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A Special Newborn Photography Session

Posted on 16 Mar, 2019 by Sarah Hart

Creating meaningful images

Photography is an art and I love getting creating in a newborn photography session, editing newborn galleries and making them unique to each family.

You may have read one of my recent guest blogs by Kimbo Godsall, who visited the studio for a maternity session last month and shared her story of entering motherhood as a single parent? Well, two weeks ago, she brought along her beautiful daughter, Scarlett, for her newborn session. All newborns are special and unique and sessions are often emotional and beautiful as I spend time finding out about each new family, and Scarlett’s session was no different – I set out to try and make meaningful images for her and her new mummy and have shared with you some of the keepsake images that we created from her session.

Many babies start their newborn session quite alert and I use the opportunity to capture a few shots of them with their eyes open. In this case Scarlett had both eyes and mouth open! Quite appropriate as a her initials spell out S.I.N.G!!

awake newborn baby shot, baby singing, baby photographer kent
When you were born to SING!
mushroom brown and blush pink, baby wrapped snuggly at her newborn session
I wrapped Scarlett, to encourage her to drop off to sleep and lo and behold, she did!
newborn baby girl in pale blush pink wrap, sevenoaks baby photographer

Newborn Photography Composite Images

Once wrapped, I lifted her into a bowl filled with a fluffy cream flokati (above). Prior to the newborn session, I had discussed with Mummy, some of the colours she might like at her daughter’s newborn photo shoot. Mummy had mentioned loving the colour red (and an obvious colour for her daughter’s name too). But Kimbo had also bought lots of “cloud” themed bits for her room and clothing. So before her session I had pre-photographed a set up of clouds with the intention of using them as a digital backdrop and photo-shopping Scarlett in to the image afterwards. In the newborn photography industry, these are known as composite images.

For these kind of shots to work and look realistic, the photographer needs to ensure that the light direction comes from the same angle, and that similar textures and colours are used in order to blend the images together successfully. So at this point in the session I had in my mind that I would also use a full length image of Scarlett in the bowl, wrapped for my cloud images. As the colour of the wrap was a soft blush pink and the flokati was cream, I dropped the saturation of colours on these in order for them to match the cloud image. And here it is….

newborn in the clouds, tunbridge wells baby photographer
Blue backdrop with clouds

These were my little surprise images to add to the gallery as mummy had no idea what I’d planned here!

Beanbag shots

As Scarlett was now nice and sleepy, I was able to carefully unwrap her and begin my beanbag shots – we introduced red on to the beige blanket backdrop – to match mum’s living room and also tie in with Scarlett’s name and mum’s favourite colour. Kimbo then selected a deep red blanket for a few more poses.

sleepy newborn on brown balnket, newborn baby photographer in kent
best newborn photographer in tonbridge, red and brwon colours for newborn baby
baby on red blanket, tunbridge wells newborn photographer

And whilst capturing these lovely posed newborn images, I also look for times to photograph the details: ears with little fine hair on, tiny toes etc. Scarlett had a beautiful dark head of hair with little blonde tips. Newborns change so quickly in the first few months, so it’s important to capture these details.

baby ears and soft newborn hair, black and white newborn image, tonbridge photo studio
baby toes picture, best newborn photographer in kent

After I had moved on to a head on hands pose with Scarlett, Kimbo brought out the books that had each inspired her daughter’s first name and middle names, Scarlett Imogen Nancy, and I set about posing Scarlett on top of the books. This shot was probably my favourite image from her gallery – really enjoy trying to create a meaningful and unique image in a gallery. And I’m always happy to try incorporating personal items in to a newborn session.

head on hands newborn pose, stunning newborn images,
best kent baby photographer, newborn posed on books

Parent shots

At this point in the session Scarlett seemed as if she was going to wake and so we wrapped her again in order to capture a shot with her mummy (she quickly drifted back off to sleep again)

mummy and newborn baby, precious moment, kent baby photographer

Below, a smiling Scarlett on a blue toned Mimosa House fur:

tonbridge newborn photographer, baby girl in blues,

And whilst she was wrapped I managed to shoot this picture below:

west malling newborn photographer, baby girl in deep red wrap

Which I planned to use on this digital backdrop that I’d already pre-photographed to match Mummy’s favourite colour of red….

newborn on a red heart, best sevenoaks baby photography

And finally at the end of the session, I brought out one of my cute new purchases….a gorgeous mohair and fluffy Eskimo outfit. Mum was very happy to get a few shots of Scarlett in this…..

best sevenoaks baby photographer. newborn Eskimo outfit
cute, baby Eskimo outfit, best tunbridge wells newborn photographer

Scarlett’s gallery contained approximately 40 images – slightly more than my average size newborn photography gallery because she was such a good sleeper throughout her session. It was a lovely session and I know her mummy will treasure these images for many years to come.

If you are expecting a baby this year and would like more information on about your own newborn photography session, please do drop me a line at sarah@sarahhartphotography.com and I’ll get back to you with my availability.

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Sarah Hart Newborn Photography