Your Newborn Session Guide

Beautiful, Organic, Unique

Creating memories of your tiny baby in these precious early days.

Available for newborn babies due between mid-April to mid-September, preferably when baby is around 1 week new, or up to 2 weeks.
We never shoot in rain, in the event of a rainy or unseasonably cold day, we will move your session to a new date as soon as possible.

Whereas newborn sessions can only take place when the weather is warm, you are able to take a family session with a newborn in Winter, providing baby is dressed in something nice and cosy, such as a snow suit. If it is mild enough we may be able to wrap baby in blankets.

In order to properly focus on your sweet baby and allow time for feeding, changing and settling, newborn sessions are only for immediate family - that's Parent/s, Baby and Baby's sibling/s.

Before Your Session

When Baby has arrived, I will send you a quick form to fill in with your preferences.
{Your Newborn Session Preferences Form}

Your Session

These sessions are roughly 2 hours long, although there are no strict limits (aside from running out of daylight) and you will not be charged any additional fee for longer sessions.

For these outdoor sessions, baby will be dressed in one of my newborn outfits, and then wrapped in my special newborn wraps. The sessions are family focussed, so baby is photographed with mum & dad, and also using props, surrounded by beautiful grasslands, woodland or flower meadow, depending on your chosen location and time of the year.

If the weather is particularly warm, we will be able to undress baby, otherwise they will stay wrapped and cozy.

Sessions always take place in the few hours approaching sunset when the light is soft and there are no harsh shadows, the sun is low in the sky which makes the surroundings look rich, golden and vibrant. The time of your session will therefore depend on the time of year.

How to dress Baby

On warm summer days:

Just a plain / neutral vest is fine, and we will be able to undress baby and use lighter outfits. Please also bring a onesie with you (footless is best), in case the temperature drops. Baby can then wear this underneath wraps or thicker outfits.

On cooler days:

Please dress baby in a plain, neutral coloured, footless, handless onesie, with a vest underneath. Use mittens and socks for hands and feet, and a hat. When we arrive at our location, we will pop one of my knitted rompers over the top of baby's own onesie, and then use wraps over the top of this. These layers keep Baby nice and warm, and the mittens, socks and hat will be removed and replaced with my knitted hats / headbands when Baby is in position ready for the photos to be taken.

Colours

Before your session, you'll be asked which colour schemes you'd prefer me to work with for your session. Bear in mind that the colours we use will have to sit nicely with the surroundings - if necessary I'll recommend certain colours which will look beautiful with our location surroundings.

Location

The ideal location will depend on the time of year. This is often decided nearer your session time, so that I'm able to check out different areas of the countryside nearer the time and see what's happening. Different locations vary year-to-year and it can be impossible to know exactly what will be growing or how a location will look in advance.

With newborn sessions running mid April to September, this covers lots of beautiful settings, such as bluebells (mid April - mid May), purple fields of lavender (July - August), flower meadows and possibly fields of poppies.

Props

If you have any favourite props that you would like me to use, just let me know and I'll bring them along - you can see a list of newborn props here. I have a variety of hats, headbands and other beautiful accessories that I will bring along to suit your chosen colour schemes.

Safety

Baby's safety is of the utmost importance. During these sessions, I will ask Mum or Dad to assist with spotting (watching baby close by, and placing a hand on them if they should wake up or move), or supporting baby where necessary for composite shots (this is when Mum or Dad's supporting hand/arm is digitally removed during editing). An example of a composite image where Dad's arm has been removed is shown above.

Outfit Recommendations for Family Portraits with Baby

As a general rule, the most appealing styles of clothing for sessions are vintage, timeless items in neutral or earthy toned colours. But most importantly, wear clothes that you feel comfortable in - as with all sessions, I am able to help with any body-insecurities during editing (but please do embrace your post-baby bump!) As for all sessions, I recommend avoiding very bright, clashing or neon colours.

Please removed phones, keys and all other items from your pockets, as these will show in the photographs.

Newborn sessions can be time consuming - for this reason I do not recommend outfit changes for yourself or your older children during newborn sessions.

Breastfeeding

We will stop to feed baby as and when, I will bring a blanket for you to sit on whist feeding or just watching me work my magic! You are more than welcome to have some photos while you are feeding baby - if you would like to do this just let me know.

