NEWBORN SESSION - WORKFLOW
The Newborn Photography is one of the hardest types of photography. It takes lots of work, lots of energy, lots of patience and lots of knowledge to work with newborn babies and to photograph them safely. This is why Newborn Photoshoot can take between 2-4 hours depending on the package. And also this is why it's not the cheapest type of photography. But I promise you - this is the thing you will never regret doing. As a mum myself I know how time flies and how babies change. In the first year of their life they change daily. Time will pass by and soon your baby will not look like a baby anymore and no matter how hard it is now - you will want to go back to this time when your baby was so tiny and so innocent. Little fingers, little feet, little spots on the nose, their flexibility - you want to remember these details.
A few days before the photoshoot I will send you the guide with tips on how to prepare yourself and your baby for the photoshoot. My workflow is pretty much the same for every session but at the same time the session is completely baby led. So if baby is awake or not comfortable, we move on to the next setup pose and then try again on the one we missed.
I prepare your setups in advance based on your answers in questionnaire. Having it all ready when you arrive makes session goes smoothly and quickly. Knowing my session flow and available setups/props might help you decide on what setups you want to do.
If everything goes well and your baby is fast asleep when you arrive, first thing I would do is posing on a bean bag / posing table (if requested).
This is my favourite setup as it seems to be so natural to me and by doing just this one setup, we already gain between 5-15 different photos to your gallery. We only do the poses that your baby feels comfortable with. However, normally it is:
- Bum up
- Laying on a side
- Laying on a back
- Hands under the chin
- Froggy pose (only when requested, if baby is very sleepy)
If baby is awake, we start our session with wrapped photos.
If there are young siblings, we start our session with family & siblings shots.
Depending on what we started with, we will slowly move on to the next setups. Sometimes, when baby is fast asleep it goes smoothly and before baby needs their next feed, we are done. Sometimes we need to feed your baby in the meantime and put back to sleep - which is fine! Babies tend to be more hungry during the photoshoot and that's ok.
I normally leave family photos for the very end (unless there are younger siblings). My studio is quite small so after posing, we take a short break for feeding/changing the baby and setting up for family shots. I don't book more than 1 newborn a day, so there is no rush. As mentioned before - you and your baby's comfort is our priority. We take as much time as we need!
BEAN BAG / TABLE POSING
BABY WRAPPED IN A BASKET
BABY WRAPPED ON A FLOKATI
SIBLINGS
LITTLE WOODEN BED
LITTLE CHAIR
SOFA
BUCKET (METAL OR RUSTIC WOODEN)
WOODEN HEART
HEART ON A BLANKET
SWING
HAMMOCK
DETAILS / PARENTS HANDS ON A BABY
FAMILY - WHITE BACKLIT, NATURAL POSING
FAMILY - BLACK BACKGROUND
FAMILY - SILHOUETTE
FAMILY - GREY BACKGROUND
Are you worried if your baby will cooperate? Or maybe you booked a Newborn Session for the baby that's older than 3 weeks old? Well! We definitely still can get the photoshoot done even if baby is older or awake. It does happen! Statistically, if the Newborn Photoshoot is done in the first 18 days of baby's life - 80% babies will cooperate just fine and they will sleep for at least half of the time! The remaining 20% will stay awake for the entire photoshoot because they are just more alert, they want to know what is happening, they don't feel quite safe or maybe they are overdue babies that were supposed to be born 2 weeks earlier so they are really a little bit ahead with development. And that's fine. Awake pictures are beautiful and I love them with my whole heart. You can see their beautiful eyes, you can see their personality! If baby doesn't move too much, we still can use some of the props. If baby is older and very active some of the props might not be suitable.
What we can do with awake / older baby?
- Posing on the blanket in positions that baby is comfortable with
- Wrapped baby (basket, flokati)
- Wooden heart bowl
- Hammock / Swing
- Heart on a blanket
- Parents hands on baby, details
- Natural family & siblings shots
What we cannot do with awake / older baby?
- Posing on the blanket in positions that baby doesn't like
- Posing in a bucket
- Posing in a little chair
- Posing on a little bed
As you can see, we can still do a lot! So if your baby is older and you don't mind awake shots - there is absolutely nothing to worry about. I've got this!
OLDER NEWBORN / AWAKE BABY POSES