Newborn Photographers Keep Memories

Newborn Photographers Keep Memories of Quickly Changing Baby Stages

The Importance of Newborn Photography:

Those who have chosen to expand their families by adding children will be the first to tell you how quickly they change and grow – especially in those first few weeks of life. From day to day your little one’s eyes, face, nose, expressions, and just about everything else transform. Some days your baby may favor daddy and some days you’re certain she’s just like mommy; but everyday your breath is constantly stolen away by how beautifully and uniquely your baby is her own person. Newborn photography gives parents the opportunity to capture their little one’s rapidly changing stages.

As you have probably already noticed your baby’s most notable changes happen (or are happening) during their first three months of life. Their features are becoming more established. Every day they are more alert and eager to engage the world around them. Their bodies are growing quickly to add weight and length so they can begin the next phase of development. As you look back on these times, referencing those quiet, tender moments with newborn photography will be a treasure for you and your partner to relish for years to come. A professional newborn photographer specializes in the art of capturing a babies’ expressions and personality to make them that much more special to look back on.

Choosing a Newborn Photographer:

There are many photographers out there to choose from for your baby’s first photographs. But you’ll want to be sure that you are choosing a photographer that can capture your child’s spirit and give you newborn photographs as unique as he is. Many parents are drawn to photographers that allow room to explore newborn photography in a more non-traditional setting to allow parents the greatest opportunity for capturing the essence of this priceless time in their lives.

More and more, parents want to explore a wide array of options when having their son or daughter photographed, especially for the first time. Being able to select color or black and white photos, opting for familiar settings like your home or baby’s nursery, and even including the family pet in a portrait are vital to giving your newborn’s photographs the authentic feel that truly represents your family. Newborn photographers are able to capture your infant and your personal stage in life too.

Why Bitsy Baby Photography:

Bitsy Baby Photography sees each child as a miracle, and strives to capture that truth in each frame. Newborn photography sessions only happen once for each precious new life, and newborn photography by Bitsy Baby Photography will provide artistic, magical photographs that celebrate your son or daughter’s entrance to the world. Each session is customized to the desires of the parents. The outcome of each session is a gift you will thank yourself for over and over each time you look at images of your precious baby’s first days on earth.

Bitsy Baby Photography offers newborn photography along the east cost primarily, but is happy to work with families from out of the area as well. For photographs taken with care, consult Bitsy Baby Photography. Capture these precious moments today, and celebrate their memory even tomorrow

A Newborn Photographers Tips on Photographing an older baby

Tips on photographing an older baby

Sometimes you don't think of having your baby's portraits taken until after your baby is here, that is OK!! We had room for this family to come in at the last minute and they had some beautiful memories captured. Little Caden here was 3 weeks old when he came into the studio and still gave us plenty of sleepy images!

Typically you want to come in during your baby's 5-7 day mark to guarantee the curly sleepy portraits that show the newborn size and age so well. And every so often an older baby will still sleep!

Here are a few details to note when photographing an older baby and by older I mean after the 2 week window where they may not be so curly and sleepy anymore but still are not old enough to offer much body control.

First, think of where you will place the baby for his or her first photos. It's best not to attempt to put a baby inside or on top of props if they are awake. Babies can flail their arms or kick their feet in the blink of an eye and they will topple out of a bowl or off a bookshelf faster than you can reach for them. Just play it safe! The center of a bed works great if you are working at home. A beanbag is convenient too for photographing the babies easily, most photographers now use a beanbag. Be sure that when you are taking the baby's photos you have the baby at the center of the beanbag, especially if you have them on their tummy. An older baby, while on the tummy, can do a froggy kick and lurch forward.... if he is in the center of the beanbag the baby is safest. Another thing to do that helps keep the baby cozy is burrow a little cubby in the middle of the beanbag when posing the baby on it's back, this can give the sensation he is being cradled and may keep him more comfy.

Second, when taking photos of a baby be sure you keep a good distance from the baby so you can get good sharp focus of all their features. You should look at your lens features and be sure you know the distance from your subject you can be for good focus. With some lenses you can not be any closer than 2 feet to your subject or you will have issues with blurry photos. If you are shooting in Aperture Priority or Manual mode I recommend not going below an aperture of 2.5 and keep a faster shutter if baby is moving at all--this ensure that the eyes, nose, and tiny lips are all in focus. An additional thought here when you are taking a photo of a baby and their feet and fingers are in the photo as well, try to place their hands and feet so they are on the same focal plane as their face....this can make the difference between a good portrait and an awesome portrait whether or not all those little features are actually in focus!

Third, have a "soother". A pacifier works great but at this age of an older baby some parents are not yet using a paci or soother, so then what? For a lot of these shots below we had Dad put his pink finger into the baby's mouth to help keep him soothed. Instruct Dad to gently rub the top of the baby's mouth (behind the upper gums) with the tip of his pinky. So his hand will need to be palm up when doing this. It will seem uncomfortable at first and Dad will also be unsure if he has never done this but once the baby starts to suck he will "get it". The only way this really works is if baby is truly not hungry and only wants to suck to be soothed. If the baby starts sucking and stops and continues to cry he is probably hungry so pass the tiny subject on to the parents and have them feed him.

All of these images featured in this post are what we typically can get even if your baby is a little older but has a full tummy. It just takes a bit more time and quite a bit of patience but that is what we are known for =)

Oh and yes we will include pets at the client's request, however, you must be comfortable with photographing pets as well as photographing babies for this to work.

Best Wishes to you in photographing these older babies.

Rita Lawrence specializes in maternity and newborn photography up to baby's first year. She offers convenient digital packages and informative photography workshops to help families improve their photography. She also now offers individual photography workshops for photographers interested in bettering their photography skills or improving their business model.