Finally, the big day has arrived, and the new member of your family is present. Congratulations! A few days have passed, and it is all about the new excitement and fun in your home. This means that it is the perfect moment for you to preserve some memories for the future. But before that, you need to prepare a newborn photography checklist for parents, which is a MUST!
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What is the need for photographing your newborn?
Your new family member has just arrived. You would need to keep thinking about the practical stuff before implementing the same to your schedule.
It is necessary that the memories of those blessed days of the future need to be kept intact!
Every new parent knows that photographing a newborn isn’t an easy task, no matter how experienced they might be. Yes, babies are cute, but they are not an easy model to deal with!
This is why you should leave such a task to the professionals so that you get to relax and enjoy. At the same time, your photographer takes up the task of clicking cute pictures of your baby.
A successful photograph requires some shoot preparation that needs to be done beforehand. We will mention some tricks and tips that you can quickly move forward with as a newborn photography checklist for parents.
Which is the best time to photograph a newborn?
The initial question that you should clear out is when should the session be initiated? The question also comes into play whether you want the photos to be clicked when your baby is asleep or awake.
If you want the photos to be clicked when your baby is asleep, it should be done within the first 14 days. Around eight days old, a newborn starts being active, and it would difficult to get his/her photo.
If you want the photos to be clicked when your baby is awake and cheerful, then the whole timetable changes. For such photographs, they should only be taken after four weeks the baby is born.
Newborn photography checklist for parents: Necessary items
Various photographers provide the parents with a checklist which avoids and misunderstanding and problems on the day of the shoot. So, here are some of the essentials that we think is a MUST when you, as a parent, are about to shoot some great picture of your baby:
- Bring snacks and plenty of water during the shoot since it can be long and tiring. You should also bring any siblings or pets you have to your home.
- If any siblings are coming, bring something to keep them entertained.
- Carry one change of clothing in case any accident occurs.
- Carry everything from your baby’s food to a clothing change, including any unique moisturizer for your baby or other products.
- If your newborn has hair, carry a brush.
- Bring any toys that your newborn likes to play with to be included in some photos.
- If your baby uses a pacifier, ensure that you bring it. It would help your baby to feel comfortable and would also help them to have a good sleep.
Newborn photography checklist for parents: Necessary equipment for the photo session
If you have been looking forward to getting into newborn photography as a professional photographer, then here are some of the MUSTS that you need to get started with:
1. Professional DSLR camera:
Let us start with the first and foremost necessary items in our checklist, and that is a professional DSLR camera. However, it is not essential to have a ‘DSLR camera’ for such a shoot. If you feel like your usual digital camera would do the work, you can bring it without any issues. Any camera you feel comfortable with will work, but it needs to be between the midrange and high-end spectrum.
You can read our Best Camera for Moms to get a clear idea of which product would suit you the best.
2. Lenses: Macro and Prime:
Carrying a standard lens is acceptable; however, if you want to keep things professional, then having a prime lens is what we suggest since it provides a large aperture while the images’ size remains compact. With the help of a prime lens, you would get a much sharper, high-quality image. You can check out our best prime lens for newborn photography checklist, which we have included on our website.
The macro lens is also a great piece of equipment that you can carry in your photography kit. It would help you clicking extremely close-up and high-quality shots of the baby, which includes various details such as fingers, toes, lips, etc.
3. Reflector:
There has been confusion on whether photographers should use flashes while clicking the photos of newborns, so we advise that using a reflector can be done in addition to natural light. A pop-up reflector can be used for such cases so that the baby doesn’t feel uncomfortable during the photoshoot.
4. Soft Box:
Suppose natural light is not available at your disposal at the moment. In that case, you can use a soft box as an alternative that would create the right kind of soft, diffused lighting for the newborn which can easily mimic natural lighting.
5. White Noise Machine:
Photographing a sleeping baby is not such a difficult task. But what should you do when it starts to cry? The behaviour of babies is unpredictable. Being a newborn photographer means you need to know how to deal with such issues. You would need a piece of equipment that can help them calm, which is why many photographers use a white noise machine for this. However, white noise machine costs a lot. If you are on a budget, it might be difficult for you to purchase yet. However, if you want to be a professional photographer with newborns, this would be a one-time investment.
6. Heating Pads:
Since babies do not wear anything to keep them warm during a photo session, the room must be kept comfortably warm to remain calm during the whole shoot. Instead of heating the entire room, you can use a mini room heater or heating pads to keep the mini model comfortably warm during the whole photoshoot.
We have jotted down some of the best heating pads for the newborn photography , so make sure to check them out!
Final thoughts on newborn photography checklist for parents
In the end, you should know your baby more than anybody else, so make sure that you do not hesitate to bring up any suggestions to your photographer. You should always be strict, and upfront with any issues you think might cause your baby’s discomfort.
However, it would help if you stayed patient since babies can sense whenever their parents are upset. You never know how such a session will go. Since babies are unpredictable small models, it is necessary to keep the points mentioned above in check whenever you are about to do a photo session with the newborn.
Hope this article on newborn photography checklist for parents was helpful for you and let us know in the comment section if we left out anything!
