Respect for Pro Portrait and Baby Photogs Keeps Growing

[byarger]

As my photography skills have improved over the years, I have found friends and family sometimes turn to me for photos.
1. A couple of months ago I photographed our best friends and their four generation family - 10 people in all - with my 20D. 420EX flash, and no other lighting. It was a real challenge and I have to admit that I did not like most of the pictures. There was always someone in the group with their eyes closed, or looking the other way, or moving when I snapped the picture. The wall background at their house was not the right color and the colors were altered. They had one of their own cameras set up also, so it seemed they were always looking at the wrong camera - my fault as I was not always demanding of their full attention.
2. Yesterday, I shot my 4 month old granddaughter. Her movements and the overall hurried nature of such a shoot with a baby in between diaper changes, feeding, and nap time led to a much more rushed, pressured process than I would have liked. I got a lot of great shots, but a lot of not so good shots - underexposed as my flash had not yet recycled, bad angles, less than optimal lighting.
Overall these are great learning experiences, but I cannot imagine doing this full time. The pressure to get a consistent product everytime would kill me. My hat is off to all of you that do this on a professional level, particularly with baby photos. I know that my situation cannot be compared to many of yours because you control the environment (lighting, background, etc.) in a studio setting and eliminate some of the inconsistent factors I faced. But once again, my hat's off to you. I will keep working on it.