Welcoming a newborn into your family is a beautiful, fleeting moment, and a lifestyle newborn photo session captures these early days in the most natural, intimate way. Since a lifestyle newborn photo session involves documenting these moments in your home, a little preparation can help create a relaxed and authentic setting for your photos. Here are my top tips to ensure your home is photo-ready without unnecessary stress.
Before Baby Arrives: Preparing Your Home in Advance
There are several things you can do before your baby arrives to help make your newborn session go smoothly. Once you welcome home your newborn, your schedule will be different and you don’t want to add unnecessary stress by trying to do these things in the days right before your session.
While you’re still waiting for your baby’s arrival, take some time to:
1. Pick the Best Naturally Lit Rooms
Walk through your home and take note of which rooms get the most natural light. South- and east-facing windows often provide soft, beautiful light.
Most people want to use the nursery, master bedroom, and/or living room for their photos, so start with those rooms.
Here’s how to check if your preferred spaces receive enough window light for your photo session.
- Turn off all overhead lights and lamps. Open your blinds, curtains or shutters to let in as much light as possible.
- You can use your cell phone camera to take photos of each room around 10 am and 2 pm (when most in-home sessions take place) and share the photos with your photographer. Since cell phone automatically adjusts its settings to brighten your photos, you’ll need to make sure your image is exposed for the highlights. You can do this by tapping your phone on the brightest spot in the room (usually the window itself or your carpet if its white). The result will show your room closer to how your photographer’s camera will read the light in the space and be a more accurate representation.
- Take photos from different angles to get a better idea of how the light spills into the room. Stand with you back towards each wall and take a photo of the entire space.
- Keep in mind that your photo session may take place on a rainy day. If you experience an overcast or rainy day in the weeks before your newborn session, take that opportunity to take photos of your spaces to get an idea of what light may look like on your session day.
If possible, keep window coverings light and sheer to allow as much sunlight in as possible. Bonus tip, if you have a room that gets A LOT of bright light, adding a sheer curtain can help soften that light and create dreamy-looking photos, too.
2. Declutter Key Areas for Your In-Home Newborn Photos
- You don’t need to deep clean the entire house! Instead, focus on the spaces that are most likely to be in the photos.
- Clear off nightstands, dressers, and end tables of excess clutter. (Focus on big items you don’t use on a daily basis and leave smaller items -like coasters- for before your session)
- Tidy up shelves and surfaces.
- Do you kids have big toys? Doll houses, playhouses, ball pits, chairs, drawing tables, easles, etc.? Considering moving these into another room for the time being. This can wait until the day before your session, but if they are toys they don’t use regularly, it may be a good idea to move them before your baby arrives.
- Consider how spaces will look in the background of photos, not just where you’ll be sitting or standing. Keep in mind that I often position myself with my back to a window so that my subject is facing the light—meaning anything behind you will be in the frame.
3. Best Furniture Placement for In-Home Newborn Photos
- Arrange furniture so that large pieces aren’t blocking windows.
- If a crib, bed, chair, or couch can be moved slightly to allow better lighting, it may be worth doing so before your session.
- Furniture I move most at sessions are cribs and rocking chairs because they are typically placed too far from the window and don’t reiceve any light. Since I take photos of how families set up nurseries, we can move these items back into their planned places after your photos to get photos of how your nursery is typically setup.
What Items to Prepare for Your Newborn Photos at Home
- A couple of simple, neutral swaddle blankets.
- A few outfit options for baby (solid colors or soft patterns work best) because spitup happens.
- Extra diapers and wipes nearby for quick changes.
- A cozy blanket to snuggle with during the session on winter days is a good idea to add extra warmth.
- A pacifier, if your baby takes one, to help soothe them between shots. I also take photos of babies with their pacifiers. You can find photogenic ones nowdays, too.
After Baby Arrives: The Final Touches
The days after bringing baby home can be overwhelming, so focus only on small, impactful touches:
1. Do Light Housekeeping in Chosen Rooms
- Tidy up spaces where we are likely to take photos (those well-lit rooms), such as the nursery, living room, and master bedroom.
- Wipe down surfaces in these rooms and pick up any visible clutter.
- Tip: Clutter for photos isn’t what you may typically think about. It’s not necessarily your chair covered in laundry or your shoes by the bed. It can include your everyday items: phone carger on the night stand, the book you are reading, lotions, a floor fan,
- In open-concept spaces, be mindful of kitchen counters—anything on them may appear in the background.
