Tips for photographing your newborn baby.

So Covid-19 has most of us on lockdown, all non essential work stopped, so one thing we no can longer do is have professional newborn photos taken. So here are a few tips for photographing your newborn baby by yourself. 

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Light, light light! Good lighting is key. Find a large window with soft light, for example a north facing window or any large window on a bright but cloudy day, so avoiding placing your baby in bright sunlight.

Bright sunlight hitting your baby gives really harsh shadows on your babies face. If it’s a really sunny day, you could hang up a white shower curtain or a piece of sheer white fabric to help diffuse the light to give the softer light you need. 

Place baby so that the light is hitting baby’s head first or gently sweeping in at an angle down babies face, do not have the light coming up from babies feet to chin- this is what we call ‘ghoul lighting’ and is what we want to avoid. (Please take a moment to appreciate my skilled drawings here!)

If you can find a large piece of white card or even white fabric to place on the other side of baby, opposite to the light source , it will bounce some of the light back in towards baby & fill in some of the dark shadows.

It also may help if you are also wearing white or at least try to avoid wearing a very bright colourful top as this may cause a colour cast on your babies skin.

Babies are best photographed in very little to see all of those tiny features. Proper outfits tend to swamp newborns in photos & make them look a little bulky. A simple vest so you can see their hands & feet and those adorable wrinkly arms and legs. A tight fitting baby grow or try swaddling your baby for some cosy looking photographs.

If your baby is happy & the room is warm, just have the nappy on & drape a little blanket or fabric over and around it. 

If baby is sleeping, try and gently move him or her so their body is not just straight up and down, a little curl is often pleasing to the eye but remember to keep the light coming down the face or across the face, not up.

If you have baby laying on a blanket, sometimes rolling up a couple of little hand towels/ flannels and gently placing it under their head and legs can help keep them in these ‘curly’ womb like positions.

Try and get some detail shots, if your camera will allow, get in close to their face, hands and feet etc.

Don’t forget to ask your partner to take some of you holding your new baby too. I know you don’t always feel your best just having given birth but you won’t regret having these photos done, I can absolutely assure you of that! One day those photos will mean the world to you & your child. Again sit by a window & make sure you are holding baby in the light too but with the light falling down the face not up. 

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So now you can take lots of photos of your new precious bundle, learning as you go, creating lasting memories of this fleeting stage. Enjoy! x

A Pigeon pair!

I had the great pleasure of photographing my fifth set of twins not very long ago. Both mum and dad have several sets of twins in their own families, so it was inevitable really they would be blessed with their own, and a pigeon pair at that!! Gorgeous little Woody and Phoebe :)

Here’s some of my favourite shots of them together.

I hope to meet you soon!

Karen x

Potato sack & other funny names in newborn photography!

So I’ve been rubbish yet again with the up keeping of the blog! As a lot of you will know, running your own business means you are often everything, the craftsman, the marketer, the accountant, the secretary, the cleaner, the list goes on, and the work pile NEVER seems to end! So my little blog always takes a back seat. Lets see if 2020 will my year to get back on top of blogging! (Did you know, I was once awarded with the top 10 of newborn blogs in the UK award!! :D)

Within newborn photography different names for certain poses have been made up, have caught on and are now what us newborn photographers around the world use regularly, there are a few variations of some, but these seem to be the most popular names within the trade.

So I thought I’d kick start 2020 with a fun blog post as I’ve often wondered if my clients know the names for the different poses and wraps I use. Some are very obvious, some not quite so much, but make sense once you’ve seen them!

I don’t do all the ‘newborn poses’ such as ‘froggy’ & ‘taco’ as my style is more relaxed but just for fun I thought I’d show you some of the poses and wraps along with the names.

1. Potato sack pose/wrap -

2. Tushy up pose -

3. Tucked in pose -

4. Huck Finn pose -

5. Side lay pose -

6. Egg wrap -

7. Full wrap -

8. Pretzel wrap -

8. Lion king pose -

9. Flokati -

10. Babe in arms -

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And that completes some of the posing/wrapping names used in newborn photography.

Here’s hoping the next blog post isn’t another 12 months away!

Karen x

Beautiful new baby boy!

Another lovely returning family again came to me for their newborn photography session.

It’s such a pleasure to meet so many lovely families doing this job, and of course having cuddles with teeny tiny beautiful new humans!

Here are a few images from this newborn session.

I look forward to meeting you and your new bundle of yumminess!!

Karen x

Rupert's newborn session.

I had already met Rupert’s lovely family as they bought their first son to be photographed by me. All returning clients that have already had a newborn session with me get £50 off any newborn collection when they welcome a new edition to their family.

Rupert was a little dream and slept really well through his session, just like his big brother did!

Here are a few of my favourite images from the newborn photo session.

I look forward to meeting you!

Karen x

Baby G's newborn session.

Another beautiful little boy with equally beautiful parents came to visit last week for their newborn photography session. 

Have I ever mentioned before how much I love my job?!

At 18 days old already he took some time to get off to sleep but when he did we were able to get some lovely sleepy shots. Mummy and daddy preferred the more natural, unposed  style of photography, which is one of my favourite styles of newborn photography. Simple and timeless!

I love the wide awake images too and when I get that eye contact, just fabulous!! 

Looking forward to meeting you! 

Karen x

Archie's Newborn session.

Gorgeous little Archie came to me with his lovely mummy and daddy for his newborn photography shoot at 9 days old. 

He definitely fought sleep as best he could! But after lots of top ups of milk, cuddles and patience he eventually fell to sleep for a little while to get some sleepy posed shots. 

There are still poses we can do if baby is awake and it's just as lovely to get those open eyes too. 

Archie's mummy asked for a set-up to include a fox theme. The fox bonnet is one of my favourites! 

Here are a few favourites from the photo shoot. 

Karen x 

Twins!

I was so excited to have twin boys book in for a newborn session, I haven't had many multiples in the 3 and a half years that I have been a newborn photographer. 

Although very excited, there is always the concern we won't manage to get them both to sleep at the same time, especially at 6 and a half weeks of age. The ideal age for a newborn shoot is under 2 weeks.

Fortunately they behaved themselves marvellously and we managed to get some lovely sleepy images.

Here's a few of my favourite twin newborn photos from the session. 

Just a little reminder if you are interested in booking a newborn photographer session with me to book in early as over the Summer, I have limited spaces available. 

Karen x