Columbia SC Photographer | How to Prepare for Your Newborn Photography Session

It has been a long nine months and your little darling has finally made it earthside to be with you. If this one is your first, surely there is a deep desire to get everything picture perfect. I know you want to give he/she the best of you and then some. So I am going to give you a few tips on how to best prepare and what to expect before and during your session.

1. If you will be having your hair and makeup done in the studio, we will have already pre-arranged this and discussed wardrobe and preferences at our consultation. We will plan the look and feel for your session at that time as well. The only thing you need to do is shower, dry your hair and show up! That's it.

2. It is easy to say get some sleep but moms know to well that with a newborn in the house, that is not likely so just go to bed early. For every hour before midnight that you sleep, it is as good as two hours after midnight. And you already know you are going to be up some of those a.m. hours so do yourself a favor and try to put baby down by 8 or have dad take him for a while so you can rest. 

3. Deep breaths, no heated discussions on the morning of your session. We want to see smiling faces and happy hearts. Emotions transfer to photos. This is a joyful time, let's make it memorable and beautiful.

4. Consider the color of your undergarments for the wardrobe you have chosen. Wearing white? You will want to bring a white bra and underwear to match.

5. Be mindful of what foods you eat the day before and morning of your session. Some things such as dairy, caffeine or tomatoes can give baby an upset tummy or keep him awake right in the middle of the time we really need him to sleep.

6. If you have a dear family heirloom that you want included in your photos, please bring that. I will do my best to include that for you.

7. It will be a long morning, possibly up to three hours. I will have some snacks available for you but you may choose to pack a little bag and that is fine.

When you arrive, you may take your time getting dressed and relax. You may go ahead and feed baby to get him full and sleepy. We will begin our session then. These little ones run the show so there will be plenty of time for breaks, feedings, changing etc...

We will do each parent/sibling with the baby then a family photo before I begin to work with the baby alone. I also include some lifestyle photos in all of my sessions.

After your session, I will begin working on your photos. It will take up to two weeks to get them beautifully retouched and I will give you a call to come view them. This will be the moment you have been looking forward to where you get to select each photo that you want printed. After the order is placed, the photos should be back in about a week. 

I hope that gives you just a little insight on what a hand-crafted newborn session looks like. Let me know if you have any questions.

Newborn baby girl in Lexington, SC