- Make the bed in the master bedroom. Neutral bedding is best for a clean, cozy feel. I typically remove decor pillows that have words or loud patterns. If you have a busy patterned comforter, using a white sheet only is perfectly acceptable.
2. Minimize Visual Distractions in Chosen Rooms
- If older siblings have toys scattered everywhere, do a quick sweep to put away items in baskets or in another room. Large toys like Doll Houses, Playhouses, or ball pits should be moved as well to keep the floor free for us to move around easily and not worry about them getting in the way.
- Avoid bright or distracting colors in the background, such as neon baby gear, blankets, or toys.
On the day of your session, remember to turn off overhead lights and lamps in the rooms we are using (—natural light will be the most flattering).
What You DON’T Need to Do When Preparing Your Home for Newborn Photos
- Deep clean the entire house. The focus is on you and your baby, not every corner of your home.
- Worry about every little mess. Newborn life is naturally imperfect, and a little real-life clutter won’t take away from your session. Your home does not need to look like its about to be featured in a magazine.
- Dress in formal or uncomfortable outfits. Comfort is key to capturing natural, loving moments. After giving birth, the last thing you want is to be wearing something that restricts your movement, clings to your body in a way that hurts or makes you self-conscious. (You just did an amazing thing and your body is going to feel/look different, pick something that helps you feel amazing).
Let’s Look at an Example In-Home Session
At the in-home newborn session pictured above, we used three different rooms: Nursery, Front Living Room, Back Living Room. It was on a rainy day (actually poured heavy rain during one point) which affected how much natural light each room received. The rooms that usually had an adubnance of sunlight were really dark this morning. This why you’ll see more images in the Back Living Room (photos featured first) than in the other rooms.
Choosing Rooms
When I arrive at your home, I will look at the rooms you would like to use for your photos to gauge how much natural light each space has to work with. Sometimes the rooms you’d like to use don’t have enough window light. In these instances, I recommend taking a few photos in that space so that you have it documented, but will spend the majority of our time in another area of your home. That’s what we did for the session pictured below. We started in the nursery (at the end of the collage) because it was the darkest room. Then we moved into the front living room for a few photos. I found pockets of light to place them in and got as much variety as I could in the space. Then we moved into the back living room which had the most amount of windlow light and spent the remainder of our time together in that space.
The back living room had big glass doors that let in a lot of light, plus another window in the dining space. In the first photo you can see the light from the window hitting the wall and the light from the doors covering a portion of the couch. That is where I placed this family.
Perspectives During a Newborn Photo Session
You’ll notice the various angles and perspectives I use when photographing a family with their baby. I’m incorporating the entire room in photos—placing myself behind them, infront of them, above them, and below. If your space has clutter (I allow you to determine what is or isn’t clutter by the way) I limit the angles I use so that your unwanted items don’t appear in your photos. Having a clutter-free space means I can utilize more perspectives and include more of your home in your images.
You may notice that there is one photo where you can see into the kitchen. Their kichen (like most people’s kitchens, especially after welcoming home a baby) had items on the counter. This is why there aren’t many photos where you can see into the kitchen. BUT I don’t mind showcasing reality. Having toys in a corner, baby bottles on the counter, a burp cloth next to you, a fully stocked changing table all says that you LIVE in your home and you have kids. So having some stuff out and visible is okay.
Bonus Notes: What I love about their outfits:
- Parents wore solid, neautral colors while baby wore a print that compliments those colors. This same rule can be used for anyone. For example, Mom can be in the print while everyone else is in solids or a sibling can be in the print.
- Mom’s dress sinches at her waist and flows away from her body. This creates a flattering figure (and by this I mean, the dress has structure to it) and allows her to sit comfortably. The top has textured fabric on it as well so it isn’t one solid black shape. (
- Baby’s outfit allowed for her feet and hands to be free. They also opted for photos of her just wearing bloomers over her diaper. For younger babies, I always start with them bundled up as warm as can be (especially if they’re already snuggled up) so that they are comfortable for the beginning of the photos. As we go through the session, we can remove layers or change them into outfits that let me photograph their toes, fingers, belly button.
By focusing on these simple preparations, you can relax and enjoy your session, knowing your home is ready to capture the magic of your growing family.
If you’re ready to book your newborn photo session, contact me today!
