You may be wondering, “Do I really need to hire a professional to do my newborn’s photoshoot? I can just take pictures of my new baby with my smart phone and they will come out great!” When deciding if hiring a professional to do your newborn shoot is the right choice for your growing family, there are a few things to consider.

1. SAFETY:  You wouldn’t want to hand your sweet new baby over to just anyone, and you should never attempt to put your baby in harm’s way for a photo.  Professional Newborn photographers are familiar with exactly how to hold babies safely, when and how to pose babies, and more importantly, how not to pose your baby. We are trained to treat babies safely and respectfully. No photo is more important than the safety of a baby! If you have certain poses in mind ask your photographer before hand if they have done it before and if they know how to do it safely. Most professional photographers will take several photos and merge them into a composite to achieve certain poses.
2. EQUIPMENT:  Professional photographers spend a lot of money on good equipment.  There is a reason why the camera and lenses cost what they do.  Can you take pictures with a standard point and shoot camera? Sure.  Would the pictures turn out as good? Probably not.  The expensive cameras are able to catch better light and have more megapixels.  This allows for more detail to be captured and overall better performance.

3. POSING, ATTENTION TO DETAIL, & PROPS:  A professional photographer will pay close attention to the details. With newborn photography, babies are posed right down to the position of their hands and lips. Blankets are smoothed out. Fabrics are ironed. Background clutter is removed. The time of day and babies’ feeding schedule are taken into consideration. The temperature and ambiance of the room is carefully planned. Every part of the image and your session is carefully planned to ensure that you get the best images possible. There are certain variables that a professional photographer knows how to manipulate to help ensure an easier and more successful session. You also get to access a professional photographers prop collection (such as mine) and won’t have to worry about purchasing your own props.

4. EDITING:  Photographers carefully re-touch your images. We use products like Photoshop and Lightroom to ensure that your images are properly exposed, the colors are perfect and the image is polished to a professional level. I always aim to get the best possible photo straight from my camera, but every image can be enhanced through editing, especially newborn photos. Lots of babies have red feet and hands or may have yellow skin from being jaundiced. Most babies have peeling and flaky skin, baby acne, or scratches from their nails. Some babies even have bruising as a result of a difficult delivery. A professional photographer will know exactly how to edit your images to get you wall-worthy images of your sweet little one.  I have spent thousands of dollars over the years on my equipment (including my retina display computers and editing softwares).

Lifestyle Newborn Session:
If you decide to go with my lifestyle session, I am able to direct you in choosing the best light in your home and am trained to make suggestions based on what is available.

Styled Newborn Session:
If choosing a styled session, you will have access to many of my safe newborn props, wraps, blankets, and outfits.  If you want to include some things of your own, you are welcome to do so too!

The first moments with your new little one are going to be gone in the blink of an eye, and you don’t want to miss an opportunity to have those priceless first moments captured forever. In a few weeks, your newest member of the family will look so different, and you will wish you had those memories.  If you have any questions about newborn photography, feel free to contact me at 612-440-3031 or kcalgarophotography@gmail.com