Newborn sessions are a fantastic way of capturing those precious moments when your new baby is still tiny and fresh. I absolutely cherish newborn sessions and they are some of my favorite sessions to shoot. The best time to book your newborn session is when they are 7-14 days old- having them this young ensures you will get the best poses. The thrill of capturing images of a perfectly sleeping tiny human in really whimsical poses & the first little smiles are my favorite parts of the session, but its really important to never compromise the safety of the baby for those elusive shots.
Sure you might be able to pose a baby in a position where they can balance their own head in their hands for a few minutes, or prop them up for some amazing poses, but the question is “Why would you risk the safety of your child?” All those set-ups can be achieved safely with the use of composites and cloning with no risk to the child. This is a little more work in the post production phase for me when I edit the images, but its more important to keep the baby safe.
With props that are a little higher off the ground, I always put something heavy in the base to weigh it down so there is no chance of it tipping over. I use lots of pillows and blankets to line the prop so there are no hard edges and I always use a spotter. Moms make great assistants, they know how to soothe, and the baby is familiar with their gentle touch and smell.
Top safety tips for photographing newborn sessions:
- Have someone close to the baby as a spotter
- Keep the room toasty warm for the baby, I always have a small space heater close enough to the baby without it in the camera frame.
- Sanitize hands regularly, I keep bottles of sanitizer placed all around the studio and if we have the session out of your home I bring some with me
- Don’t force a pose, sometimes babies don’t like to bend. You will have to have other “plan B” poses in mind if some of the more difficult ones don’t work out.
- Always support the baby’s head in upright poses
- Keep the baby low to the ground when hanging or holding, if you are extending the baby out on the parents arms always have a supportive bean bag underneath
- Use composite images when ever necessary (composite images are multiple images merged together)
- Listen to the mommy and baby’s cues, take breaks when needed- they may just need a little comfort, feeding, or a couple cuddles.
