What is Newborn photography?
As the name suggests, newborn photography is featured in a portrait style photography of a newborn baby. It is the photographer’s full responsibility to make the shot look great and dramatic while featuring the baby’s cuteness and charisma. When it comes to this niche of photography, it’s easy to get clients! As we see continue our exponential rise in population, so do parents who want to get the best and cute shots of their baby. Who doesn’t want adorable shots of their newborn anyway?
This is great news for photographers who want to explore and try out different types and niches of photography. It is also a profitable source of income since newborn photoshoots can be difficult to pull off sometimes due to the unexpected behavior and nature of babies. You may also feature your newborn pictures as great entries for your online blogs or photography portfolio. Newborn photography is also an excellent field of photography to practice your talents and range as a photographer. It’s your creativity’s job to make the newborn pop and make it a remarkable photo that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. With these tips, you will gain insight and knowledge about the needs and steps you need to go through to ensure your business will be booming.
With this beginner’s guide, we aim to make you an amazing newborn photos shooter so you can be a part of this profitable business too.
Tips to get your professional babies pictures business up and running
- Prep and inform your clients of the procedures and itineraries
Some clients will be too carefree and only come to you with little to no knowledge of what are the needs to get the photoshoot itself to run smoothly. First, indicate your guidelines carefully through email. To do yourself a favor, prepare a template that you can use uniformly through all of your current clients and would-be clients. Inform them of what you will be providing, along with the necessities they need to bring along (which include props to make your photos pop more).
More procedures that need to be undertaken are:
- Remind your clients to feed the baby well after arrival or during the set-up phase of the shoot. Not feeding the baby will result in the baby being either rowdy or left in a crying state. This will also prepare the baby for a nap if he/she may need to pose for a napping position for the newborn photoshoot.
- Tell the newborn’s parents to undress the baby after feeding so that you won’t have to fiddle with their clothing while shooting.
- Prepare a private area for mothers who wish to breastfeed the baby before the shoot.
- Be prepared yourself!
Always keep in mind to prepare the correct gear and technicals you need to get the shoot going. Remember that a newborn is going to be involved, so the typical stuff you bring to your shoots may not be enough! Here are some of the things that you may bring to ease out all the work you need to get done:
- Two cameras that are ready for portrait shots
It’s always better to be safe than sorry. You can bring this tip along in any niche of photography. Keep a backup, everyone!
- Have a variety of lenses for your portrait camera
Assess the possibilities with a multitude of lenses selection when capturing newborn portraiture. Different lenses correspond to different moods and tones that may suit the desired theme of the clients or parents.
- Check your memory cards’ storage
Be sure to have lots of storage capacity for your upcoming photoshoots. It’s always good practice to transfer your photoshoots to a laptop or computer storage as to not waste any storage when you’re on the spot photo shooting.
- Stool chair
Stool chairs or stepstools are great props to make the newborn stand out from the photo. It also gives them that pop as their whole profile will be revealed!
Now that you’ve got the necessities in place, here are some extras or props that can help you achieve the desired photo for your newborn photoshoot!
- Toys
It goes without saying that toys, stuffed toys, and other cute rounded or soft stuff are babies’ best friend! Even if you have informed the parents to bring their own, it’s never bad to bring your own set of toys that the baby might find interesting or new which ultimately will help add the cuteness factor to the final product. That’s the fun of newborn photography! With your creativity and their jolliness, you will be able to make a newborn portraiture that will be hanging on your clients’ household for the rest of their lives!
- Pillows
Pillows are great props too. If the parents want a shot of their newborn asleep, then this is of course a necessity. But even though that won’t be the case, it can also add to that cuteness factor we’ve been talking about! Who doesn’t love a baby’s cheeks on a soft, cushiony pillow?
- Appropriate music for the occasion
The appropriate tunes for the photoshoot occasion will always help lighten up the mood and help get work done. It may also help the baby fall asleep faster or smile! You may even bring candles as a prop or to add to the atmosphere of the scene.
- Time to get serious with these tips to make the photo pop!
Just like with other forms of photography, there are going to be specific tips that help newborn photography go well. Here are some of them to help you get started:
- Mix and match their skin tones with their clothing and the backdrop. Colors are one of the important artistic elements that dictate a photo’s mood and tone, thus having colors that match will make it seem that the atmosphere is jolly and cute!
- Complement the matching colors with contrasting colors. Now that you’ve figured out how to match the important elements to the right colors, the next step is to find contrasting colors that will help add that pop and charisma to your newborn photoshoot.
- Get to know the various poses that add to the cuteness factor of the image! With the consent of the parents, you should try to get them involved (e.g. dad kissing newborn’s cheeks). It’s always fun to get their parents involved!
- Don’t restrict the baby too much based on your adjustments. Let them be free and be themselves! Let them play freely with their toys. After all, this is their photoshoot. Take advantage of their movements and find the perfect opportunity to take that money shot. Remember to wait for their cuteness factor to kick in to add to the photo’s spice!
- If you have a macro lens then don’t be afraid to experiment with it. Going macro can let you take incredible shots of the newborn and their parents. Macro lenses are an amazing tool to add drama to any photo, not only newborn photography.
- Invite the whole family! Don’t keep the photoshoot too exclusive. It’s always fun to connect and meet new people, and it will also make the work seem like you’re just having natural chitchat with the family. Inform the parents that they are open to bringing along the newborn’s siblings, dogs, cats, and whatever else their pets may be.
- Shower your leftover creativity in post-processing. As with all professional photoshoots, further editing in post-processing may be required to add to the photo’s pop. Experiment with color grading and many more!
- Build an online portfolio or website that features your fresh newborn pictures.
This may be one of the most important steps to get your name and your photos out there. Of course, get the parents’ consent first before uploading the photos to your portfolio. Once you have that, then be free to upload them to your photography portfolio! If you haven’t built one yet, then now is a perfect time. It’s never too late to share your talent with prospective clients, and once you have a website or art/photography portfolio, there is only success to come for you.
As newborn photography is also a line of business, it’s your full responsibility to find clients that will trust you with their dream photos. Your online portfolio will be the perfect portal to your work, and your clients’ gateway to witnessing your masterpiece(s).
Build a website or online portfolio now with Strikingly’s advanced website builder! With our hundreds of templates, we are sure to serve you the perfect template for your newborn photography portfolio. Our friendliest customer support is willing to assist you if you have any questions or problems that may arise while you are building your website or portfolio.
