I’m no professional, but actual persons have asked me about the photography techniques I employ therein.

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I don’t have a fancy camera. But I DO have a cute baby. And I take a LOT of pictures of her, and share quite a few of them on Instagram. (I also don’t have an iPhone, but here’s how I get my photos onto Instagram without one.)

There must be thousands of photography tip blog posts out there, by people more qualified to write them than I. But it’s going to turn out that THIS blog post is actually about sheets, anyway. And there’s a SPECIAL OFFER. So stick around. Here goes . . .

These tips are pretty basic, but they’re really the only things I focus on in all my picture taking, not just Instagram, not just babies.

1. Light. 

Light is second only to subject matter in photography. Maybe they’re even tied. It’s SUPER important. Light is the difference between Grace Patton’s Instagram feed, and your cousin’s.

Not enough light, and photos are blurry. Too much and there are weird shadows, and squinty faces.

Natural light is best. If it’s daylight, I turn the lights off and get close to a window or door. I never use a flash.

I put myself in between the baby and the light source, with the light behind me.

Diffused light seems to work best. I try to position the baby where light will reflect onto her from a white wall, rather than putting her in the direct light from a window. Or I take photos at a time of day when there is plenty of light coming in through the window, but it is not shining directly on where I’m shooting.

If I end up with a dark photo I want to use anyway, I try lightening (hey, correct use of that word!) it with a filter.

2. Angles

Especially since Instagram photos are almost always small and square, I try to find interesting and unexpected angles. What I almost always end up liking best is getting down low, level with my subject, rather than always shooting from a standing position.

So, if she’s on the floor, I’ll get the camera on the floor too. If she’s on the bed, I shoot from the edge of the bed. If it looks weird, I can always delete it. Ah, the digital age.

3. Background

Busy or messy backgrounds CAN be cool and interesting, or they can be distracting. Some of my favorite photographs in my feed are babies on beds with plain white sheets.

Which I didn’t have.

But now I do because the good folks at Perfect Linens sent me some to try out. (See? I told you this post was really about sheets.) They are amazing, for all sorts of scientific reasons, apparently. But I love that they are super soft, even after multiple washings. And very clean and white, without bleach, even with a baby sleeping in them with me, doing baby stuff to them. And very smooth, even without dryer sheets, which I don’t use.

They really are the best sheets we’ve ever owned. They have a few options, but the ones we have are Second Skin, with the fern green embroidered border. The sheets themselves are really what’s important, but I just love the embroidery. It makes me feel like I’m sleeping in sheets I spent years hand-embellishing and kept stored in a hope chest. But I did not have that kind of dedication in my girlhood.

I have a discount code for you. If you happen to be without lovely white sheets as well, it is worth $35 off each purchase: CatholicAllYear35. 

And that’s my honest opinion, but this is a sponsored post.

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Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary! Here’s the quick, easy, and fun way we’ll be celebrating . . .

And here’s how our family manages an almost daily family rosary . . .

How We Say a Family Rosary