I’m a terrible blogger – I haven’t blogged in months, though I always mean to, and one day I will probably catch up on it. I have my excuses: I’m a busy photographer, a busy mom. But yesterday, I was on a shoot that really inspired me to blog; not in the way that most shoots do (though I took some pictures that I am very proud of at this shoot – don’t get me wrong!) but because of a question the mom asked me three quarters of the way through the shoot.
Now, I should mention that I am working on documentation to give to all my clients beforehand so that they know what to expect (busy photographer, busy mom – it’ll come eventually) but in the meantime, while my child is sleeping and I’m taking the weekend off from editing (I’m turning 30 in two days! It’s my last weekend off before my wedding!) I may as well write a little blog on newborn photography.
Now, you may be wondering what question this mom asked me, so I will tell you. Nursing her beautiful daughter, she turned to me and said to me something along the lines of “do you ever have other babies who are this bad?” Bad? At first I had NO idea what she was talking about. We were about an hour and a half in and we had some amazing shots of this little beauty. And then I remembered being a new mom, and feeling like any time my child cried, that I had somehow failed. Almost three years of motherhood and a couple dozen newborn shoots has definitely set me straight on this; babies cry. Some cry a lot, and some only a little, but they ALL cry.
The mom told me that when she looked at the photos on my website and my facebook that the babies looked so peaceful, and they do. When you’re looking at these photos, you don’t know that each of those babies cried and fussed and were generally unhappy with me at some point during their shoot, but it’s true of every baby.
So, what to expect, and other thoughts; I can make a list.
1. A newborn shoot generally takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours. I say this from both experience and from what other photographers have told me. My shortest newborn shoot was 1 hour. My longest was 2.5. Just about all of them last exactly 90 minutes. I saw an ad on Kijiji on which a photographer was offering 30 minute newborn mini sessions, which made me have this look on my face: :-/ Mini-sessions are great, but not for newborns. Many times, the first 30 minutes of my newborn sessions are dedicated to getting baby comfortable. I’ve had sessions where no photos were taken in the first hour. I don’t care if you’re the baby whisperer – no one can get a decent number of newborn photos in 30 minutes.
2. Which brings me to my next point – although I find few people ask, it’s important to know how many photos to expect from a newborn shoot. In my experience 15 to 20 good and reasonably diverse photos are about the average number. This is less than a regular photo session, which would generally yield around 20-30 in an hour, but we all know that newborns are volatile little creatures. That, and in my mind and in my heart, little compares to the feeling I get when I see a really beautiful photo of a creature so new to this world.
3. A question I get from many new photographers is this: do you charge more for newborn shoots than you do for other shoots. The answer is yes, and there are three reasons behind it. The first is time; as mentioned in point number 1, newborn shoots themselves take longer than other sessions. Naturally, this means I’m booking off my entire morning or afternoon for a shoot, to avoid rushing through it. More time – for newborns – means better photos. Babies are pros at sensing when we are rushing. And they don’t like it. The second reason is PROPS. I don’t feel that most types of photography really require props, and their use is a matter of personal preference, but newborn photography is a bit different. Whereas I can plop an 8-month-old in the middle of my floordrop, shout his name and probably get a pretty cute photo, this doesn’t fly with newborns. Don’t get me wrong; photos of JUST the baby and nothing else are great, but frequently you’re not seeing my Newborn Nester because it’s a hidden part of the photo. My ever-growing collection of blankets, hats, baskets, scarves, et cetera is nearly entirely because of newborns. Reason number three is training. If you’ve been my facebook fan for a few months you know that I’m a huge advocate for safe newborn photography, and that I feel that no shot is worth risking the health and wellness of any child. So, I buy and watch videos (if you’re my friend on facebook, you also know that I’m against downloading anything illegally) on newborn posing and newborn safety, I take classes, and I do all I can to constantly educate myself. We call this specialization! So, agree or not, newborn photography is more expensive than, say, family photography.
4. One of the questions that I get a lot from parents, which used to baffle me, is do you edit the newborn photos that you take? Yep. Allow me to demonstrate:
The top photo is what we call SOOC (straight out of camera) which is properly exposed (I shoot in manual – I use the light meter built into my camera and am very familiar with my studio lighting) and the bottom is obviously edited to my personal preference and style. I use Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 5, alongside Adobe Bridge CS5 (legally owned of course) and several actions (which I purchased from their creators) that I love. I shoot in RAW, which is lovely because it allows me to easily make adjustments (such as white balance) after the fact. I try to get the result that I want out of camera as much as possible, but the fact is that it doesn’t always happen. One day, when I’m the world’s greatest photographer, I won’t have to edit because all my photos will come out perfectly as I intend them every time. Until that day, I’ll probably keep editing.
5. Most babies don’t get baby acne until after the 10 day mark, but some do. If you want me to edit that out, let me know. If you don’t let me know, I’ll probably ask.
6. A question I get a lot is “do we come to you, or do you come to us”. I mentioned loads of props beforehand and that’s one of the reasons that I strongly prefer that you come to me. Another is the lighting I just talked about. And yet a third is the fact that I make my studio hot hot hot for newborn shoots. Naked babies like it hot. Naked babies also like white noise – currently I usually use my air purifier to create white noise, which puts about 60% of the babies I photograph to sleep for at least some of the session. So please come to me – it’ll be worth the drive in the end.
7. You should get some photos of you with your baby, so come with your hair and make up done. One of my few regrets is that in all of my photos of myself and my daughter when she was very new, I look terrible. Don’t make the same mistake I made.
8. There’s a pretty good chance that your baby will pee or poo on you. Come prepared. I’ve been pooed on by a baby not my own before – it’s not that bad.
In conclusion, I’d like to say that yesterday’s newborn was great. She cried, yes, but they all cry. That’s normal! I’m sure I’ll have a thousand other thoughts about this over the next three days, during which time I fully intend to NOT do any more editing or blogging, but I do invite you to come back soon – I promise to blog more.
