Now that we are all supposed to Self Quarantine and you have a new edition to your family you really want to capture this sweet time but your photographer is not allowed to come to your house. Well I have a few tips on how you can take your own In-home Newborn Photos.

Where and What time of Day:

One of the first things you will want to do is prepare a few days in advance. Take a walk around your home with all the lights off, and the blinds or curtains opens letting all the light spill into your home, notice how the light casts into your home, does the morning light hit the front side of your home or the back side of your home? You will want to take your photos where you see most of the light coming into your home, this could be a bedroom, a living room or even an entryway. Traditionally I find the best time of day to photograph is usually mid-morning when everyone is happy and relaxed, depending on where you found the best light coming into your home, all you need now is to set up someplace close to a window and you are set! Avoid photographing directly into the window as this can be tricky and known as backlighting.

What to Wear:

The next tip is planning what to wear, Diversity and individuality are words to think about. If your home is darker with rich tones of wood, then use warm colors, rich grays in your clothing. If you have large windows go light and airy, even choosing some whites. If you have a home that is bright and patterned and go bold and colorful! For your newborn pick an outfit and accessories that are neutral, soft pastels such as blush, grays, and browns or a color combo of white/grey or ivory/brown all work great. Their outfit should fit snug, otherwise the clothing will bunch up and get in their way, the same goes for big bowes etc they will move and it will cover their eyes.

I will include some of my favorite stores for newborns:

Madewell 

Lou and Grey

Banana Republic

Kit and Ace

Anthropologie

How to Get other kids to Cooperate:

I believe its more about documenting this stage in life than it is to get the perfect photo! Think about getting into their world, for example allow them to bring their favorite toys to the baby, or read to the baby. Play with them to capture the photo you want, some games could be get on dads shoulders, I spy, up, up and away. Make sure when you do these, the other parent is engaging and smiling at what is happening otherwise one person is looking at camera and the other one is playing with toddler which looks a bit strange. Asking questions like “Should baby be kissed on his toes or or his nose?” or does the baby have duck feet?? Can you find them? You can really capture some sweet moments. The older kids in my experience really just want to hold the baby so you can just capture some love cuddles and when it comes to the family photos you could even have the older kids holding the baby or looking down at baby!

How to Set Camera Up:

This is easier than you think. If you have a tripod of any kind this will do just fine, if not then a dresser, a table a set of books will work too whatever you can find to adjust the height of your camera. Put your phone or camera on the timer mode and then photograph away. If you do own a remote you can use it, this prevents you from running back and forth, you can search for apps that will have a remote to operate the phone as well, sometimes I set mine up to burst to take several photos at once.

Don’t expect too much. Not every photo is going to be perfect. There’s a reason photographers don’t give you every single photo they take during a session. Someone is going to be blinking, pouting, or fixing hair. Expecting perfection in every photo is just setting yourself up for disappointment. Aim for two or three fabulous, amazing photos and if you end up with more than that, consider yourself lucky! Good Luck and see you all soon!!