5 Ways To Choose The Perfect Newborn Photographer

The Team at MM PHOTOS are experts at newborn photography. They have photographed more than 3000 newborns during their 20+ years in the industry and so they are uniquely qualified to help you decide which Newborn Photographer is right for you and your precious newborn!

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In this day and age, you can throw a blanket over many newborn photographers.  The number of businesses entering the market is remarkable.  However, there are some really important things to consider when choosing a newborn photographer to capture your precious baby’s images.

Your Newborn Photographer’s Experience and Background

Having trained many photographers in the art of newborn photography, I can tell you it takes photographing more than 150 newborn babies before you start to get the hang of it. Newborn photography is a very specific art. 

A photographer specializing in weddings generally wouldn’t know the first thing about newborn photography. There are a lot of elements to it.  There are safety aspect, wrapping training, prop collection, settling techniques, posing styles, shooting angles, and processing that all need to be perfected before you get to take a reasonable newborn photograph. 

A lot of newborn photographers are mums who think they can make some extra money while they are at home and set up a newborn photography business.  It isn’t as easy as just picking up a camera and you are a great newborn photographer. 

Online learning might help you learn one of the above aspects, but certainly not all. 

I have three children, and I struggled with settling my first two babies.  In between child number 2 and number 3, I photographed over 2500 newborns.  This taught me a lot more about settling than having my own children funnily enough.  I actually tried to do some newborn photographs of my first baby and failed miserably! 

I still look back on some of my earlier work and cringe at how good I thought it was then, and now realize how bad it actually was. 

As you can read in our article about photographing babies in the first 14 days, you have such a limited time to have these photographs taken.  If you put all your eggs into the basket of an inexperienced newborn photographer, by the time you realize you don’t like the images, it may be too late to have another go at it.

Newborn Photography Safety

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There are many elements to bub’s safety to consider during a newborn photography session. One of the main things to ask is if your photographer is vaccinated. Obviously you want to make sure they are vaccinated for whooping cough and measles etc.  These are vaccinations that need to be re-done every 10 years. Seasonal Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccines are important as well. 

We all know that hand sanitizer is an important precaution at the moment, especially for our most vulnerable, but even more so for our previous little newborn bubs.  If your photographer’s hand touches the floor, their face, their hair etc, they need to reapply hand santiser. 

Thirdly, the items your baby touches also need to be clean.  For a lot of my career, I was photographing in a studio in a hospital setting.  This meant I had to adhere to very strict guidelines for cross contamination.  This meant any blanket, headband, wrap, or prop that touched one baby, HAD to be washed and disinfected before touching another baby.

This is just the safety for your bub’s environment.  The other safety aspect is in regards to posing.  There are many poses that you see on facebook that were taken as composites and then combined together in post production.  This is how it should be!!  I see a lot of photographers who let the baby go in dangerous poses just so they don’t have the issue of extra work post shoot – or worse, not realizing that is how it is meant to be done.  These positions can cause serious damage and injury if the baby moves in the wrong way.

What Products Do They Have Available

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I hear a lot of clients wanting only digital images.  We understand this is a digital age.  Everything is on our phones.  But ….

A lot of people are too busy and never get around to getting those prints done (and if they do, they go to Kmart or other awful labs and end up with awful results).

Do you remember the photos hanging on the wall in your parent’s house when you were little?  Do you remember thumbing through photo albums reminiscing (and even laughing at your style and outfits) of you as a child, or even your parents before you were born.

The current generation of kids will never know this joy!  The other big problem with digital images is that technology fails.  I know I lost the newborn photos I took of my 2nd child because my hard drive failed.  I can never get them back!

You hear people making fire plans  – what they would grab if they had to evacuate because a fire was on its way.  Most people would grab photo albums.  Does that tell you something about how important printed photos are?

If all you get are digital images, then I ask you … what was the point of taking the time to get the photoshoot done.  Please … walk away with some prints.  An album.  Something for the wall.  If you don’t have something physical, did it even happen!

Prints are forever.  Digital is for never.

Newborn Photography Pricing

A lot of people are looking for lower budget newborn photography.  We get it.  You have just had all the expenses of having your gorgeous bub.  Newborn photography is an investment. It is an investment in time (the shoot itself can take several hours) and therefore there should be a financial investment as well.

You know the old adage you get what you pay for, well, with the above to consider … it takes a lot of money to set up a studio properly, to invest time and effort into learning the art correctly.  If a newborn photographer is at the cheaper end of the scale, you may be risking your memories, your baby’s safety and your once in a lifetime opportunity with the wrong person.  Newborn photographers who take their art and craft seriously will charge accordingly.  Don’t risk you one time chance with something who may not deserve your risk.

Choose A Newborn Photographer Who Reflects Your Style

Every photographer has their own style. Styles are different in props, posing and editing techniques.  You may be a very minimalistic kind of person, but if you choose a photographer that likes a lot of froufrou and extensive editing, then you may not like the results even if that photographer has extensive experience and ticks all other boxes. Make sure you check out their website, facebook page and/or instagram to see if you like their style.  It is like finding a new friend or partner, you both need to be compatible

Your experience getting your newborn photography done should be one that is relaxed and easy, and it should bring a smile to your face when you look back on it.  We really hope that is the case for your little one and for you. 

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Rachel Stewart

Rachel is the founder of Parenting Central. She is raising two children, boy and girl, with her partner. Rachel is obsessed prams, car seats, carriers and all things baby. She has worked in the baby industry for several years, for both suppliers and also in a retail setting and has developed a passion for connecting parents with the right products to make their lives easier. When Rachel isn't playing with prams she's enjoys crocheting, drinking coffee (sometimes wine) and spending a little too much time on Facebook.

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