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By Gregory Smith


Amateurs often have the mistaken idea photographing newborns is a snap. The experts say the reality is something different. Taking great pictures of infants is as difficult and challenging as it is fun and rewarding. They share some steps for creating newborn photography Harrisburg PA parents will be standing in line to sign up for.

Safety and comfort should always be your number one priority. Little babies are fragile, especially their skulls and bones. Any props you use that put the baby off the ground at all, like bassinets and elevated baskets, have to be tested and weighted before the shoot to make sure they won't slip or fall over. Playing soft music and using a space heater to keep the area warm will help keep the infant sleeping.

The lighting has to be just right. The eyes of newborns are very sensitive. This isn't the sort of session where you will be using pop up flashes. Using external flashes is fine if you aim them toward the ceiling and use low lighting so the baby isn't so startled she wakes up. Most professional photographers prefer to use ambient lighting for infant photographs. Natural light coming from a window is a great option, if the timing is right.

Setting up your photo shoot within the first week and a half of the infant's life is the preference of most professionals. That's because, at this stage, infants are almost always sleeping. Posing and taking photos is a lot easier. After the ten day window, babies begin moving and stretching make photographing them in tight spots more difficult.

Plan your poses before the shoot starts. This is where a good assistant can be really helpful. You want to pose the infant in a way that is comfortable and natural for him or her.

Propping their little heads on their arms or hands as they are laying on their stomachs is a popular pose these days. You can get some good photographs by laying them down on their backs and then leaving them alone to position themselves in a way that is unique to them. Curling up in a ball is something you see infants do that can result in great pictures.

Positioning babies naturally is great, but so is dressing them in unusual costumes and posing them in unusual environments. You can coordinate with the parents first. They might have ideas about toys and outfits that have special significance to them. The more unusual the costume and setting the better for these shoots, as long as the baby is safe and content.

Zoom in and focus on the details. Some of the best infant photography is nothing more than a close up of the baby's hands or feet. Parents love these pictures because they have a forever reminder of just how tiny their little one actually was. One good tip is to incorporate some kind of prop juxtaposed against the infant's hands or feet to emphasize their tininess.




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