Newborn Work Flow

When prepping for a newborn session, I want to be sure that parents- especially first time expecting parents, can also feel prepared. It allows them to have peace of mind if they have never sat in on a newborn session before. I offer a newborn prep guide to all my newborn clients. I find it to be just as important as preparing for a photography session myself. It goes over what to expect, what I provide for their baby, what to bring and not to bring, what to wear and not wear, and a few other details about my newborn session workflow.

For my full experience collection, I focus on capturing baby in many different ways. My favorite, and my client’s favorites as well, are always the adorable sleepy nakey poses. It captures baby in a peaceful sleep while getting to see just how tiny they are. I refer those newborn poses as “table poses” in my newborn workflow. I always try to get 2-3 different colored fabrics for a great versatile newborn gallery.

Sometimes it can take baby a while to settle, especially if parents had a longer drive to get to the studio and baby slept on the car ride. Surprisingly, newborn babies can have a long awake window at times. If this is the case, I focus on wrapped poses. Wrapping baby in the “potato wrap” as we newborn photographers call it, almost always works like a charm. Baby is snug, warm, and their limbs are against their body giving them comfort and allowing them to fall into a nice deep sleep. When they’re in the potato wrap, I am able to photograph them in many different set ups. My top three props are the bamboo chair, heart crate, and flokati. I usually do parents and sibling poses as well. For safety reasons, I prefer this wrap when posing young siblings with baby too.

If siblings are feeling overwhelmed and unable to sit still (usually 3 year olds and younger) my lifestyle corner is a lifesaver for me. Parents always love this option too.

Sometimes parents ask if they can bring things to have incorporated in their newborn gallery. Depending on the item they bring is how I dictate the best pose to be able to have it incorporated. For this safety helmet, I had mom hold the helmet in space for safety reasons and simply photoshopped her arm out. This was special to her because it was also used in her first baby’s newborn session with the same pose and bucket.