Preparing for a Newborn Photography Session

Perfect Newborn Photography Session

Newborn Studio Photography Session Merseyside

I LOVE photographing newborns!  A newborn photography session is incredibly challenging, but it’s also so lovely  to be a part of baby’s life when they are just days old.

There’s a bit of prep and planning that needs to go into these sessions to make them more successful though.
We’ve compiled a few tips below to help us get the very best out of your upcoming newborn session.

So…let’s get started!

  • Pencil your booking in
  • We recommend that you schedule your newborn session during your second trimester and we’ll pencil you in.
  • Then, shoot us an email soon after you deliver so we can arrange a time for the session.
  • Newborn sessions are best scheduled within the first 14 days of being born. However, the best time is between 3-7 days after they are born, this is so that they are still very sleepy at this stage .
  • What to bring
  • Please bring a blanket that may be photographed with your baby….and one that they may be swaddled with. Babies in hats photograph beautifully, so please bring along a hat, knitted ones work best.If you are planning to have the baby wear clothes, keep the following in mind: Simple clothing works best for creating successful, timeless portraits. Sometimes just a plain vest is great so we can still see bare arms,legs and feet.
  • Parents/siblings in Photographs
  • I know some parents aren’t excited about being in the portraits…please know that I can photograph around not having a full frontal, facial portrait of the parents, but still capture the bond between parent and baby!!
  • CLOTHING – wear white, jeans are great, bring a change of clothes for after the shoot just in case there is an ‘accident’ during the session!  Barefoot is always the best choice!!
  • JEWELLERY – keep jewellery to a minimum, no watches as they can be distracting.
  • MAKEUP – Makeup just slightly stronger that you would wear for normal daytime, keep nails simple without bright coloured nail polish.  Don’t wear makeup with sparkles (including high gloss lipstick) the sparkles catch the light of the flash and you will have silver sparkles all over!  Bring your make up bag for touch ups.
  • What Happens
  • Newborn sessions take longer than other sessions, it all depends on baby’s mood and willingness to sleep. Unfortunately…this isn’t something we can predict! We ask that everyone remain calm, should he/she not want to sleep, since your baby will pick up on any frustration in the room. And if  sleep doesn’t happen, that’s okay! Wide-eyed newborn photos are beautiful too.  Sarah has 11 years of experience working with newborn babies including special needs babies + toddlers  and many children of all ages.   Your baby is in safe hands, Sarah will take her time to pose your baby in a safe and caring way.
  • Props
  • We like to photograph newborn babies naturally after all it’s all about the newness and beauty of your newborn baby, we do  have a collection of bowls, blankets, knit hats and headbands that we can use and you are also, welcome to use any of your own props. Looks for items with texture and color to help make your images unique.  If you have any toys, hats, props, etc. that you would like me to use in your session, please feel free to bring them along. We may not get the chance to use ALL of the items, but we’ll look through them with you to determine what will work best for your newborn photo session.
The Breast Feeding Food Guide:  The following information may be of use to you, many years ago I did have a difficult newborn photo session and it transpired that mummy had eaten a curry a night before so baby was difficult to settle!  You may or may not have noticed your baby acting irritable or fussy shortly after nursing. While some foods may or may not affect your baby this may be worth trying, however before you do anything you should ask your midwife or doctor, we suggest mummy avoids the foods listed below for 48 hours prior to a newborn photography session as these food items tend to agitate newborns (but ask your midwife or doctor first).
Citric or Acidic foods and drinks and Gassy Vegtables, such as:
  • Cranberries
  • Pineapple
  • Grapefruit
  • Oranges
  • Lemons
  • Strawberries
  • All berries
  • Tomatoes
  • Chilli
  • Curry!!
  • Asparagus
  • Onions
  • Cucumbers
  • Broccoli
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Cabbage

Your newborn photography session can be taken as part of our Signature Maternity & Newborn Package or as a single Portrait Experience Session  if you would like further information about our sessions and what is involved, then please feel free to call us on 0151 348 1234 or use the contact form by clicking here.  To keep up to date regularly with what is happening in the studio why not have a look at our Facebook page and Like us to receive regular feeds.  You can also purchase any of our sessions directly at our online shop www.offleyphotography.com/clients.

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