Sleepiness is essential to a great session. While the occasional wide-awake baby will cooperate for their session, they will be swaddled the entire session and will not be posed in some of the more intricate poses. Exceptions are possible, and premature babies have a few special rules all of their own that I'll address a different blog post, but most newborns are quite sleepy during their first 10 days of life and will start to have more awake time soon after.

Newborn acne can escalate after 2 weeks. Some brand-new babies will have acne and some newborns will never have a single spot, but as a general guide, your baby's skin will have less baby acne before 10 days old. I do retouch images and eliminate as much acne as I can but it's always a better result when we avoid the typical baby breakouts, when possible. Also, babies who suffer with colic may not demonstrate tummy trouble until after 2 weeks, giving us an opportunity for a calm contented baby to photograph.

Newborns often have a growth spurt at 3 weeks which can make them very hungry, very frequently and will make a session challenging. A 3 week old baby in a growth spurt doesn't want to pose for photos. They just want to eat all day! 

Every baby is so different but these generalizations have held true for the majority of newborns I've worked with in my business. I'm almost at 200 newborns! 

Bring an additional adult. Dads often accompany moms to the newborn session; mom, a friend, a sister is also great. Occasionally, schedules are such that a new mom is bringing the newborn by herself to the session. If the new mother is recovering well and is able to drive, it's not a problem for newborns being photographed alone. But attempting to bring other children along with the newborn is quite a lot for a mother who delivered just one week ago. When bringing older children, please be sure to have a 2nd adult in addition to mom.

Consider having the 2nd adult take the older children once their part of the session is complete. Dad or Grandma taking the children off to breakfast or home or the library or the park helps keep them from getting bored while we focus on the newborn and gives us a calm and quiet environment for the remainder of the newborn session.

If the older children do need to remain for the session, consider bringing a snack and toy to occupy them for about 2 hrs.

Keep the focus of the newborn session the newborn. A full, outdoor family session showcasing all the relationships within the family would be wonderful at a later date. We don't want to use up the newborn's sleep time on the siblings and family poses. For this reason, I limit the family and siblings poses to just a few. 

A note about matching outfits with siblings: Many times, a matching set for the siblings is planned but I have two cautions: Most poses make writing illegible. The adorable shirts saying "Big Brother" may be covered by the baby, or arms. Also, the newborn wearing only a onesie will not be as settled as a newborn that has been wrapped. Photos with the newborn in a onesie will often have baby's arms out and about as baby decides to move. A wrap keeps baby nice and posed, with their hands out of their face.

When working with toddlers and preschoolers, we need to be flexible and patient. They've had some bring changes in their life and sometimes, they simply aren't in the mood to cooperate. I usually can coax at least one image but can't guarantee. 

Enjoy some examples of when older sibling DO enjoy posing with their new sibling! 

During this first pose of the session, I get to know the baby a little bit. I observe how sleepy baby is, whether baby is started from sleep by noise in the room, or my chilly hands. Taking the time at the start of the session to assess how sensitive the baby is to changes around him helps me maneuver into other poses during the rest of the session. I can determine during this first pose if I need to put knit gloves on my cold hands, or turn on the white noise or have a pacifier handy. I can see during this 'baby on back' pose if baby needs the room totally quiet in order to stay asleep or if he is oblivious to the noise. Placing the baby on his back, either wrapped or unwrapped will demonstrate to me how strong baby's Moro Reflex is; this is the reflex newborns possess that appears like a big startle! I can also learn how strong the baby's root or grasp reflex is, which is all helpful information as I go about placing the baby in other poses.  

Thanks for taking a look at a few of my baby on back images and I hope you enjoyed learning some of the reasoning behind my posing order!

I've created another video tutorial! This time, I'm showing you my process for perfecting newborn skin, while still maintaining a natural appearance. No plastic skin please!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Thanks so much!

Thanks for watching!

https://youtu.be/2m2HdT2usbI
 

Here is the SOOC (Straight Out of Camera). You can see the yellow mostly on the left side of this face. We also obviously need to something about Dad's hand!

I like to start off by dealing with white balance and color issues right from the start.  I use the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer in Photoshop. I have an older version of Photoshop but it's working just fine for me.

1. Use the drop down menu to select "yellows".

2. Use the dropper and select any area on the face that is quite yellow. If the drop down menu remains selected to "yellow", I know I'm on the right track. If "yellow" changes to another color, then the area I selected isn't actually yellow. Our eyes can deceive us and the dropper will tell no lies about what color it is actually picking up.

I know- it's looking weird but it's all part of the process. 

1. Slide the Hue slider completely to the left. Your image will turn all kinda of crazy colors.

2. Slowly pull the left do-dad-thingy on the bottom color temperature slider. As you slowly slide, you will be able to restore much of the image to normal colors, leaving only the overly yellow areas in funky blues and purples. Now we have isolated the areas we want correct. 

With the overly yellow areas high lighted in the crazy blues and purples, we want to bring them back into normalcy but with more magenta than previously was there. In Photoshop the solution for too much yellow is adding magenta. To correct too much red, the solution is adding green. I often use this same process to reduce red where needed.

1. Slowly bring the Hue slider to the right. Stop when the color is not too yellow and not too pink.

As is usually the case, we may not want these color changes on the background. Invert the Layer and paint on the effect only where desired. When using this method to reduce red, I like to leave lips red, and use a brush at a low opacity to keep a little of the red on toes and places where it would naturally occur.

Once I'm satisfied with color and exposure, it's time to deal with Dad's hand. In this case, I opted to simply clone.

Tips for successful cloning are to always work on a layer, and zoom in very close. Use different clone sizes and opacity until it looks how you like!

The finished image!

In some images, I will actually create a composite image. I take a shot of the pose with parent's hands in 2 positions, while trying to keep baby in as close to the exact same position as possible. Using layers and a brush tool, I combine to the 2 images. And yes that is what you think it is in the "before" images. It's the risk I take every session! =) 

I hope you enjoyed a look at my editing processes! I do aim to get as much of the image just right in camera. Good light, and appropriate camera settings make a world of difference. Some poses , however, are just not safe or possible without a little editing magic.

It's obvious where the name comes from! This pose is gentling folding baby in half like a taco! In case you're wondering, I am not responsible for this name: it's been an established term among newborn photographers long before I ever picked up a DSLR. It's not completely accurate since the baby isn't literally folded in two. This would have to be a soft taco, not crunchy. 

Cupping baby's bum, I bring her legs under her belly as she rests her head on her hands. I love to see each finger stretched out when possible. Some newborns are adamant about maintaining a fist but I normally succeed in relaxing those sweet little fingers. I also aim to have one foot visible and resting against baby's elbow, but again, if baby is determined to have his foot where he wants it, he gets his way. 

See? Some babies love tacos right from birth!

A slight change in camera angle give the taco pose a different feel:  A slightly altered camera angle gives a different feel to this pose. An example of a newborn, who actually happened to be a 6 week old premie, who decided she would put her hands and feet where she liked them, thank you very much. Still a beautiful shot even if baby won the battle for seeing fingers and toes. Baby refused to show fingers or toes but still a sweet image!