Newborn pictures

Schell2013 · June 2016

I am curious what you all are doing for newborn pictures? Hiring someone? Doing it yourself? If your hiring someone are you doing it in studio or a lifestyle shoot at home?
I did studio with my first two, and loved them. The only part I hated was having to spend 4 hours in a studio after I had a c section. This time there is a chance of a third c section and I think we decided to do a lifestyle shoot at home with a few cute traditional ones that she can do here. That way I'm not trying to keep two small kids out of her million picture props and costumes.

sportiegrl1213 · June 2016

My niece takes really great pictures and I just purchased a brand new camera that she suggested. She'll be taking pictures at the hospital for me, but I definitely want to do a professional shoot at home once we are settled.

Pupatella · June 2016

This is our first child, so we are currently thinking of doing a professional photographer shoot in a studio. In the hospital and around the house we'll be taking all the pictures ourselves. My husband has started looking into getting a good camera.

missmaehurt · June 2016

I've hired a birth photographer for the hospital. Afterward a friend of mine offered to let me use her studio to do their newborn photos (I mostly photograph seniors families, and weddings so I don't have any of the newborn props she does). If I end up having a c-section then I'll just hire her do the images since I like her work anyway.

ibabyloveb87 · June 2016

My friend from college has her own photography business, so I have asked her to do our newborn session at our house. It will be very natural, lifestyle photography in his nursery and around our house. I'm not big into the newborn props and costumes that a lot of people use (maybe I should save that for FFFC!...) She is also doing my maternity pictures on the beach in July.

I'm kind of an ameatur photographer and I'm obsessed with pictures, but for this I would rather someone else handle it and that way we can be in some too

Is everyone else aiming for about 10 days old for newborn photos?

krzyriver · June 2016

@ibabyloveb87 I'm not big into the props and costumes either. Everyone I know that did it loved them, but I thought they were so creepy and awkward.

No offense to anyone who likes them! My husband has done a lot of landscaping work for our wedding photographer, so she owes us some photos. I have no idea what I want though. Lol. All I really care about his some pictures of my son with the baby.

mothernorth · June 2016

I had a professional do DDs when she was born, but with DS, my hospital had a Mom365 Photographer hired that did newborn shoots inside the L&D Ward for free so we did that then ordered from Mom365.

Kc0825 · June 2016

Our preachers wife and good friend has an amazing talent for photography. We are having her take them. She takes all of family pictures and our sons pictures since he was 3 months. It's nice if you could get your photographer to come to you.

Kaytee1087 · June 2016

DD's babysitter has a photography business (she was raising money at the time to adopt her son from Russia) so we just paid her to do the photos when DD was her house, so not so much "newborn" as just infant photos, but they were always awesome. She doesn't do it as much anymore and she's traveling a lot now, so I think I might go with another professional. There's a local guy who did my cousin's wedding 2 months ago, and was amazing. The photos look awesome and just as a human I really like him. He has a newborn package, but then you can bundle maternity, newborn, 3mo, 6mo, 9mo, and 1 year together and it's a boatload cheaper than paying for them all individually, so right now I'm leaning towards him.

I have to admit I am one of those who is a fan of little props and costumes. They remind me of the Anne Geddes baby photos and I have always loved those.

mrszoess · June 2016

my best friend is a newborn photographer however she's due 3 days after me and on bed rest w cervix and fluid issues sooooo that's not gonna work lol

mrskratt · June 2016

The girl that had done all our photos for us (wedding, maternity, family, etc), will be doing ours. I like lifestyle photography and not posed pictures. I'm debating if I want her to come to the hospital the day after. I'm really loving the in hospital pictures I've been seeing. Last time she came to our house and we did them around our house.

kmvisioli · June 2016

I do family and children's photography, so I'm planning to do them myself at home. I don't personally love all the props and whatnot; I like keeping it simple and focused on the babies. My favorite age to photograph, and my favorite pictures of DS1 actually were around 3mos, but I'll do some in the first 2 weeks for birth announcements.

