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Question from Rebecca: “I’d love any and all advice on how to get babies to sleep through their sessions, and also some posing advice for babies that are about 6-10 weeks. They aren’t the easily swaddled and posed size, but not able to hold their heads up much. TIA!!”
Jodie: Newborn shoots must be done within the first week to 10 days of life. As for all those cute shots of babies holding their heads up, those are CONPOSITE shots. You have to be adept at Photoshop to create them. Look up vids on YouTube to see how the process is done.
Stephanie; Heating pad and white noise/fan blowing (pointed away of course)
I cannot being to express how awesome the heating pad is!!!
Trisha: Make sure to tell to tell the parents to not let the baby nap if they can before the session, and bring a bottle to feed them at the beginning of the session – along with the heating pad, this should work. Also I have seen people use a teddy bear that has a heartbeat – soothes the baby. 🙂
Suz: had this issue yesterday but more along the lines of parents getting frustrated when newborns are crabby what do u do in that situation when parents just about give up?
Sandee: heating pads do great things! remember most of the infant pictures you see are COMPOSITE shots. Be careful because saftey of baby comes 1st. I love my white noise app on Ipad. it was free. Turn it up LOUD! babies love it. babies get hungry alot during sessions…so I always inform my moms to come prepared.
Brian: I would ask the parent’s for their babies nap schedule and plan your shoot around that.
Erin: <—not a NB photographer, but the ones that I have done, I ran the blow dryer the entire session. Worked well for warmth and white noise.
Altered Images Photography: I think Rebecca’s question was geared more towards older babies that can’t hold their heads up yet rather than newborns. Rebecca I can say that most babies I get between the ages of 1 month to 3 months I do a lot of laying down shots from above. Get a nice soft fur to lay them on and let them coo away! Suitcases and moses baskets are great for this age too!
Stephanie: If the baby is absolutely crabby and things aren’t working (after trying the nook, bottle, rocking, diaper changing, burping, etc.) have the mother leave the room. I’ve read that they produce a pheromone that the baby picks up on and if the mother is in the room, the baby wants to be held (again, what I’ve read, not experienced). If nothing works, you may need to reschedule in the next couple days.
Jen: Newborns I usually expect to be there for 3 hours , That gives lots of time for anything that needs to be done..diapers..feeding or rocking or clothing changes. I usually do newborns in the clients home where baby is comfortable.. keep the house very warm – you might be sweating but baby will be comfortable! and take your time, be patient and give them breaks when they need it! Make sure baby is fed right before you start the shoot- they should fall asleep while eating and it makes it easier to pose them.. if they start waking up just pat their backs and they usually fall back asleep:
Rebecca: Thaks for the info! As soon as I get up some time I will be checking out some tutorials for the composite shots. It’s just so hard to gauge, when some babies are champs at holding up their heads at 6 weeks and some can’t/don’t at all!! LOL! I will keep checking back for more advice! (As much as I hate to do it I’m going to have to raise my newborn prices, but not until I can produce images that make me cry tears of happiness instead of frustation!!)
Jacqueline: http://inspiremebaby.com/2011/04/12/guest-blogger-newborn-pullbacks-tips-by-arden-prucha-photography/
She is amazing with great ideas! I followed her guide for my last newborn shoot and it went off without a hitch
Amanda: older babies are tougher. The sleep thing isn’t always quite as easily obtained or maintained! They often are more aware of their surroundings, and may fight the nap. Feet, eyes, fingers … all these things are still nice shots to have from an older age. Peeking over mommy’s shoulder, maybe even breastfeeding shots (if mom’s ok with that). cradled shots in parents’ arms, as well as the floor and baskets mentioned above are all good fall backs if your baby doesn’t want to cooperate. I never book a newborn baby and another shoot in the same afternoon. I’ve had a shoot take over 4 hours before because the baby decided (at 9 days!) that there was no sleep to be had!
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