Three Tips On Photographing Your Newborn Baby

Everybody loves an adorable picture of a newborn baby, and when printed, such a photo can go anywhere from a fridge to a frame and be sure to light up the room. Plus, you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy looking back at pictures of themselves as newborn infants.

But the truth is, a lot of work has to go into capturing that photo before it can become an eternal memory. Timing is everything, and if you can’t catch your newborn baby in the right mood, obtaining that photo could become more trouble than it’s worth. There’s an art to it, and if you’re able to master it, then you’re sure to be able to nab that perfect photo that nobody in your family will ever forget.

Here are three tips from the pros at Tumbleston Photography on how to do it.

Place the baby in a warm, comfortable environment

There are actually a lot of ways you can make this happen, but the ingredients to the right environment for photos of your newborn are usually constant. First and foremost, the baby has to be happy. Babies typically like warm environments, so it’s best to keep your thermostat in the ’70s in order to keep it satisfied. If you’re traveling to a photography business’s studio, they’ll usually already be cognizant of this fact- but just in case they are not, make sure to remind them. The last thing you’ll want is a baby that cannot get comfortable, and thus, is in the right mood for a picture.

Make sure the baby is happy before you start

Sounds pretty obvious, right? Well, not necessarily. If you want to capture photos of your newborn baby in a non-sleeping state, it could be harder than it seems. Waking a newborn up from a nap in order to accomplish something with it is never a good idea unless there’s an emergency at hand, so you’ll want to wait until it’s awake and alert- and you may have to prepare to be patient. On the other hand, photos of sleeping newborns can draw just as much of the “ooh and ahh” effect as a baby that’s awake and gurgling with joy- and newborn babies might just be happiest when they’re fast asleep (after all, how can we know otherwise?). Never underestimate the power of a sleeping baby picture!

Take your photos in the morning

For the aforementioned reason of ensuring the newborn’s state of natural happiness and more, pictures of newborn babies are usually best when taken in the morning. On top of making sure that you can avoid the fate of a baby that won’t stop crying for any of a large number of valid reasons, the morning offers the best assortment of natural light options. If you’re shooting photos outside, the rays of sunshine coming down at an angle can make for a beautiful picture. Even if you’re indoors, sunshine that passes through the window can make for a gorgeous photo of your newborn with little effort required on your part. Just make sure the sun is out of your newborn’s eyes!