DIY Baby Photography: Top Tips from a Professional Baby Photographer

DIY Baby Photoshoots

As a professional newborn and baby photographer I am often asked by new Mums how they can take better photos of their baby at home, so I’m here to share my top tips with you. Whether you’ve got a big fancy DSLR or simply a camera phone, it doesn’t matter. These tips will apply whatever you are using to photograph your little one.
I’m a Mum of three myself so I totally get how important it is to capture your baby in between professional photoshoots, as well as they challenges faced when trying to photograph our babies at home (photographers child syndrome is totally a thing y’all!)

Lighting

Keep it soft. Just like our deodorant, we want our light to be soft and gentle. Natural light is best so find a nice light spot by a window or door that gets plenty of daylight.

If it’s too bright you can add diffusion by hanging up a white shower curtain or muslin at the window.

You want the light to fall from above, not below so be careful how you position your baby. Think about it - when you’re outside the sun is falling from above. Perfect.
Remember when you were little and you used to shine a torch up from below your chin on Halloween? Yep, we call it horror lighting in the industry. Avoid at all costs, it’s not a complimentary look.

Background

Kept simple - all you need is a white blanket or duvet. A white bed is perfect - simple AND comfortable, just the ticket. If photographing older babies/children then think about clearing away clutter behind them and sit them on a simple cushion or blanket. You could even pop a throw over a sofa, this will give you a nice neutral background as well as a comfy spot for your babe to relax in. Bonus tip: give them their favourite book or comforter and capture the snuggle as they settle into snoozeville.

If you’ve got a white blanket or swaddle to wrap around baby this can help settle young babies and keep them snug as a bug. Something with a bit of stretch in it is ideal but white/beige muslins or scarves can also be used.
Satefy tip: Be careful to keep the wrap away from their necks and check their temperature regularly to avoid overheating.

Safety

This one might come across as a bit shouty, but it comes from a place of love and concern for your babies safety so please bare with me.
DO NOT:

Attempt to pose or position your baby. End of. Professional photographers undertake specialist training to be able to do this safely so please do not try this at home.
Put your baby in a bucket/ basket/swing/flowerpot etc or attempt to pose them in any sort of prop.
Attempt to curl or bend your baby to re-create professional photos that you’ve seen on Pinterest. Have you seen the pictures of a newborn resting it’s head on it’s hands? Or sat up in a bucket or basket? Don’t do it!! A lot of these are digital composites meaning they are actually a combination of images digitally edited together, definitely not something to DIY at home.
Leave baby unattended at any point, always make sure someone is right next to them at all times.

If wrapping baby, make sure to keep checking their temperature. Do not let them overheat. If they start to feel a bit warm please unwrap them immediately and let them cool down to a safe temperature before attempting it again.

I said this one was a bit shouty didn’t I? Sorry, I’ll turn the volume down now.
Ok, so what CAN you do? Keep it simple - lay baby on their back and photograph from above or to the side, or photograph them being held safely in your/your partners arms.

Have fun

Firstly - relax. If you put too much pressure on yourself or your baby then you’re going to struggle. Make it fun!

Put some music on.
Sing songs.

Newborns sleep a lot (just not during the night unfortunately!) so make it easy on yourself by getting the camera out once they’ve fallen asleep. Then take a nap yourself, you’ve earned it.

For older babies:

Play games (peekaboo)
Blow bubbles
Make daft noises
Pull silly faces
Fake sneezes are always a winner for me

If you’re able to have fun with it, you’re more likely to get some lovely natural smiles and your cute kiddo will let you do it again. If it ends with you both in tears then neither of you are ever going to want to go near a camera again, so y’know…chill.

Don’t forget the details

All of my galleries, whether newborn or sitting baby, include detail shots. Details to capture:

Leg rolls
Tiny toes
Eyelashes
Fingers
Lips
Hair

Get up close and capture these little details while they’re still teeny tiny. Movements can also be cute to photograph - the little stretch they do when they wake up? The face they pull when they’re about to feed? What they look like when they’re awake? Or when they’re asleep? Photograph them all too because they will change/stop over the next few weeks and months.

Good luck!

Thats about it! To summarise:

Keep it simple

Keep it safe

Keep it fun

The rest will just kind of happen naturally :)

About Rachel

Rachel is a professional newborn and baby photographer based in Wokingham, Berkshire. A Mum of three herself, she has built her photography business around her young family and loves working with fellow Mums. Her simple, natural photography style sets her apart from others and has helped her to become a leading photographer in her field of Authentic Baby Photography.

If you don’t fancy giving it a go yourself and would rather leave it to a professional (I’ve never attempted to DIY a new roof or root canal - have you??) then get in touch for more information. Alternatively you can check out these pages for more info…

How to take better photos of your baby at home