When babies slowly become toddlers all they want to do is climb. This makes keeping the focus onto the props just that little bit harder.
When babies are 8 months old they are generally pretty happy to investigate a new object for a few minutes before they get too distracted.
This does offer us the opportunity to take some really lovely photos.
6. Not too weary of strangers
As babies close in on their first birthday it’s often the case that they become that little bit more clingy.
They are certainly more weary of strangers and strange places.
We’ve often hear parents saying things like “she doesn’t like men with beards”
The only remedy is patience, which as a baby photographer is somewhat of a prerequisite.
7. They have a sleep pattern
I use the term “sleep pattern” very loosely. If the best age to photograph babies is 8 months then the best time is when they are awake.
A little heads up, booking a Photoshoot during nap time isn’t a good idea.
It is entirely possible to pick a time of day to fit in between naps times and enable us to have a great shoot. What isn’t possible is to expect an 8 month old baby to change their sleep pattern to fit into a shoot schedule.
Book in advance to make sure to get the best time for tour baby.
8. Not too many teeth
My daughter decided she wasn’t going to grow any teeth until her first birthday, then they all came at once!
Teeth, in a way, signify the end of that baby stage and the beginning of the toddler stage.
Normally when a baby is 8 months old we do have a couple teeth coming through which do make really cute pictures.
With teeth come teething and all that entails. It’s certainly a good idea to bring something for them to chew on in-between shots.
9. They can’t run away
If this is your first baby then let me describe what the photos you take of your baby’s second year will look like; they are mostly blurred pictures of the back of their head as they run away.
Once they can walk, they can run. You have been warned.
In the studio we have flash heads that fire off at 100,000th of a second. What that means is if a hawk flew into the studio we could freeze the flight of the bird in a single sharp frame.
We invested in these high end professional studio strobes to capture toddlers on the move. Toddlers, it turns out, move just as quickly as any bird of prey in flight.
Whilst we have all the professional equipment to photograph as fast moving toddler, I won’t lie to you, it’s hard hard work.
An 8 month old may already have a taste for crawling but for the most part they stay sat in one place and don’t run away.
10. Developing a signature crawl
Most babies begin to crawl around 7 to 10 months but don’t think about this crawling in the classic sense.
Early crawling is a beautifully fantastic thing that is both graceless and ridiculous.
This ballet of gesticulation is an amazing thing to watch and an even better thing to photograph.
