I loved meeting these first time parents and getting to see the newfound joy between them and their new baby. This family was so sweet with their baby boy during their newborn photos. Mom chose the colors blue, grey, white, and tan because his nursery was decorated in those colors with a whale theme. So, when I read all about his nursery I was so excited for this in home newborn session.

My favorite part of a newborn session, besides the baby photography, is planning the session around the colors that my clients choose. I spend a good amount of time carefully choosing colors and creating color palettes based off mama’s wishes. All of my props, newborn wraps, and more for baby Tate are from the Newborn Client Closet for this session.

As you can see, this baby boy’s nursery is absolutely perfect and looks like it is straight of of pinterest! Their newborn photography collection included baby posing as well as lifestyle newborn posing that was done in their nursery. I love this option of being able to document their first room in their newborn session.

The next few collages are the posed, studio newborn portion of the session. All of the posed newborn work is done in my client’s home! You can read more about our Tampa Newborn Photography sessions here and how I bring everything I need to my clients so they don’t have to leave their homes. Depending on the newborn photo collection you choose, you can typically expect newborn prop images and newborn studio posed images.

If you are excited to learn more about our Tampa Newborn photography session please find out more below!

What every parent needs to know before their Newborn Photo Session.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! If you are here on this preparation guide, chances are you have booked me for baby photos in the Tampa area!

I am so honored to be documenting this special season in your family’s life. The first few weeks and month of your new baby’s life are going to fly by in a blur. I have put together this prep guide so you will be prepared for your newborn session.

Please have available:

1. Essentials: Burp cloths, wipes, a pacifier just in case I need them!
2. Put your baby in easy to remove clothing. Avoid restrictive clothing or anything that will unsettle baby to remove. Please avoid socks and hats that will leave lines on baby’s skin. It is harder to edit out of your photos.
3. Eating: If bottle feeding, please have an extra ready. Sometimes babies will cluster-feed when they are new, meaning they will eat more frequent small meals because their tummies cannot hold a lot. If you are nursing, please try and avoid spicy and acidic foods the night before as to not upset baby’s tummy.
4. A place for me to set up – I will be bringing a small, low posing table for baby’s images as well as some props, and a light kit. I will beed about a 8foot area with an outlet.

The day of your session:

1. Keep baby stimulated and awake the hour before I come. This will help baby sleep well during their session. We want your baby to be able to go into a deep sleep so we can safely pose and move to each set.
2. Bathe baby in a warm bath. While you are keeping baby awake, it is recommended that you use part of the time to give baby a warm bath. This will help prep them to start getting ready to sleep. It also makes sure their hair is clean and that eyes and nose are free of sleepies and boogers.
3. Feed baby right before I get there. When your baby has been kept awake, then bathed, and fed it is the winning combination for a sleepy baby. Their little tummies will be full and they will be able to sleep longer.
4. Warm your home. Baby’s like warm to help them sleep. Please warm your home up (no matter what season) to keep baby warm and toasty during their session. I will be transitioning them into different wraps and setups so keeping it warm will keep them asleep while I change them. (78-80 degrees is perfect)
5. Lighting. Please make sure shades are open and all overhead lights are off for your family portion. For the posed newborn portion, I will be bringing a light setup.
   

during the session:

1. I bring the studio to you. I will need a 8ft area in the main part of your home to setup my lighting, props, baby Shusher, and workstation. I will need access to an outlet as well.
2. No need to prepare things for baby. I will bring wraps, hats, headbands, and all the things I will need for their newborn photos based on the colors you chose in your questionnaire.
3. Baby led session These sessions are 100% baby led. I will gently pose baby and wrap them, but if they are not happy with a certain pose we will go to the next. I never force anything.

Timeline:

1. I start with baby poses – I will work through the baby’s posed part of the session first. So, if your collection includes family images, those will be last. I always tell my client’s to use that time to have coffee and get ready at their leisure.
2. Next, is family posing. If your collection includes family images, I will use the next portion to pose baby with any siblings and family. I will gently guide you during this portion and This will be the quickest portion of the session.

Tampa Newborn Lifestyle Session

When clients contact me about upcoming newborn sessions It thrills me to no end to ask for pictures of their nursery, their home, and ask what they are envisioning for this session. Y’all there is just something about babies that makes me so happy!!

So when Jennifer contacted me, she mentioned she had her nursery finished (I can’t wait for you to see it below!) and that she wanted to include her dogs in the newborn session as well.
I love incorporating dogs in sessions especially newborn sessions because they are our babies too! They have a special place in our families and it is so fun to see their personalities shine through when a baby is around.

So, I sent Jennifer a guide of our Newborn Client Wardrobe that includes newborn wraps, newborn hats, and newborn headbands to think about some different options to go with the spaces we would be utilizing in her home and nursery. She chose a pink floral wrap to go with their outfits and their home decor and y’all… Little miss was just adorable in that newborn wrap!

Below you’ll see some Pinterest picture perfect sneaks of their beautiful nursery and sweet Baby Rooney.

Isn’t it just the cutest? I think so too! Mom did a great job with the decor and the styling of the session. Included in every newborn session is the option to choose a couple different wraps, so that we have different looks for baby.

Newborn session Experience

So, it’s no surprise that I love documenting newborns in their home. I love the relaxing feel of slowing down and photographing beautiful families soaking in their new baby. With the Rooney family it was no different. Mom and Dad moved comfortably about while I photographed just baby and then took turns holding her so that I could get portraits of them with her as well.

We moved between the baby’s nursery, the master bedroom, and the living room areas where the lighting was best. I love that one day when baby is old enough, she will be able to flip through her newborn photos and see her first home documented, the love of her parents, and her sweet dogs shining through these!

Baby Rooney was very calm the entire newborn session and even dozed off for a bit! We got some great sleeping shots of her and you’ll even see below that I was able to capture her smiling too!

I bet you can’t help but smile when you see those dogs in the pictures with baby 🙂

If you are interested in learning more about a newborn session for your expanding family, please hop on over to the newborn session experience page to learn about the process, when I book newborns, and pricing!