Hi, I'm Sophie, and I am a professional baby and children's photographer in San Diego! Every year, I put on Valentines Mini Sessions for my clients, and every year, I love getting creative with my set. I never buy pre-made Valentines backgrounds but rather I make them myself, and every year, it's something that any parent can recreate in their own home! So, here is this year's setup. I made a super cute 'raining hearts' themed setup!

For this session, I headed over to my local Joanne's Fabrics and purchased:

Materials:
- red felt
- colored yarn
- pillow fluff
... and I already had the fishing line at home... as well as thumbtacks!

Background:
So, I use a roll of Savage Seamless Paper, made for photographers, but you could totally use any blank wall near a good window with non-direct sunlight. Ideally, you want your light to shine on your subject around 45 degrees, or to one side of your subject's face. It's best not to have light shining directly in front of your subject as it might look a bit flat. Side lighting gives your subjects a bit more depth.

So, onto the project!

I cut out a bunch of heart shapes with the red felt fabric and used the colored yarn to sew together the two sides, with a bit of pillow fluff inside. I made a few of these hearts in red and light pink.

I then took the fishing line and tied a heart to the bottom, tied a large handful of fluff towards the middle of the fishing line, then tumbtacked it to my ceiling. I did this with a few 'heart clouds', then kept the remaining felt hearts for my kiddo clients to hold, toss, etc... I took the rest of the fluff and spread it all over the ground, so that it would look like the kids were standing on a large cloud. Throughout the session, I would have parents toss the remainder of the clouds over the kiddos so they would 'catch' the hearts. I had them hold the hearts close to their 'real' hearts, toss them in the air, throw them back to me... interaction with your kid-subjects gets them to show their true and natural smiles.

Have fun with this Valentines photography project! Feel free to message me for photography related tips!

Sophie Crew

Sophie Crew Photography, San Diego CA.