I love photographing newborns and of course as a photographer and a creative I love to do something “new” or unique in every session. My priority however remains that I want to capture images that speak to my clients, and I often get requests for certain poses from my clients. Sometimes they are centered around the parents interests or jobs, like images with baby posed in a firefighter's helmet, a golf bag, or on a horse saddle but the most popular requests seem to come from images my clients have found on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or even my website.
These are my top 8 requested poses:
Baby’s Chin on Hands:
This pose is great for showing off baby’s beautiful little face and tiny fingers. The newborn is photographed with his or her crisscrossed hands under the chin, with the head upright or tilted slightly so that they light his them just right. It can be done in their birthday suit or with them dressed in one of my tiny custom rompers. Sometimes I do this pose on the posing table using special posers under the fabric posing backdrop. Other times I do it in a shallow prop, like vintage dough bowl, on a wood floor.
Baby in parent’s hands
I do this pose in a lot of different ways depending on mom and dad’s preferences and of course baby’s willingness. I love this pose best when photographed on black and artistically converted black and white. It is a timeless image and I love how it really accents how little (even the biggest babies) are. Sometimes I do it in dad’s hands, sometimes it’s in mom’s arms and sometimes we use both mom and dad’s hands or even the whole family. Often they are cradled and photographed from the side but at other times I use the forward facing pose from above but pose them in dad's hands.
Swaddled Newborn
Who doesn’t love a swaddled baby. This has become a client favorite and well the babies absolutely LOVE it too. It is so telling of that newborn stage, as most babies love it but quickly outgrow it. Often times I will start off a session with the baby swaddled as it helps calm them and get them into a nice relaxed sleep. Once the under wrap is done, then I change style of wrapping and colors of the outer decorative wraps and the set ups. My client closet has so many incredible wraps, bonnets and tie backs for clients to use. These images have become so popular with my clients, that I now offer a limited time petite newborn petite bundled session for my clients that want just handful of digital images.
The bucket pose
This pose is one that my clients love, and you would be surprised to learn most newborn love it too! Baby is posed in a weighted bucket with supportive posers and of course a spotter with hands on baby. Then the images are artistically rendered in photoshop to create a piece of art for my client's home that stye will treasure for a lifetime.
Babies as Art
These special artistic "baby as art" pieces are actually composite images that are taken while baby is safely posed on my posing bag and then artistically rendered in photoshop. My earth image has quickly become a client favorite, as a representation of these sweet babies born during the 2020 pandemic, Covid 19. The possibilities for these babies as art images are endless, come let us create.
The Bum Up
This of one of my favorite newborn poses to do in my sessions and most babies will settle into it quite well. It can be done with both naked and dressed babies. It is important to watch the small details in the baby’s hand and foot placement and to get the light just right. This pose just screams baby to me. My clients love how it shows off those tiny baby wrinkles. Sometimes I do just baby in the buff, and sometimes I add a layer, a bonnet or a tieback.
Baby with siblings
I wouldn’t call this one a requested pose exactly, but it is certainly a highly requested image. The actual pose depends more on the number and age of the baby’s siblings, and how cooperative they feel on the day of the session. This can even be done with fur babies. Most of the time the baby is photographed together with the sibling, but on occasion we have to get creative for the safety of the baby and I take the images as separately and merge them in photoshop.
The tiny bears
The tiny bears are one of my most requested props. I have a huge selection of these them, most with matching bonnets and some with matching romper sets. These little bears are just the right size for baby and so soft. I use them in a variety of poses that my client's love