When photographing newborns with their older siblings, sometimes you have to try a few different things before you hit on what will work.  In this session, I had tried a few different positions and wasn’t getting anything fantastic.  It’s hard with a 2 year old.  Their life has just been turned upside-down.  Then I come in and I’m asking them to do things that aren’t their favorite.  They’d rather be off and running around!

So, we took a break and I just photographed the baby by herself.  I came up with a game plan that involved the baby being stationary on this chair (with a parent off to one side as a spotter).  Then, we would bring in big brother and see if he could interact with her a bit.

Here’s what it looked like first.  I asked him where the flower was…

Found the flower, check.  Next we started being silly and saying funny things.  He eventually looked up and smiled at us.  Ka-ching.

Then, I asked him to give her a kiss.  Or if he could kiss the flower on her head.  This whole progression of images lasted about 30 seconds.  It involved lots of enthusiasm and silly voices.  The moral of the story is that these types of images don’t just happen.  They are planned out and they happen QUICK.  Two year olds move fast!

Newborn Photographers Orange County // Planning Out a Shot