A few portrait tips (please)

[~Stella~]

I have better luck with dark colored backgrounds and natural light than with white backgrounds, personally. You shouldn't need to diffuse the natural light if you catch that perfect bright, indirect, morning light.

Schedule for a time when baby is neither sleepy nor hungry and irritable and offer some new-to-baby things to interest your subject. Ideally, they will be very simple objects (like a monochrome ball or a few wooden blocks rather than electronic gadgets kwim?) that you wouldn't mind being in the frame if necessary.

One trick I use to get my kids to look out the window is to ask how many birds/clouds/airplanes they can see. Usually there will be none, but it gives me a few seconds to shoot madly while they gaze out, perfectly lit.