4 Tips For Newborn Photos In Your Home
When you have a newborn baby, it can be a hassle and a bit stressful taking your baby out of the home. For those of you who can relate to this, I wanted to give you some practical tips to help you create and capture your own memories of your newborn from the comfort of your home.
Create your own mini photoshoot or have a photographer come to your home and have professional unique photos without having to go anywhere!
Find Inspiration
Whether you decide to go with a professional photographer or not, it is still up to you to find inspiration. Photographers can point you in the right direction and provide you with inspiration of previous photoshoots, poses, and props they’ve used, but it’s up to you to make it your own.
This is what is fun about planning and prepping for the photoshoot! You get to tie in any significant props or attire that may be unique to your family. Maybe you’re thinking, well we don’t have anything unique. Does your family have a favorite sports team? Throw on a little onesie or hat and show your home team pride in the photoshoot. Or maybe, your parents gifted their grandchild with a homemade blanket. That would be a great prop to use in the photoshoot.
There are so many different directions you could go with your newborn photos which makes it all the more fun. You also have the option of being involved in the photoshoot, perhaps swaddling your child or kissing them on the forehead. If you liked to stay behind the scenes more, we can keep the spotlight on your child! No worries at all.
My favorite spots to look for inspiration are Pinterest and instagram. There are extremely cute ideas on both platforms. Feel free to copy someone’s idea and then make it your own!
Decide a Theme
After finding inspiration, naturally this will help you decide your theme. Like I previously suggested, you can go the sports route, you can go the girly route with floral incorporated, you can go to the uber cozy route, with just tons of blankets and fuzziness or we can do a little bit of both.
Maybe Christmas time is coming up and you want to focus on a holiday type photoshoot. We will incorporate a festive holiday onesie, Christmas lights, fur blankets, candy cane props, maybe a mini sleigh and you’ll have Christmas photos you’ll never want to forget.
Perhaps you don’t want to really have a theme or celebrate anything specific. Maybe you just want to document your baby’s growth.
Maybe your theme isn’t revolved around a holiday or specific attire, but it’s a certain color. Perhaps you want to match a certain room in your home, or add some cute photos to your baby nursery.
I also offer the option of an in home styling photoshoot or the use of my professional studio space. In home styling offers the impression of a “candid” type photoshoot. Essentially a very natural and authentic photo capture of your everyday lives to an extend. It gives the impression of you doing what you do without even realizing that there is a photographer there.
A studio photoshoot, gives that more formal and professional feel. The lighting and the setting are staged, but that’s the point! Everything looks perfect, including your child. With a studio space there is a little bit more flexibility involved when it comes to changing themes and studio settings.
The nice thing about a studio space, you as the parent don’t have to do any work! It’s set up and ready to go before you even get there. No need to worry about if you home is clean enough, or decorated well enough. This takes a lot of pressure off of you! As a busy mom or dad, the best option is usually going to be what makes your life easier, I get it.
Create a Cozy Space
Crank Up The Heat
Whether you decide to do an at home or in studio photoshoot, the most important part of getting great photos from a newborn is to make sure they are cozy and in a restful state. One thing you can do to make this happen, is crank up the heat a little bit or grab an extra heater for the room you are taking photos in.
We’ve all been there before, after you’ve eaten and are in a warm cozy spot, you’re bound to fall asleep. That is the goal for this photoshoot! The deeper the sleep the baby is in, the better.
Not only is the temperature of the room important, we want the baby to be swaddled or atleast cozy to an extent.
Warm Up Your Hands
Not only should the room and setting be cozy and warm, make sure your hands are warm as well. Whether that means running them under warm water before the shoot or using gloves when you pick up the baby, this is a step that is crucial and oftentimes overlooked. Imagine if you were taking a warm nap and someone with cold hands touched you, I’m sure we would all be a little caught off guard.
Use Blankets & Baskets 
In addition to a warm setting, what is going to make the baby comfortable and the newborn photos to turn out so fantastic is a photogenic setting. Specifically for a newborn photos, the key is to get the baby to cuddle up like they were still in the womb. I suggest using blankets of all different kinds of textures to keep the photos dynamic.
In addition to blankets, I love to use baskets or small spaces to encourage the baby to curl up. The cutest part of newborn photos is when they naturally get in this position. Once they start to become a month or two old, they naturally start to stretch out and are less likely to do this. This is why scheduling your professional newborn session or planning your own in home photoshoot is crucial to do within a few weeks of birth.
Use A Letter Board For A Touch of Fun
One of my favorite trends recently, has been the use of letter boards. Letter boards are a great way to add communication and direction to a photoshoot. Just by looking at a baby you may not know their age, or weight, but using a letter board is a cute way to document that.
Letter boards are commonly used during newborn photos as well. Not only is it important to document your newborn, but it’s super fun to document mom during her pregnancy. If you’re documenting moms progress or the babies progress a professional photoshoot can get expensive if you’re wanting to document once a month. I suggest getting a professional photoshoot done at least once per year, if not twice, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be taking your own photos in between.
Not only can you use the letter board for documentation, but if you wanted to add some humor or charm to a photo, adding a little saying like this one is bound to get a lot of a laughs.
The greatest part of letter boards is that they come in handy for so many different occasions or decorations around the house. This little investment is beyond worth it. I suggest checking out Letterfolk’s instagram page for cute inspiration for different ways you could use the letter board.
Final Words
Whether you can afford a professional photoshoot or not, everyone is capable of creating their own little mini photo session with their newborn baby. Find your inspiration, get creative, crank up the heat, gather everything cozy in site, and add a letter board for a touch of fun and you are good to go.
It isn’t realistic to solely rely on your professional photoshoots to document your baby’s growth. Part of being a mom is having thousands of photos of your baby just taking up all of the storage in your phone. But instead of just taking a bunch of thoughtless photos, make it a goal once a month to plan a little photoshoot. If you aren’t sure what kind of theme to go with, think about what month it is and what season it is and if there are any holidays worth celebrating!
I hope this helps inspire you to take on the photographer role more often in your daily lives and encourages you to seek out professional photoshoots at least once or twice every year!
