Last week we had a gorgeous little newborn girl in the studio, fantastic shoot, she slept like a dream! Just perfect!
Before every shoot we have a chat with parents, what are their hopes and aims from the session, favourite images etc, and it’s at this point we discuss parent and family shots. Well last week her parents decided they didn't want to have them. Her mum thought she wasn't looking her best, she was carrying too much weight, all the usual reasons that we hate having photographs of ourselves. Then because her mum wasn't having any photographs, her dad decided that he wouldn't either, they would wait until her six-month shoot. So we settled for a gorgeous baby in dad's hands shot instead. Now if you have had a newborn shoot with us you may remember that I can be a bit of a bully when it comes to parent and baby photographs, I really do try to persuade new parents to have these photos taken because.., in my opinion, they're so precious, for you and your baby, for now.., and when your child is all grown up. The emotion and love that comes across in these photographs is evident and really you only get one chance to do this because they are only tiny and brand new for so long, in a matter of weeks they change so quickly and will NEVER fit in your arms like this again.
You may wonder why I am so passionate about parent shots in particular, well, very simply I do not have these precious photo memories of me with my girls and that makes me sad. For all the reasons the mum last week didn't want to have photos taken, I felt the same. In fact I was worse, I refused point blank to be in front of a camera, I didn't even have photographs taken at home.
One of my biggest regrets, because quite honestly I looked much better/younger then…, than I do now! If only I’d realised at the time.
Children don’t care if you are carrying a few extra pounds, if you have bags under your eyes (and let’s be honest that’s what Photoshop is for!) They just want to see photos of them when they were tiny. So this brings me to my point, if you are like our customers from last week and I haven’t been able to persuade (ok bully!) you into having parent shots, below are some hints and tips on how to take amazing photographs in your own home.
If you decide that you do not want us to take photographs with your new baby on the day, at least do what I didn't do and take some at home. Memories are precious and you don’t realise how precious they are until you don’t have them!
So, here are a few tips to help you to take photographs of your newborn at home:
Ideally take the the photos when the baby is under two weeks old
Avoid bright colours or distracting clothing, if you don’t want to risk naked shots (we do get poo’d and peed on a lot!!) a simple nappy or close fitting babygrow will work best.
Keep the room toasty warm, especially if baby is naked.
Have warm hands!
Feed before even attempting the shots, a fed baby is a happy baby.
Find nice even light, big windows are great. Avoid dark rooms or direct sunlight.
Pose your baby so they are snuggled against you but so you can still see their face
Use your timer for those family shots.
So that’s it, go for it, get those photos taken and then get them printed!
Don’t leave them on your pc.., or worse, on a USB in a drawer for decades. Anyway, don’t get me started on not printing your images…, that’s for a different blog!
Sarah x