Newborn Photography: The Ultimate Guide & Best Tips for 2024

There’s something truly magical about a newborn baby. From their little yawns, those tiny toes, everyone loves photos of newborn babies. Whether you’re just beginning to explore the world of newborn photography. Or are thinking about a career as a newborn photographer. There are many aspects to consider and understand when it comes to newborn photography. This complete and ultimate guide is here to help!

This guide will answer all your questions about taking newborn photos. Plus it will give you the best tips and tricks out there for newborn photography that you won’t find anywhere else. Why? Because this guide is written by Matt and Jess, expert and professional newborn photographers in Los Angeles since 2011. We have over 13+ years of experience working with newborns and babies. This guide is a wealth of information based on our experience running our newborn photography business together over the years.

I’ll start from the very beginning, but here is a general outline of what this step-by-step guide will cover:

Why Newborn Photography Matters in 2024

Let’s talk about why newborn photography is such a big deal in 2024. Picture this: the world’s moving faster every day, everything seems to be changing, but here’s one thing that remains timeless – those first precious moments of a newborn’s life. For new parents, they know how quickly time flies, and before they know it, their tiny baby isn’t so tiny anymore. That’s where newborn photography comes in – it’s like pressing pause on these fleeting moments.

How often do you hear parents say things like:

“The days are long, but the years are short”.

“They grow up so fast!” or “Time is flying”.

Think about all those adorable details – the little yawns, tiny toes, and those peaceful sleeping faces. These are the memories parents want to hold onto forever. Newborn photography captures these details so beautifully, and in 2024, it’s all about documenting these moments with even more emotion and style.

It’s not just about taking pictures; it’s about telling a family’s story right from the start. These photos will become a part of a family’s heritage and passed on to future generations to come. They’re a way to remember how small their little one was and to cherish the beginning of this amazing journey called parenthood.

In 2024, newborn photography is more than a trend – it’s an essential part of capturing and celebrating life. For us baby photographers, it’s a privilege to freeze these moments for families. We’re here to help them remember every little detail of this special time, giving them something beautiful that they’ll look back on for years to come.

To be the photographer who documents these special moments in time is truly an honor. We are humbled every time a new family chooses us.

What is Newborn Photography: A Definition

There has always been many different categories of photography: engagement, wedding, graduating seniors, family, etc. It was only a matter of time until newborn photography became its own niche.

Before there were photographers specializing in newborns, most parents would turn to their wedding photographer for help in photographing their new baby boy or baby girl. It only seemed natural to go back to the photographer that documented the first most important day of their life!

But, most wedding photographers had little to no experience working with babies. In fact, taking photos of a newborn is nothing like photographing a wedding. So, this left many parents searching for a photographer who was trained and well versed in working with babies. Naturally, this led to many photographers deciding to focus solely on newborn photography.

So, in a nutshell, newborn photography is a baby’s first ever photoshoot. It is the category of photography that focuses specifically on taking photos of a newborn baby, usually two weeks old or less, by a trained, experienced professional. One that has devoted themselves to the craft of safely lighting, wrapping, posing, and soothing newborns. It’s all about celebrating and capturing the start of a brand new life in the most beautiful way possible.

Newborn Photography Overview

At first glance, a newborn photo might seem simple: a cute, sleeping baby. But you would be surprised at how much time, patience and effort goes into a newborn photoshoot. Not only do you need to be a great photographer, but you should also understand all the different aspects of newborn photography. Aspects such as safety, different styles, locations and equipment used, props and accessories, as well as timing and preparation.

Let’s take a closer look.

Safety in Newborn Photography

The most important topic when discussing newborn photography is safety.

There are many ways you can learn the skills needed to safely photograph newborns. There are hundreds of on-line videos, classes, groups and conventions all devoted to newborn photography education. But, the number one way in our experience is to learn from in-person mentoring and training sessions from an expert newborn photographer. It’s the gold standard of learning in our field. During these sessions you will learn hands on the safety skills and posing confidence needed to be a newborn photographer. Of course, in addition to this you will learn the proper soothing techniques to work with babies.

