First off, congratulations on your new baby! Whether this is your first baby or your third, this is such a special time for your family. A time of adjusting, and seeing how your home molds to fit a new little life. That will include a little chaos, but all of the chaos is worth remembering! An in-home newborn session is the perfect way to capture this brief part of your life in an authentic way. Here are some of my best tips for how to plan your in-home newborn session. If you choose me as your photographer I will walk you through everything, and help you wherever I can!
Perfect Timing
I schedule newborn sessions (most of the time) on a weekday around 10:30 or 11am a week to 2 weeks after your baby is born. If you have older children, especially older children who still nap, we will schedule the session around their nap time! But, for the most part, this timing seems to be the sweet spot lighting wise while also working for baby mood wise. If you need your session to be on a weekend we can totally make that work too, but I do usually have less availability on the weekends! The most important part of finding the right time for your session is having happy kids.
Prepare Your Home
Your whole house does NOT have to be clean! Most of the time we use the living room, nursery, and master bedroom. We shift things around during your session, and I will always help make sure the background of your photos looks clean. I do also love to get candids of the bottle making process if you are bottle feeding, and part of that is stuff all over the kitchen. There is really no pressure to make your house something it is not. I also like to keep in mind any sentimental things you want photographed during your session, and I specifically ask about them in my pre-session questionnaire. The little details are what makes these sessions so special.
Prepare Your Family
I always think neutrals or muted colors put more focus on your family instead of your clothes. Pick an outfit that Mom feels her best in first and then base everyone else’s outfits around that. Dresses or something that is looser and flowy tend to photograph best, but the most important thing is that Mom feels comfortable! For babies, I really like a simple white onesie and then a couple other outfit changes throughout the session. Usually, once we hit 3 outfits, baby has had it and lets us know! It is also best if you feed your baby either right before I get to your house, or right as I am getting there. Usually that helps us make it to the end of the session before they need to eat again, but they are the star of the show! So we go with the flow of whatever they need.
FAQ’s
Will you help us pose? – I will prompt you to do different activities, and help you out along the way! You won’t be left to figure it out yourself, I promise. Our whole session is a big collaboration.
What if my house isn’t straight out of Pinterest? – That is totally fine! The beauty of a photo session is that we get to decide what is in the background, and I can use specific angles to clean things up. There is also a ton of beauty in photographing where you are. I have done newborn sessions in two bedroom apartments and million dollar houses, and all of them are beautiful. You are worth documenting just as you are.
How fast do I get my photos back? – I send sneak peeks within 24 hours of your session! Most of the time they are sent the afternoon of your session if you choose the 10:30 session time. Then your full gallery is sent within 2 weeks!
What if my baby cries the whole time? – One of my favorite sessions had a fussy baby. He was colicky and we did everything we could to calm them down. We still got some amazing photos! It was actually from one of the sessions in this post, and I bet you can’t guess which one it was!
How do I schedule a session when I don’t know when my baby will be born? – We schedule a tentative date about a week after your due date! Then we move it if we need to. There is no penalty for rescheduling, we are all on baby’s timing after all.
I hope what you have gotten from reading this post (along with how to plan your in-home newborn session) is that all I want you to do for your session is be yourselves. We can discuss any important shots you know you want before your session so we are on the same page going into it. I would love to help you keep the memories from this hectic, and beautiful, and short time in your life.
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