5 Tips To Photograph Your Newborn At Home
We spoke to Sara Tomlin, a photographer from Newborn Love to get some top tips for photographing your newborn at home.
We both know how fast the time is and how fundamental is to capture every crucial moment of this magic!
However, safety is always our first concern. So, in order to meet everyone’s desires we have decided to create this post talking about DIY photography.
Here there’s an article about Sara and Lee’s top 5 tips to photograph your newborn at home. They give you some helpful hints about how to create beautiful photographs at home.
Safety First
It can be tempting to scroll through newborn photography ideas on Pinterest or on the Internet and think that you will be able to replicate them. Don’t forget, newborn photographers have often had extensive training and know how to create poses safely. Please do not put your baby in props or attempt complex poses. You can still take beautiful, natural pictures without putting your newborn at risk.
Light
It’s all about the natural light which is softer than the flash you might have on your phone/device. An ideal location to take photographs is in front of a large window. If there is a lot of light shining directly through, you may need to diffuse it. This can be done thicker net curtains or a thin, white sheet. If your bed/sofa is in front of a window this is probably your best location for photos. Make sure that the interior lights are off so there is not a mix of different colours of light.
Angles
Rather than having your baby directly facing the light source, it is best to place your baby so the light washes across their face from the side of their head and across the face in a 45-degree angle (as demonstrated with our doll below). This will create shadows and depth to your images which will be soft and flattering. It’s a good idea to check different times of the day as the light will behave differently and be warmer around sunrise/set and cooler in the middle of the day. Also, experiment with the angles you are taking the pictures from. Try not to photograph up the nose – no one want’s to have a look up those nostrils!
Background
Even though you are photographing your gorgeous new baby, don’t forget to look at what is in the background. Are there lots of clutter and mess visible? This will really be a distraction and will take the focus away from what is important in your image – your baby. Also, if they are on a bed/blanket, try and keep it as wrinkle-free as possible. This is why professional photographers use frames that stretch out their backdrops – it can look really untidy to photograph a newborn on a creased blanket. I found an example below of a really bold bed cover that is completely wrinkled…
The focus is more on your baby when the background is smooth and wrinkle-free as below…
Details
It’s fun to experiment. Don’t forget to photograph all those gorgeous details. Those tiny fingers and toes, pouty lips and lush eyelashes. If you have a sleepy baby, you can experiment with lots of different images and get really creative. We have created a Pinterest board with ideas that would be easy and safe to replicate at home.
You can also find two different articles on Newborn Love about “10 Photographs you must take before you leave the hospital with your new baby” and “How to photograph your baby bump at home.
Hope you found interesting and useful insights.
Lots of love,
Lily & Ribbon Team x
