DIY Newborn Photo Session

 

Last weekend my family got together and took my new nephew Oliver's newborn photos, this is our second newborn session that we have done on our own. Violet's was our first one and we got a lot of tips from Inspire Me Baby on Pinterest, We learned a lot from Violet's and we felt prepared for Oliver's. I am going to show you pictures from both shoots.

Supplies:

• Adorable squishy newborn, within 10 days of birth
• Camera, no flash
• Plenty of props and backgrounds
• As much natural light as possible
• Plenty of people to hold backgrounds
• Patience

The first thing you need to do is turn on or jack up your heat. We also use a heating pad to put under the baby to keep them snugly warm.

For the camera we use my Dad's fancy pants DSLR camera but I think you could still get great photos with a point and shoot. I take all of Violet's weekly photos and most of her other ones with my point and shoot. So you can use the camera you have.

This is the basic set up below. Also for safety, make sure someone is always within reach of the baby even though they are not mobile you want to be cautious.

 

A pacifier is super handy if the baby takes it, we set up a shot, lay down the baby and sometimes give the pacifier to settle them down. Another hint is to lay the baby down and to snuggle them a bit, or put your hands around them so they feel safe.

 

 

Isn't he the cutest little gnome? Switch up angles to get a variety of poses to choose from.

Take close ups of feet and hands.

 

We didn't use the flash for any of these pictures. It is hard and you may have to play around but you need natural light without creating shadows across the baby.

My favorite of Oliver.

My favorite of Violet. The earrings were my grandmothers and Violet's middle name Jane is in honor of her. I also wore the earrings on my wedding day so they are very special. My advice, use props that mean something to you. You will treasure the pictures even more.

I am not an expert and doing our own newborn photo shoots were born out of the desire not to spend a small fortune. With me staying home we did not have the money to spend on a professional photographer. I encourage you to try on your own. I am so happy with how both sets of photos turned out.

Here are some more photos, you can never have enough cute babies!

 

 

 

 

This one was Violet's birth announcement photo. To put her in the flower pot, we used receiving blankets and then put her in and used the dyed cheesecloth to support her.

I hope this gave you a good idea of a DIY newborn photo session. I have become a photo taking junkie be prepared to be addicted to taking photos! You can see my DIY Baby Pumpkin tutorial here.