March 25, 2020 – my daughter was born. I had a photographer booked for her newborn photos and I was VERY excited about it. Que the pandemic. Newborn photos cancelled and I was a very upset new mama.
Instead of sulking I realized it wasn’t a big deal! I could try to do the photos myself – and it would be WAY cheaper 🙌 Now Que – DIY Newborn Photos with my iPhone! I even used everything I had in my house already! I didn’t need to buy anything!
I did some research and got some inspiration from pinterest and I learned a lot along the way and I thought I’d share! You can have professional looking photos taken by you with your phone!
Before we get into the steps I wanted to share some tips:
- Keep it SIMPLE – the less you move the baby the better
- Pick out a color scheme and blankets and bows/outfits beforehand and have a plan – you don’t want to make decisions while your taking photos
- Find a basket – it makes the photos look more put together.
- just keep clicking and taking pictures – you can go through and delete the ones you don’t like
- keep the room really warm so baby stays sleepy and comfy!
- do your photos after baby has eaten – he/she will be nice and sleepy
- put on a sound machine
- use natural light – you don’t need any fancy lights
- you DO NOT need a fancy camera!
- Take the photos before your baby is 10 days old.
Steps to Taking your own Newborn Photos
- Get your supplies together: Blanket, boppy, Basket, Bows, Outfits etc
- Choose What types of shots you want to take of the baby (use pinterest for inspiration)
- Find a window with great light and set up before you bring baby over
NOTE: Lay a blanket on the floor if you want a different color scheme
- I use a baby lounger wrapped in a sheet and I basket filled with blankets and a white blanket on top.
Baby Lounger Photo: I use this to lay her on her tummy like shown in the picture
Basket: A lot of my favorite photos were taken in the basket
- I chose to wrap her in a blanket and have a cute bow to keep it simple.
NOTE: I did not try to do any fancy swaddle. I draped the blanket over her and kept adjusting it. it kept in natural and pretty. We aren’t’ professionals – they are very good at what they do. I felt if I tried to do it exactly like they do it, with the perfect swaddle etc – I would get frustrated.
- Take a TON of photos and go through them after you’re done. You can never have to many
- Take the photos from overhead and go closer and take some close ups of feet, hands, nose, eyelashes etc.
- Download LIGHTROOM APP – Edit your photos you choose to keep in there! There are a lot of free presets you can use!
All of this can be applied to your older kids too!
- Find a location and be prepared
- Shoot in good light – before the sun goes down is best
- Get the color scheme together
- Let them be natural and shoot some pictures
I hope you found this helpful – If you have any questions feel free to ask them below!
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