How Does a Newborn Session Flow
Anyone that’s new to newborn photography can tell you it’s harder than it looks. Babies sleep a lot, so it’s assumed that taking photos of them would be easy. All you have to do is search #pinterestfail on the subject to see how things can go wrong. Undressing a baby is a room that’s anything less than VERY WARM is the first thing that can make them mad. Not being held by an adult is a close second. Start moving them around and you’re asking for it!
So, how does a newborn session flow? How do we get the baby to cooperate and make it all happen in 90 minutes or less.
7 Tips for a Great Newborn Session
- Warm the room. I can’t stress how important this is. In your clothing, you should be sweating a little. Remember the baby won’t be dressed (or minimally dressed) so make sure they are comfortable.
- Use white noise. Even small things like talking or the sound of the shutter can stir them. So, make sure you have a good white noise machine.
- I start with the baby wrapped. I instruct parents to dress the baby in front snap or zip outfit that’s easy to remove. As I’m removing clothing, I’m wrapping them, so they’re never left with arms and legs moving around.
- Once I have the baby securely wrapped and soothed, I’ll take photos shooting straight down. I might move the wrap slightly to create different looks or add a hat. This is the point where I’ll shoot details of the hands, ears and hair.
- If parents want any basket props, I transfer the baby in the wrap to the basket and take close up and pulled out shots there.
- When I move the baby back to the bean bag, I’ll place them on their tummy start slowing removing the blanket and diaper. I’ll photograph the curled up on the tummy poses and do some slight variations in poses, plus adding hats/wraps.
- Lastly, I put the diaper back on, add a wrap and do some additional photos looking down. The baby might be awake by this time. Since the baby is wrapped, I also use the blanket to wrap around the feet and do those close-ups.
