DIY: Pumpkin Photo Shoot

I will admit I am a sucker for newborn photos, big headbands and any photo of Violet in general. I wanted a newborn photo shoot for her in the worst way but I just couldn't justify the money. What is a crafty mama to do? Well a DIY photo shoot of course. Over the last six months my mom and I have become pretty proficient in infant photography. By no means are we close to professional photographers but we get the job done with small budget for props.

Today I am sharing with you a photo that we recreated from Pinterest, we saw this pin while I was pregnant last fall. Pin Source: Enjoy this moment blog.

Supplies:

• Cute Baby
• Pumpkin
• Pumpkin carving tools
• Festive Fall headband & desired Fall props
• Camera
• Toys to make baby smile, foolish songs and general silliness tend to work as well

Mom and I carved the pumpkin. Well to be fair she carved I watched. I did carry the 35lb pumpkin to the counter, that counts, right?

We scooped out all the seeds and cut two leg holes. Next we stripped Violet down to her diaper. We put a receiving blanket in the pumpkin so she wasn't sitting in the cold slimy pumpkin. I was a little nervous that she would freak out in the pumpkin but it didn't seem to phase her.

My mom took the pictures with my Dad's fancy pants camera but a point and shoot works just fine too.

Here is a behind the scenes look at what it takes to get photos.

We tried photos on my back porch and front porch, in between our little model had a nap and a bottle. My biggest tip in taking infant photos is be flexible and take breaks. If you are frustrated, baby will sense it and quickly meltdown.

Here are our finished products. I do think the camera lens was the wrong one as a lot of the pictures came out blurry but I think they are still cute.

See that spider she is chomping on? Ten seconds after this picture was taken, Nana ( my mom) was fishing a bead out of her mouth Violet managed to chew off.

I took this one with my camera in between shots. This picture is pure Violet, chill baby girl wondering what the big people are doing now.

Violet did not want to give up a smile and I think it was because we were outside and she was distracted by the trees and noises. I am sure my neighbors think we are crazy but I can live with that.

My nephew is due in a few weeks and we are going to do a newborn shoot with him so I will be doing a newborn DIY photo shoot tutorial in the coming weeks. I am excited to do his because we learned a lot from Violet's, plus I won't be recovering from a c-section.

Tips for DIY Infant Photos:

• Be flexible
• It takes more than one person to photo, entertain the baby, stand near baby in case of a fall and of course someone to capture behind the scene photos...they are funny.
• Have multiple props/headbands, etc. Sometimes a look doesn't work or you will like one over the other, switch it up.
• Give baby breaks, step away and try again. We had the front porch set up for over an hour, waiting for Violet to nap and eat.
• Be aware of the sun and shadows. My porch wasn't the best area for the photos, my Dad held a blanket up for some of the shots so there weren't steaks of light going across Violet.
• Have toys, songs and such to help make baby smile.
• Snap, snap, and snap some more. Sometimes those pictures without smiles reflect little one's personality the best.
• Have fun!

Happy Fall photo shoots!