On Valentine's of this year, I had the best date...a portrait session with a baby boy named Ryder. He was a little rockstar!

Of all the newborn portrait sessions I've shot, his was absolutely the smoothest sailing. He was only 9 days old and the perfect little model for his session. He never cried nor fussed, and I give credit for his mom, Liz, for most of that.

With most newborn sessions, you'll have a little crying here and there, but there are quite a few steps you can take to make the baby comfortable. Since Liz is interested in photography, she did a lot of research beforehand to prepare Ryder for his session. I had a few tips to give her when I got to her house, but she beat me to the punch and was ready to go as soon as I arrived.

When I get a requests for newborn portraits, I tell all of my moms-to-be that the best time for those portraits is about 7 to 10 days after birth. The first few months of a baby's life they sleep quite a bit. But in those first couple of weeks, they sleep so deeply that you are able to pose them a little easier without disturbing them. In addition to them sleeping through the session, the baby's joints aren't completely formed so they're a little more flexible in the way they can be posed. I've had a few clients bring me month-old babies with samples of newborn-type images they'd like made and it doesn't always work. The babies don't stay asleep and they're too squirmy for some of those poses. So those first two weeks are key!

Aside from the age of the baby, taking steps to keep the newborn comfortable is the main ingredient for a successful portrait session.

Temperature adjustment is a simple way to keep newborns happy. If you're planning to have naked baby portraits, then the temperature should probably be a little warmer than you'd typically keep your house. If you were walking around naked in your house in the winter, you'd probably want the heat on pretty warm. That's basically what will be happening with the baby, so keep that in mind. Mom, dad and the photographer may be a little sweaty when it's all over, but a warm baby is a happy baby.

A lot of babies don't like to have their clothing changed. So if you're planning for naked baby portraits and you strip them down right before the session, they're probably going to get a bit upset. If you take the baby's clothes off about 30 minutes before the session and just wrap a light blanket around them, then they'll have a little while to settle down and get comfortable before their portraits. Feel free to leave their diaper on though to prevent accidents.

If you're wanting your baby to be asleep in the portraits, try feeding him/her just before the session, so they'll have a full belly and sleep well. If the session is at your home, feed them as I'm setting up equipment. If it's at my studio, feed them just after arriving. If you know they'll need a diaper change shortly after feeding, or X amount of time after eating, keep that in mind and just schedule accordingly.

Of course, the baby can be awake for photos too. There's nothing wrong with showing off those beautiful newborn blue eyes.

Obviously you'll know your baby better than I do, so all of these tips are merely suggestions. Do what works best for you and your baby.

In addition to keeping baby happy, here are a few more ideas to keep in mind to make the best newborn portraits.

To keep both parents and baby a little more at ease, I am now offering in-home newborn portraits. And I prefer to use as much natural lighting as possible in these sessions. So when you are booking a newborn session, keep the lighting in your house in mind. Think about which room is your house gets the most amount of natural light and at what time of day that happens. The best light will be bright, but diffused. We don't want too many harsh shadows, such as those where sun is coming directly through the window. North light tends to be the most soft, with fewer shadows. If you know who have a certain room/time that fits those qualities, we can try to schedule the session according to that, in addition to what works with your baby's schedule.

I don't need a ton of room to shoot newborn portraits, especially if it's the baby only...a space about 5'X7' or a little larger should be fine. You may keep that in mind when picking a location in your house for portraits. If you find a suitable spot, clearing it out in advance of the portraits is helpful. Some of you may like a few portraits in the baby's nursery, so having it clean and uncluttered is handy too. Of course, if you have no idea about where to have the photos made, don't worry! I'll take care of it when I arrived at your home.

As with all portrait sessions, I prefer not to have a giant audience. It gets a bit crowded if we're working in a small room and too many people can be distracting to any of the people being photographed. Both parents are encouraged to be part of the portrait session, and if you need a grandma or one extra person to help out, that's understandable. But other than that, keeping the audience to a minimum is preferred.

On that note, mom and dad are encouraged to have a few portraits made with the baby. It's completely up to you, but if you are going to be part of the portraits, keep your clothing simple and undistracting. The baby will still be the focus of the portraits. This blog has great advise for portrait attire and it applies to this as well as any other session. As babies do tend to leak and spew once in a while, an extra change of clothes is handy to have, along with a few towels and baby wipes.

 

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