Ever since our little darling was born I've been trying to take photos of her. In general I'd say that it's gone fairly badly with the odd exception. The issue seems to be a combination of

• Taking photos indoors (as she was born in September and we haven't spent much time outside)
• Not wanting to use the flash because it causes red-eye, eventually upsets her a bit and generally makes the photos look unnatural
• Using my Pentax Optio 550 which isn't great indoors as the higher ISO settings cause lots of noise on the image
• My general lack of expertise with cameras and lighting
• The simple fact that Emma keeps moving all the time

So recently I've tried to help myself out and purchased a Canon EOS 350D. It's an entry-level digital SLR camera which just like many other cameras it offers various bracketing options, but it took me a while to realise it could do "baby bracketing". The trick would appear to revolve around the modern camera's ability to take many photos in quick succession. Couple this with a reasonable flash (such as the Speedlite 550EX) and E-TTL to vary the flash intensity and you have a way of getting the photo you wanted as your subject wiggles and giggles doing whatever she wishes. The reduced flash strength means that she doesn't get distracted and the camera can take the next photo much faster.

So the result of all this new technology is that we are back to point-and-shoot but with a much higher success rate. There are still times when it all goes wrong, but hopefully that will get better as I learn more.