The portrait I'm proudest of to date ...

is this one of my sister and her very last newborn. I'm so glad she gave me permission to share this because I'd enlarge this one as big as I could - if I had a studio! It's part of a collage poster I designed for the baby's bedroom, though, so I'll have to content myself with that for now.

When my sister asked me to take birth announcement pictures, I jumped at the chance. I just love to photograph children, and I couldn't wait to try my hand at those endearing newborn shots. So I looked at a lot of infant photography to see what I wanted to try. This was, by far, the one shot I wanted to get. (Maybe next week I'll show you the hands and feet pictures that I love, too!)

This was taken in her sunroom with lots of natural light. The window was to my sister's left. I draped a matte black blanket over a chair, my sister wore a black turtleneck and we stripped the baby to just her diaper. Then my sister sat on the floor with her back to me, the baby over her shoulder. Then I asked her to give the baby a kiss, and I starting shooting pictures. I have about ten "dud" pictures of this pose, but that's how it is when you're dealing with little ones. The point is that I took enough pictures to get the picture.

So here are my tips for this picture:

• Try a neutral background with a matching neutral clothing color when you want to showcase a "feeling." Black is fabulous, but try white, too. It creates a totally different effect.
• Browse through other photographers' collections to find posing ideas you might not have thought of. It helps to look for the kind of photography you're going to do (babies vs. senior pictures).