Kaessi · June 2016

I am admittedly a bit clueless when it comes to this...I know someone who has a studio but I have no idea what she charges. I hate to ask her & then be shocked & have to say "uh, never mind!" What do y'all think the average is for an in-studio photographer?

nlane0723 · June 2016

Hiring someone. I also have someone doing a birth session.

kathleenkat · June 2016

Our hospital has complimentary newborn photography.

queen_frostine · June 2016

This has been really nagging at me, because I want beautiful newborn photographs, but they are SO expensive! It's very hard for me to justify spending more on pictures than on a car seat. My current plan is to take lots of pictures ourselves - if we take about a million, surely we'll catch some with just the right angle and lighting, right? Also, our living room gets very good light in the mornings, so I'm going to set up a little area and try to take pictures intermittently when it works. I figure if every other day I throw a cute hat on her or swaddle her in a neat blanket or something and snap some shots, I'll get some good ones. That way also we don't have to make a big production out of it. I don't tend to have the energy for long productions, so if we go to a session I'm likely to get very grumpy, and also I hate dealing with people.

I looked at some how-tos from Pinterest and they had some good tips. Plus, the examples of the "bad" photographs weren't that bad. I mean, I can't imagine looking at a picture of my precious baby and saying it's not a great picture because her feet were closer to the camera than her head and her fingers were too curled up or something.

ignoscemihi · June 2016

Our hospital does the same thing @allythekid mentioned (they hire a maternity photographer who takes the photos for free and you can purchase them from her), but we probably won't purchase those photos. Instead, we're going to do our Holiday card photos in mid-to-late October. We'll do an in-home family session with the woman who took family photos around my son's 2nd b-day. She does lifestyle photos and they're fantastic. Now we'll just have to make sure the house is clean - or as clean as it can be with a toddler and a newborn.

simcal18 · June 2016

We absolutely LOVE the photographer that did our wedding and have a long-standing relationship with him (he did my SIL's wedding, family photos for my IL's 40th anniversary, and now he's doing my best friend's wedding as well). I'd love to have him do our newborn photos, but that's not really his specialty (he doesn't have any on his website) so I'd feel weird asking him to do them for us. He's also pricey -- in the six years since SIL's wedding he's gone from upstart to one of the most well-respected photographers in our area, and his pricing reflects that.
We have a couple of friends-of-friends who are just breaking in to newborn photography, and we're not willing to spend a ton for newborn photos. We'll also likely have our wedding photographer do extended family photos next summer for IL's 45th anniversary. So as much as it pains me to "cheat" on him with another photographer, we'll probably hire one of the upstarts we know to do some newborn photos for us in November and then make sure we have our wedding photographer booked for plenty of family photos next summer.

AgentCarter · June 2016

My dad is a photojournalist (for 37 years!) and will be taking my photos. Just newborn shots and more candid shots. There are a few photos he took when I was born that I really love, so those are his references. I'm lucky that I have someone in the family! If I didn't, maybe you could recruit through a local art school? I went to art school and know a lot of photographers who wouldn't mind getting some extra cash. It really depends on the person, but they may also know people who are interested. My school has a job board where people can advertise for photographers, graphic designers, etc. I'm sure there are some other schools that do similar things.

booksandicecream · June 2016

All of the hospitals here have photographers that come in daily and take the pictures for free. You also get one free picture and have the option of buying more. So I am going to take a cute outfit or a hat and just do that.
My mother is an amateur photographer and a control freak so she is planning to schedule a session for when we visit at Christmas

But she is also going to take some maternity pictures next month when we meet up in Norway, so I am just going with the flow and letting her do her thing.
ETA because message got cut off... Again.

ingoscj · June 2016

We didn't do newborn photo with DD. I'm not a huge fan of the props, plus we were all snapping photos of her constantly with our phones, so we were able to get a couple of good ones out of the millions we took. We did get photos at 3 months with a professional and I LOVE them. They show much more of her personality than all of the sleepy newborn shots. Plus lots of smiles!

NoraAurora · June 2016

We did a professional set at home around 7-10 days old. You really do forget the newborn days, with all the sleep deprivation and worry. They meld together and then they're gone.

