newborns at home

posing

Continuing on from yesterday’s tips on lighting - hopefully I can shed some light on a couple more points in regards to one of the trickiest newborn photography steps - posing your baby. This needed a little extra detail a Facebook post couldn’t deliver.

Again, I cannot stress this enough, a newborn photographer’s posed baby setup is much more involved behind the scenes with many many safety measures in place. This includes assistant’s hands still on baby when they are photographed, and edited out using Photoshop. NEVER try to do the setups you see with advanced posing (‘froggy’ pose, balanced on pillows etc)!

HOWEVER, simple, ‘unposed’ photos can be achieved at home with patience and a hubby helper.

This photo was taken on a bed, with the soft window light pointed at the baby’s nose and an assistant holding up the fabric underneath baby to conceal the background. This is a little more advanced.

Simple but very effective! Lay baby on your bed, and drape a blanket up to their chin (weights and clips off camera help to get it smooth). Hold your phone as steady as possible, straight above (landscape works best) and be careful not to drop it on baby!

A slightly darker tone, with a friend added.

With baby facing the window, try getting in a little closer. Shoot DOWN the nose, not UP. This way, you get some lovely sharp focus on their eyelashes and lips. Always choose the eyes as the sharp in-focus point.

Get down low and close, get those toes, fingers and baby hairs!

parents & baby

This is the frustrating part. And I feel you.
Holding my very expensive camera in my hands and not being able to ‘ghost’ myself behind the lens to take photos of me with my family is the pits! Lots of tantrums have happened with remote control triggers thrown and tripods snapped back shut because I couldn’t. just. get. the. shot.

If you feel frustrated at any time, take a breather, try again tomorrow.

I still haven’t bought a little bendy tripod for my iPhone which I NEED to do one day. I’ve used blu tack, tape, shoved it propped upright into weighted tissue boxes, you name it! Use your imagination (or be a normal person and just buy a friggen tripod…)

The same lighting situations apply: ‘Find a nice big window, preferably with some diffusing shear curtains. If it's an overcast day that's a PLUS! Softly-lit nurseries, bathrooms and hospital rooms (always conveniently including sheer curtains!) are great’.

Let’s start with some simple family poses:

Facing the light, step back if it’s too bright. Sitting on a chair is a good way to get down lower for siblings to be included. If you find the window is too bright and you’ve lost your subject (they’re a dark silhouette with them standing in between you and the window) walk slowly around to face them. Most of these shots are standing almost inline with the window shooting sideways towards them.

You don’t even have to be in the same room! A peek through a doorway helps in tight spaces.

Don’t stress if it doesn’t happen or if it doesn’t look the way you visioned. Get what you can, cuddle them tight, and when it’s all said and done your friendly photographer can be there to do the hard work for you ;)