Behind the Scenes at a Newborn Session

If there is one thing I know, and know well, it’s newborn photography. Over the past 7 years, I have worked with hundreds of newborns. I know what temperature they like, how they prefer to be held and handled, how to soothe them quickly, how to mold them into those adorable squishy poses, the most flattering angles, what works and what doesn’t work.

When you choose Paige Walker Photography, you can rest assured that you are in the absolute best hands. This is what we do, what we are known for, and partly why we are one the top photographers in the Dallas Fort Worth area!

Each session is planned down to every tiny detail before the newborn ever arrives at the studio. Our newborn session planning questionnaire has a place to fill out a color scheme, any requested props and drops and our moms send photos of their nursery to my studio manager, Lauren, so we can get a feel for your style and how to style your newborn session. We have all the styling elements at the studio, most people just show up with a baby and I take care of the rest. Do you have a special prop you want to incorporate in to the session? No problem, we get a photo sent of that before the session so we can have a styling idea and we can work it into our flow.

Another thing I pride myself on is speed. I can get lots of looks and photos in a pretty short amount of time. A typical newborn session with a full family photo portion will take me 2 and a half hours. The longer I have been doing this, the more shots and looks I can add in to that time frame. Some babies are done much quicker, and some take a bit longer.

Lauren, my assistant and studio manager, has been with me for 5 years. She can basically read my mind. We work so well together and almost no time is wasted in between set ups because Lauren stays a step or 2 ahead of me. It also ensures that someone is nearby your baby at all times, newborn safety is of the utmost importance.

 

This is how we start our newborn shoots, we do three to four poses on the first beanbag color. I have four kids of my own that I breastfed well over a year, I totally get the not wanting to use a pacifier. BUT….in this case, when you are investing this much money, the pacifier is a must! I use it to soothe in between transitions, it adds dozens of images to your gallery and speeds up the session and baby’s overall happiness a ton! They will not get addicted and nothing bad will happen. It never has in 7 years of doing this. They seriously suck on it for like 20 seconds here and there if I need to even use it.

 

Here I am photographing the family, I love this part! She had her hair and makeup done in the studio, which is a very popular option! Our makeup artist arrives before the session starts and she glams up the mom while I photograph the newborn. The moms get to watch me work as they get photo ready! I direct the mom and dad and make sure everything is just right before I snap away.

 

These photos show us doing some wrapped shots on a fuzzy rug. Some parents think their baby does not like to be wrapped or swaddled, but trust me, it does! I completely understand why they think that though, some babies try to wriggle out of a wrap and don’t settle in at first. You just have to commit to the wrap, hold them on their side for a minute and they are OUT! Every time. Every baby! It is how we get our most alert babies to sleep, and they fall into the deepest sleep of the session when they are wrapped.

 

Next up, the carriage prop! As you can see, Lauren is nearby spotting the baby the whole time. She holds the baby’s head so that I can later do a photoshop composite and remove her hand in post processing. I like to pose the baby before I place them in the prop and then do the final touches once I get them in there at the right angle. We do three prop shots at each newborn session.

 

We always do a prop shot from above too. These are so popular and so very cute! Perfect for a large canvas!

This is beanbag fabric number 2! We do three poses on the second fabric.

Including the adorable froggie pose! Since this is a more difficult pose, I never stop tending to the newborn and Lauren takes the images for me. Teamwork!

We go through tons of these waterproof pads! We use them on top of our changing table pad so the newborn is never on the fabric, we use them in between each beanbag layer so if there is a pee/poo situation we haven’t destroyed our whole set up.

The third and final beanbag fabric color is for the final three poses.

This was our third prop, a wrapped look with lots of texture and a beautiful rose backdrop! So cute! 
Thanks for taking a look behind the scenes at a newborn session with PWP! If you have any questions as a potential client or as a photographer, feel free to reach out! Click the contact tab or the get in touch button on the homepage!

And a huge thank you to one of my best friends and fellow Fort Worth photographer, Arden with Arden Prucha Photography for these awesome shots!