New to photographing your newborn? Here’s what you should keep in mind.
Tags: Photography Tips, Newborn, Smugmug, Baby, Tips

Are you ready to capture your baby’s precious first moments and grow your newborn photography skills? Read on for guidance and inspiration for both professional photographers and parents who want to do it at home.

To capture those “cuteness overload” moments of the little one, prepare everything before the session. This includes timing (time of day and timing with the baby’s schedule), lighting, background and props, and how to make the images unique to the parents, the family, and the baby. Consider making a checklist with the following steps so you can get heartwarming images with any camera you have, even your phone.

Step 1: Find beautiful lighting.

Newborn and baby photography is all about natural lighting (sunlight). You won’t use flashes or extra lights because it could be harmful to the baby’s eyes, and it might upset them, making it hard to capture happier moments. Natural light will give you a soft, dreamy look that’s perfect for baby photos. For home sessions and professional-studio shots, pick a place that has good natural light by a window, door, or skylight.

Pro tip: Keep a journal for a few weeks of the best lighting at specific times of day and in certain weather conditions (sunny, cloudy, overcast) to ensure you get the best glow. If the light is really bright, consider hanging a white, semi-transparent sheet or curtain over the window. This will diffuse the light and make it soft.

Items for a newborn photography session:

Window or door with natural light

White sheet to hang and diffuse bright sunlight

Pillow or basket to hold the baby safely in position

Soft, aesthetic blanket to cover the pillow or basket

Personalized touches, props, and accessories

Chair or couch to place the baby on

Toy, pet, or person that makes the baby happy

Soothing music

Bottle or pacifier to calm the baby

Space heater to keep the area warm

Camera

Step 2: Figure out the best timing.

Timing is everything with baby photography. Pick a time of day when the little one is happiest: after a nap, post-feeding, or first thing in the morning. If you’re lucky, you’ll even be able to pair the ideal time for the baby with the ideal time for natural lighting.

Timing is also important in a big-picture sense as far as the baby’s age goes. If you want true newborn photos where the baby is curled like in the womb, aim to do the shoot between 1 and 4 weeks. This allows the baby to have more of a consistent daily schedule but still look like a newborn.

You might want to photograph while the baby’s asleep, so make the situation as comfortable and familiar as possible. Put on that white-noise machine that helps the baby fall asleep, have a favorite blanket nearby, and keep the room at a warm temperature. Consider doing a few mini shoots with the infant until you get images that everyone loves.

Step 3: Pick personal backgrounds and props.

This is where your creative ideas get to come to life! You can search around online to find ideas, but what will really make your images special is adding personal touches. Think about future hopes and dreams for the child and the family. Will the child dream big as an astronaut or mountain climber? Does the family have a long line of engineers to pay tribute to? What about sports teams, love of the outdoors, or special family heirlooms from grandparents? Maybe one parent is a crafter and could sew a special outfit or knit a beanie for the shoot. If you’re a pro photographer, encourage the parents to consider these details, and prepare a list of blankets, backdrops, and props you can provide.

The littlest babies will need a support pillow to keep them in place, but you might not want the pillow’s fabric as the background, so consider draping a blanket over the pillow. Neutral colors and a soft texture will help the baby stand out. If you put the baby inside a basket or another prop, make sure it’s in a safe position and weighted at the bottom so the baby won’t tip over or fall out.

Maybe the baby’s face lights up when a sibling, toy, or dog comes into view; see how you can use that reaction to get great images. Keep them around as your photo assistant — they’ll come in handy when the baby is tired of playing model. If you’re a pro photographer, make sure to discuss these specifics with the parents so everyone’s job is easier and you get the shots you and they envision.

Step 4: Set everything up beforehand.

Once you dial in the details of lighting, background, and props, pull it all together before you add the baby. You can snap a few shots, see how it looks, and fine-tune everything to make sure it’s exactly what you want. That way when you bring the baby into frame, you can maximize your shooting time.

If you’re a parent doing the shoot yourself, you can shoot multiple days in a row if you have the time and desire. You can change outfits, backgrounds, and locations as much as you want. If you’re a photographer, have another outfit or backdrop on deck in case your baby has an accident and needs to be changed mid-shoot.

Step 5: Play with camera positions and settings.

Photographing a newborn is often best done from above or on the same level with the baby. You can place the baby comfortably on a soft surface on the ground, stand above, and shoot away. Just don’t drop your camera! If you’re putting the baby on a chair or on something higher than the floor, try getting down to shoot from the same level as the baby.

If you want a blurred-out background, choose portrait mode on your camera or manual mode with a big aperture, like f/2.8. Try different compositions, including wide shots of the entire body or cropping in to get a close-up of the face, or details of those tiny toes or sweet little nose. These images will be cherished by everyone as the child grows up.

Step 6: Shoot as much as possible.

Once everything is in position, just keep shooting! Click the shutter button as many times as possible, and it’s guaranteed you’ll get at least a few shots where the baby is still, looking at the camera, yawning — whatever cute pose you’re going for. Since it’s all digital, you can’t take too many pictures.

SmugMug offers a secure way to store and share these photos so the whole family can appreciate images of the little one and print as many as they’d like. Shooting as much as possible also applies throughout the baby’s early life. The beauty of newborn and baby photography is that the subject changes all the time, so you can do as many shoots as you have the energy to do. You can use these tips to photograph a baby of any age, whether your little one is 1 month old or 10 months old. It’s totally up to you.