Things to bring

♥ All of your usual baby essentials
♥ A spare footless onesie
♥ If baby uses dummies please bring a couple along, as this will help settle baby.
♥ Any special teddies, toys, tiny shoes or any other meaningful items that you would like to include (please cut the fabric tag off teddies).
♥ If baby is bottle fed, bring enough milk to last a 2 hour session, plus some extra just to be on the safe side.
♥ Your pram, pushchair or baby carrier / car seat
♥ Snacks and drinks for yourself
♥ If baby has sticky eyes, please bring some cooled boiled water in a pot and some cotton wool

Expectations

Babies do cry if they feel like it, please don't feel awkward or worried that baby crying is disruption our session, it is perfectly normal and we will take the time to rest with baby, and feed and comfort him or her as needed. There is no rush. If baby is too unsettled to take enough images to fulfil your package, a follow-up session will be offered at no extra charge. This however is very rarely necessary.

Some babies will happily sleep through being moved about, some will stir and wake at the slightest touch. All are unique and have their own preferences as to how they want to be posed (and some just won't want to be posed at all). Your images will reflect your baby as they are at this precious time in their new life.

After your Session

Your private proof gallery will be sent out to you within a week of your session. This gallery contains around 35 images as unedited proofs, with a selection of edited examples, so that you can see how your images look when finished.

There will be a link to the Client Shop included in your proof gallery, where you can upgrade your package or purchase additional prints, products, giftware & other items. The Client Shop is password protected for clients only - just use your proof gallery password.

The gallery will remain open for 1 week for you to choose your package-inclusive images/products, upgrade your package, or order additional items separately.

Each of your chosen images is lovingly hand-edited; first processed from its Raw file, before skin touch-up, colour cast removal, natural teeth whitening, detail enhancement, natural eye enhancement, shadow & highlight correction, removal of any background or foreground distractions, sunset sky editing (if the sky is visible in images) and beautiful, natural colour enhancements.

There is also the option to purchase special editing add-ons, such as falling leaves, faeries & magic, winter wonderland snow editing, friendly creatures, & classic black & white.

Hand editing is the only way to get the very best results for your portraits. I don't batch-edit or cut corners, so it is a time-consuming process; I advise clients to allow a month to receive their orders, although this will often be sooner.

I will let you know when your order is ready, and you can choose to either collect in person or sent via post.

Newborn-Specific Editing

I just love all those tiny newborn details; tiny toes, fingernails, eyelashes, skin creases, soft hair, sweet little lips. These fleeting, beautiful details are what we capture during your session.

However, most tiny babies will have some degree of dry/flaky skin, baby acne or milk spots, scratches from tiny fingernails, jaundice (yellow skin), red skin, blotchy skin and various types of birthmarks. Some may have temporary bumps on their little heads from their journey through the birth canal, or sometimes marks from forceps.

Below is the my standard editing process for these newborn-specific issues

For Standard Shots:

Dry flaky skin - softened/removed
Baby acne and milk spots - softened/removed
Scratches - removed
Jaundice or red skin - colour corrected
Blotchy skin - evened out
'Stork Bite' birthmarks (these are the temporary birthmarks, generally on baby's forehead, between eyebrows and over eyelids, below the nose or on the back of the neck, which fade as baby gets older. Most babies I see have these to some extent) - slightly softened / lightened, not completely removed unless requested.
Permanent birthmarks - left alone, or slightly lightened if requested.
Temporary bumps on the head from birth - If baby has a significant bump, just let me know if you'd like this adjusted or not.
Other marks from delivery such as forceps marks - if baby has significant marking, it may be best to delay the session until they have faded (this doesn't usually take too long) - just get in touch with a quick photo for me to take a look. Any minor marking can usually be removed.

For Macro Shots (Close-Up Details):

Skin colour corrections only - you want to see every precious little detail up close!

A note about sticky eyes - some newborns have slightly sticky eyes, which can dry crusty. This is extremely difficult (often impossible) to correct in post-processing as it involves the eye creases and eyelashes. If baby has sticky eyes please bring something to clean as we go - cooled boiled water in a pot and some cotton wool is ideal.

If you have any specific preferences about the editing for your session, please just get in touch :)