I’m here to tell you that in-person, hands on mentoring and training with an expert is the number one way to learn how to pose a newborn safely. Additionally, you can take on-line education courses. Photographers can watch expert mentors conduct multiple live newborn photoshoots and ask questions. Throughout the year, there are also many baby conventions dedicated to newborn photography and include courses devoted to safety. Even photographers who’ve been in the game for ages find these super valuable. We’re all about keeping our skills sharp and staying up to date.

And More Safety

Knowing how to properly soothe, handle and support baby is an absolute requirement of any professional newborn photographer. Parents should take extra special care when deciding on their newborn photographer. Ensuring they are putting their brand new little love into the hands of someone who is highly experienced and specializes in newborn photography. Someone who will never pose a baby in an unsafe position. No pose or shot is EVER worth a baby’s safety. I can’t stress this enough. Our newborn photoshoots are dictated by one, and only one, person. The baby. It doesn’t matter what parents or we have planned out. Or what pose or prop we were hoping for. We photograph what the baby is comfortable in. If they are not happy in a certain pose or position, we move on. A comfortable baby is a peaceful baby and this will show in the photos you take.

The baby’s comfort and safety should be paramount to you, as the newborn photographer, which is also why you should always always work with an assistant. Having two sets of eyes attending to the baby during the entire newborn session is very important. Newborns can startle easily and in our experience the safest way to photograph a newborn is with two people- the photographer and an assistant.

All professional newborn photographers should be current on their vaccinations, especially the Tdap, or whooping cough. Newborns are not born with a fully developed immune system. So it is extra important that anyone that will be in close contact with them be fully vaccinated. Additionally, photographers should take an Infant/Baby Safety and CPR class at their local hospital. Both Matt and Jess have completed the Infant Safety and CPR class at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center.

Styles

There are two main styles of newborn photography: posed and lifestyle. Below we will cover the differences between each!

Posed Newborn Photography

Posed newborn photography is more like professional portraits for your baby in a studio setting. Studio light or natural light can be used. Accessories, backdrops, flowers or greenery and props are used to add texture and beauty to the photos. Your photographer will gently position your baby into a variety of cute poses during the photo shoot. Keeping your baby comfortable and content the entire time. The emphasis is on your baby looking especially adorable in those classic sleeping newborn poses.

There are three main categories in posed newborn photography:

Bare baby
Props
Parents and Siblings

Bare baby

Bare baby shots are those classic newborn photos where baby is posed on a fabric on top of a firm surface. Accessories such as wraps, headbands, hats, etc. are used, too. The focus of these shots are just baby with very little distractions. A stretchy fabric is draped and pulled taught over a firm surface, serving as one continuous background. Surfaces like a posing beanbag or table can be used.

Each newborn photographer has their own workflow for these bare baby shots. Often, they will start with one specific pose and continue to transition from one pose to another. In our experience, it is best to create a posing flow that will end up moving baby the least amount of times. Planning out how this works takes some time, but will pay off big when you still have a sleeping, peaceful baby at the end of the photoshoot. Parents especially love these photos because they focus on the star of the show- their new born baby!

Specific Considerations

After photographing newborns for more than 12 years, we have found that these bare baby poses can be the more challenging shots during the photoshoot. Keep in mind that newborns naturally prefer to be swaddled up, snug and cozy. But with bare poses, they are not. In our experience, we have found it best to start with these poses at the beginning of the photoshoot. Baby has slept the entire car ride over and is more apt to be in a deeper sleep upon arrival.

Bare baby poses also require a very, very sleepy baby. A full belly and a warm studio are going to be your best bet here. Also, remember that not all newborns will do bare baby poses. Some will have gas or tummy issues and some are just super alert and awake. If this is the case, we will do a shortened work flow or skip these bare baby poses and focus more on swaddled shots.

Top 4 Basic Newborn Photography Poses

There are four main bare baby poses that we do here at Matt Cramer Photography.

Womb
Bum or Tushy Up
Side Laying
Back Laying

1. Womb Pose

In the womb pose, we cross baby’s feet and lay baby gently over them for a curled up look. A hand is tucked sweetly under their cheek. This posed is named for being somewhat similar to the position baby is inside the womb during pregnancy.

We use posing pillows, also known as “posing beans”, under the fabric to achieve our bare baby poses. In this photo, we have used one large posing bean underneath baby’s head to lift their head up towards the light and camera. This is the first pose we do in our posing workflow.