Creative Ideas for Easter Photos

Everybunny loves a great photograph featuring super cute kids, which is why springtime can be a great time to bring out the camera and snap away. (Yes, you can head to the mall or a photo studio for professional shots, but you can also create some cute photos on your own.) Here are a few ideas to get you started:

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Become the egg. Pregnant bellies make perfect eggs! Have a friend decorate your belly using body paints in pretty pastels, and then let her click away. Cover your chest with a pastel colored shirt to match or, if you’re a bit more daring, your hands. Use a brightly colored tablecloth ($1 or so in the party supply section of most stores) as the backdrop and paint the due date of your baby on the bottom of your belly or on a sign, which you can hold during the shoot. You might also sit on a pastel-colored tablecloth and scatter Easter props around your body, such as Easter baskets and candy.

Take a lot of pictures. You never know what’s going to look good and what’s not.

A tisket, a tasket, put her in a basket. Have a small newborn and want to create cute Easter images? Purchase or borrow an oversized basket, fill with a soft, pastel colored blanket, dress your baby in an alternating pastel color, lay her on top of the blanket, and snap away! (This works best for babies who have not yet learned to crawl!) You might also add Easter trinkets to the basket, such as a chocolate or stuffed bunny rabbit and plastic Easter eggs. Again, by placing the basket on a pastel-colored tablecloth – and even using one as a backdrop on the wall – you can create a really soft background color to the photos.                                                                                                                                                         

Suit up! Shop around for an Easter Bunny outfit, or put together one by using a white onesie or shirt and shorts, Easter Bunny ears headband, and body paint or markers to create whiskers and a nose (works better on older kids who aren’t as prone to wipe it off with their hands!) (My mom sewed a suit for me when my oldest was two; she wears it every single Easter as she hunts for eggs!) Fill a basket with Easter goodies and snap your children holding the basket or seated with the basket in their lap. Have a toddler and a baby? Let the toddler be the Easter Bunny and put the newborn in the basket mentioned above; then have the toddler “deliver” items, such as plastic eggs and candy, to the newborn in the basket during the shoot.

Tips for Good Photos

• If shooting outside, try to do it in the earlier morning or later evening hours, when the sun is not so strong it washes out your subject.
• Put the sun behind you when you can. This will keep your subject bright.
• Take pictures just after the kids wake and eat for the day or right after naptime, when they are most rested and ready to cooperate.
• Take a lot of pictures. You never know what’s going to look good and what’s not. You can always delete those that don’t turn out; but you probably won’t be able to go back and reshoot if you didn’t take enough.

Take pictures just after the kids wake and eat for the day or right after naptime, when they are most rested and ready to cooperate.

Use colorful backdrops inside and out. Springtime means color, so it is the perfect time to get outside and shoot pictures. Find an area with a lot of flowers, such as a garden or park. Put your props in a backpack, like Easter eggs, bunny ears, Easter basket, candy and stuffed animals, and snap away. Don’t want to venture out? Use a tablecloth or pastel colored sheet as the backdrop. When my children were really young, I used a colorful blanket draped over the sofa or pillows, and I propped up their heads with the pillows when I took the photographs. I would also scatter the props on the floor around them.

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Last, but not least, frame it! After the pictures have been developed, use colorful frames to showcase the photos. These make great gifts for grandparents and family members. If you can’t find a pastel colored frame, head to JoAnns or Michaels and purchase wooden frames. Paint these in pastels, and then decorate with painted wooden eggs and flowers to match the springtime/Easter theme.