Lifestyle Newborns

Lifestyle newborn sessions are becoming a more popular approach to posed studio photos. The mere definition of what a lifestyle newborn shoot is, well, its right in the title. Lifestyle. Meaning your family embracing your new addition in its own affectionate ways is captured. There’s no real posing, no fancy backdrops, just you in a room in your home, loving all those new features of that little being you spent months making.

The Nursery

The nursery is a beautiful place, and one of the most popular places in the home, to capture all the little intimate moments with your new baby. Natural lighting is key, so standing by a large window in the nursery, brings out all those soft gentle tones, yet still catches those shadows creating a nice contrast. Especially if you’re nursery is well lit, there’s lots of different options. In some cases, I will have dad turn the rocker or glider towards the window to help display the light on mom’s face while holding baby. Another piece of furniture I like to use in the nursery is baby’s crib. Not only does it display their first bed, but it also helps set the mood for the shoot. Capturing the crib in the background and some shots of your baby in the crib is like capturing life in that exact moment. Your little baby will never be that size again laying there on those soft colored sheets.

The Window

Maybe there’s a certain window in your home that you absolutely love. The dreamy affect it creates with all that light shining through. I try and capture moments of embrace beside a large window in a location of the house. Most of the time it will be in the nursery or a room we are currently using for the shoot, but sometimes it is not. That’s ok, we will still incorporate that dreamy window display in your photos and allow those soft tones to show through. As seen in the above image, the light captured through this window is perfect. It creates just the right mood, tones, and highlights while still leaving a bit of mysterious shadows and contrast to help tone the blacks. The softness of light used here is phenomenal. And just look how the details of this little baby’s face are captured? You can see everything, down to the fine wrinkles in his lips.

The Master

The master bedroom is another great location in the home. From incorporating all the siblings, to just mom and dad holding their dear new child, the master is usually a well lit, spacious area. Captures on the bed with both parents, siblings, and the entire family can be focused on here. You’ll never guess how much fun siblings have being allowed to jump on their parent’s bed for one time only as the perfect lifestyle shot is captured. Maybe its just parents and no siblings have entered the picture yet or are not home. That’s ok! The amount of love and tenderness shown in moments from sitting on the bed, to a nearby window in the room, to a chair in the corner, sets the mood perfectly for each photo.

The Living Room

Believe it or not, your living room space is a great place for a photoshoot. Don’t worry about home decor or lamps being in these images. This is still a lifestyle session, which means the capturing of life. It’s not a fancy posed studio space. So that accent table or that tall lamp you may have sitting in the corner beside your couch, leave it! That’s what capturing in the moment is. It’s not making everything perfect in your home, but perfectly capturing your life in the comforts of your four walls. The couch is a great place for family shots as well as shots with just one parent at a time. Your floor space is a great area to lay baby down in a basket or on a soft pillow and blanket to capture just some poses with baby. Believe it or not, this beautiful girl right here was captured in a client’s living room! Could you even tell this was even a living room floor? Exactly!

In summary, a lifestyle newborn shoot can be taken in any area of your house or even outdoors, and this type of shoot captures all the intimate moments down to the littlest features of your baby like their hands, feet, and little lips. It’s like looking back through a snapshot of time standing still. A picture book, if you will, of your life in little, big, intimate moments. Portraying all that love for that little bundle of yours.