Photographing My First Newborn

My good friend Courtney had her baby Coraline on October 8, 2021! This past weekend, I was able to shoot some newborn and family photos for them. Here’s my journey the week before the shoot!

6 days before the shoot: Inspiration

There is an amazing photographer on Instagram, Chasing Joy Photography, that I like to follow for inspiration for my own shoots. One of her specialties is newborn shoots, so naturally I wanted to check out her page for ideas and tips on how to shoot newborns. I took screenshots of her work and watched her videos on how she sets up shoots and how she pulls off some of the poses with some photoshop tricks.

4 days before the shoot: Props

I don’t have any specialty newborn photography props that a lot of photographers have. If you look on amazon, there are special newborn photography pillows, wraps, and cute little impractical outfits like this lace romper with a detachable tutu.

I also don’t have the lighting setup for an indoor shoot, since I primarily shoot outdoors. So we’re taking a bet and hoping that it will be sunny in San Diego the day of the shoot, and that I can get lots of natural light in the room. That being said, San Diego is often very sunny and the weather is showing that we will be in luck this weekend!

So since I don’t have the perfect gear for this shoot, I’m going to go with what I have already and make it work. I have a really cute picnic basket and a bunch of fuzzy blankets to bring over and I’m sure they will look great.

3 days before the shoot: Nerves

I’m a little nervous because the memory card I ordered last week got delayed and won’t be here until after the shoot. Best Buy might be in my schedule in the next couple of days. It is my nightmare to either run out of memory during a shoot, or all of my camera batteries are going to die. I had been working with a 5-year-old camera battery and my 3-year-old one that doesn’t hold a charge anymore. Thanks to a birthday gift from my father-in-law and his partner, I was able to get a set of two new batteries that will hopefully last me a long time!

Day before the shoot: Excitement

My memory card arrived just in time! This is the riveting content you came here for, right? Getting excited for the shoot and to meet baby Coraline!

Day of the shoot: Meeting Coraline

My batteries are charged, and my memory cards are blank and ready to be filled with photos! I packed all my props in my car and headed to Courtney and Kevin’s house. I unload all my gear onto their porch and knock on the door. Oops, wrong house. The guy was very surprised to see someone with baskets filled with blankets on his front porch. I find the right house and get all set up! The lighting is perfect in her nursery – bright indirect sunlight came in through the window in her room.

Coraline was very confused at first and was a little startled by the sound of my camera shutter. She would close her eyes for a few seconds and then open them and give me a confused, grumpy look once I started getting photos. She needed a bottle and a diaper change, so mom and dad took care of that and got her changed into another outfit.

I should learn how to swaddle a baby, because the photos can turn out very cute if it’s done right. We managed to bundle her up and get a few photos while she was happily swaddled.

One big thing I learned during this shoot is that the baby calls the shots. I can go in with as many ideas as I want, but if the baby doesn’t want to be posed in a certain way, she will let you know. I wanted to try getting some pictures of her sleeping on her tummy, but she was not happy in that position at first. She needed a second bottle and a second diaper change. After she was fed and happy, she fell asleep and we finally got some tummy pictures towards the end of the shoot! These ended up being my favorite ones and I’m so glad she cooperated for them!

I definitely still have a lot to learn in this area, but I’m so happy with how these turned out and I can’t wait to do more newborn shoots! Someday in the future I would like to get a new lens so that it’s easier to shoot in small places like a nursery. Backing into the wall with my 40mm prime lens was a little restrictive of the angles and distance I could get. That’s the problem with photography – there’s always new gear out there that we want to buy!

Let’s create some memories.

Kim