I will say right away that I am not a newborn photography expert. I generally do more lifestyle type photos with mom and dad interacting with the baby. Let's say you don't want to hire someone for a newborn session but you still want some good photos of your baby, here are just a few simple tips to use in your own in your home:
1. You do not need any fancy studio lights or flashes. I just had her lying on a couch in front of our big living room window.
2. Use blankets as a backdrop that are lighter or neutral in colour. If you use brighter colours, it really can make the skin tone a lot more difficult to edit. Babies are often really pink or yellow or orange as it is:) Have the blanket go up over the couch or if on another surface, have it pinned to a couple of chairs behind the baby. You don't want anything other than the blanket as the backdrop or it's distracting.
3. Make sure baby is safe. This it THE most important thing. When you see shots of babies hanging from branches or having their heads rested in their hands, there is some photoshop going on. Hands are supporting the baby. Do not attempt anything unsafe. Ever. I don't do these shots because I'm not trained in them. Never leave baby unattended. Even a baby that has never rolled before, can roll at that moment.
4. The best time to do photos is after the baby has had a good feed. If you try to do it while they are still hungry, you'll get a lot of funny faces and their hands in their mouth:)
5. To keep baby happy, have the room nice and warm (crank the heaters!) and white noise is always good too.
6. Tuck in hands and feet. When they are splayed everywhere, the baby looks really uncomfortable. It's good to hold their body all nice and tucked in with a blanket and wait for the baby to get comfortable in that pose and then slowly remove the blanket. It takes patience!! Put hands under the head to hold it up off of the blanket.
7. If you have toddlers running around, want that `perfect' newborn shot, want to be in the shot, or are too exhausted to even think of taking photos, you can always hire someone too!
8. You can have them naked (beware and be prepared for a mess!) or use a diaper cover. Cloth diapers can be fine but I think that the look of a disposable diaper takes away from the photo.
9. The best time to do newborn photos would be in the first 10 days or so. The photos above were done on day 4.
10. Take photos. No matter what they look like, just take them. They are only little once and they grow so, so quickly. You don't want to forget their newborn hair, their hands, their feet etc. My baby is already 1 week old and I feel like she's getting too big already:)
Great tips - thanks. The pink ruffled bottom reminds me of being at an orphanage in South Sudan a couple of years ago and one of the babies had pink ruffled rubber pants on. We assumed it was a girl and kept referring to "her" as a "she" - when we changed the diaper, we found out it was a boy!
ReplyDeleteAt least if they rolled over for the first time while you were taking photos you'd have it recorded ;).
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