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Newborn Lifestyle Sessions Preparing for your in-home Newborn Lifestyle Session

Thank you for welcoming me into your home!

Thank you so much for selecting me to photograph your family in your home. I appreciate you welcoming me into your home and daily life. I hope the information below will be helpful as you prepare for your in-home photography session. Please know that all sessions and situations are different and unique, so these are simply guidelines to help you prepare.

What is a lifestyle session?

Think of lifestyle sessions as a documentary approach to photography. Rather than an overly posed and directed experience, lifestyle sessions show more behind-the-scenes imagery that tell a story. Scenes are set up with light direction, and the focus is more on the scene, environment and interaction between subjects. Lifestyle sessions show different perspectives, more candid moments, and relationships between people that I find to be more authentic and personal.

Session Timing

The timing for lifestyle sessions for newborns is very flexible. Typically clients will need to schedule their traditionally-posed newborn sessions within the first two weeks of birth, so that baby is very sleepy and easy to pose. Lifestyle sessions can be scheduled at any time. Because the posing is natural and candid, an extra-sleepy baby is not necessary. I will photograph lifestyle newborn sessions within the first few months up birth, up until their first year.

I love to set up lifestyle sessions to show "a day in the life of" the family. This includes actions and activities that you would do on any normal day at home. These activities can be things like preparing a bottle and feeding your baby. Another example is sitting in the nursery and reading a baby book aloud.

A sweet moment as Mother gently rocks her newborn.

Relax and Don't Stress

Any photography session involving newborns and toddlers requires a bit of patience. Children this young, especially babies, will usually dictate the pace of your session. Babies tend to be best in front of the camera when they are warm, well-fed and sleepy. Sometimes babies get hungry and fussy, or children just need to take a break after being in front of the camera. This is totally normal and you should not stress over timing and needing to take breaks! Young ones are well adept to picking up on nervous energy, so the more calm you are, the easier your session will be!

Be sure to feed your baby shortly before our session to ensure baby is happy and content.

Prepping Your Home and Nursery

Open, natural light. Photographing newborns and babies in your home is the best - this is their home, a place where they are most comfortable. Usually, the nursery room is used in newborn lifestyle sessions. Other popular rooms in the house are the living room, kitchen and sibling rooms. Prior to my arrival, please open all blinds and curtains to allow maximum natural light into the scene. My photography style greatly lends to using natural and available light, and I only use artificial light (flash) if absolutely necessary.

Turn off the Artificial Lights. I'll also have you turn off any artificial light. Artificial lights like lamps and ceiling lights produce unnatural color casts while natural light will illuminate a scene (and skin tones) correctly.

Less is more. De-clutter any spaces that we will use to remove distracting elements from the scene. Tidying up the floors, table tops, nightstands, etc. will remove distracting objects from your images.

Include baby's siblings! Siblings share such an endearing bond. I love to photograph the interaction between older siblings and their newest family member. I will usually advise that we capture sibling portraits early in the session.

What to Wear

I typically recommend sticking towards neutral colors like tans, whites, greys, creams, or pastel colors. Indoor natural light is soft light, and softer colors tend to compliment that light. Avoid hyper-colors (colors like neons, reds or anything else that may produce a color cast on skin tones), busy patterns and clothing with prominent logos or writing. Not all situations are alike, however. The best advice I can give is to think about where we'll be photographing your family. I recommend coordinating outfits to compliment the scenes in which we'll be working in.

If we will use your bedroom, I recommend changing the bedding to a neutral color (whites are great!).

Individual Portraits

While a lot of our session will be a group effort, I also like to be sure to capture moments with just one parent (and sibling) at a time.

My goal is to tell your Story.

Ultimately, it is my goal to deliver a gallery that tells a story of your family. We will be capturing an intimate look into the loving connection between family members and their newest arrival. This should be a stress-free and fun experience. I encourage my clients to be authentically themselves. The reality is that everything may not go 100% perfectly - and that is OK! We may need to take breaks to feed, change and/or comfort your newborn. As you know, babies are unpredictable but we can embrace that fleeting time in their early development.

After the Session

After our session, I return home to download and back up your raw image files. After that is complete, I will send your invoice via email, where you can conveniently pay online or send a check. While my editing turnaround time depends on what I have scheduled at the time, my typical delivery for standard photography sessions is 3-4 weeks. I will provide 3-5 images in the first few days after your session as a sneak-peek, and will notify you once all of your images are edited and ready to download. You will receive a new Gallery Completion email, and it will contain your gallery link, password and image download PIN. Your gallery will contain high resolution, print-ready files. You are welcome to share this with anyone you like! You will have the rights to print your images wherever you prefer, but I do keep a storefront in your gallery just in case you have any family members that would like to purchase prints through my website.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to working with you!

Thank you again for allowing me to capture such a special and exciting time for your family!

Copyright © 2020 Lindsay Blum | Saint Louis Fine Art Wedding Photography & Travel Photojournalism | Mid-Missouri & Worldwide

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Copyright © 2019 Lindsay Blum