My photographer mostly does lifestyle (as opposed to posed), but this time I may take advantage of the October weather and opt to have a shoot at a farm or something with the family.

ashleyp625 · June 2016

Our hospital has a photographer who comes in, but I have no idea what they're like. I assume you can buy some from them.
We plan to hire a teacher from my school who is an AMAZING newborn and children's photographer. We will go to her home studio. She has a grow with me package that is outstanding- I think it's newborn, 3m, 6m, 9m and one year.

freckledlemonade · June 2016

We hired a photographer with my first and I absolutely loved the pictures, and we'll be doing the same with this baby. I'm excited to have some pics of our daughter and baby boy together too! The price is a little hard to swallow, but I'm crap at taking pictures, and I know I'd regret it if we didn't do it.

Ours is scheduled for about 6 days after my due date, which may change if I go early (not likely). I also like the more natural shots, just with naked baby with all parts covered of course.

Our photographer also does close-up shots of things like baby's fingers, toes, nose, lips, etc.

coffee89 · June 2016

We went to a studio and and a nice experience. It was really relaxed and was about a week and a half after we had DS (c-sec) so I was feeling better. I think this time I'm going to look into a studio as well. I'll have an almost 2.5 year old and are skipping summer family photos and waiting to get some shots at babies shoot. DS tends to listen better outside of house so I'm betting on getting him to listen for 20 minutes where there aren't toys and laundry laying around.

samkins · June 2016

I hired the same photographer for maternity and newborn pics. Maternity will be somewhere TBD and newborn pics within the 1st 10 days at home. She provides all the props etc.

cbamama641 · June 2016

We've never done newborn pics with our kiddos.. we did do a birth photographer with our third, but I talked to her recently and her rates doubled (300 when we had aubrey to 600 now) and that's definitely not in the cards for us at this time, which is a huge bummer because I LOVED our birth photos..

ammiddleton3 · June 2016

We hired a photographer for our son, this time I plan on doing them myself. I have a pretty awesome camera, light setup and already have a few backdrops. Hopefully I can do them justice! I'm a little nervous about it.

depineta · June 2016

I just started looking into this and I'm not sure what a reasonable price is. Does anyone feel comfortable sharing what they paid and whether or not it was worth it? The quote I got was $800, which seems pretty steep.

Schell2013 · June 2016

depineta said:

I just started looking into this and I'm not sure what a reasonable price is. Does anyone feel comfortable sharing what they paid and whether or not it was worth it? The quote I got was $800, which seems pretty steep.

They are stupid expensive here too. I have no idea where you would find ones cheaper that are good. The really good ones here have taken a lot of special training in photographing newborns so they don't hurt them when their positioning them. However I still feel $800 for 3 hours work is a lot, even if you added another 3 hours for editing time. I think I chose the wrong carrer path!

JennJenn81713 · June 2016

depineta said:

I just started looking into this and I'm not sure what a reasonable price is. Does anyone feel comfortable sharing what they paid and whether or not it was worth it? The quote I got was $800, which seems pretty steep.

I'm paying $750 total for a newborn + maternity package. 2 sessions. Still expensive but I think a very good deal for this photographer.

ibabyloveb87 · June 2016

Photographers are definitely expensive because their equipment, props, and software for editing can be/are pricey. And people will pay for photographs! I've found that finding someone atill starting out who is talented is a good way to save some money. Those without training may not be able to do some of the fancier poses, but I am only looking for natural/lifestyle photos so I am fine with my friend and myself doing the pictures.

It just depends on what you're comfortable with and what you want from the pictures. Ask around and see if anyone has a friend who is an ameatur photographer. A lot of people are really good, but just don't have a real business!

kmvisioli · June 2016

Schell2013 said:

depineta said:

I just started looking into this and I'm not sure what a reasonable price is. Does anyone feel comfortable sharing what they paid and whether or not it was worth it? The quote I got was $800, which seems pretty steep.

They are stupid expensive here too. I have no idea where you would find ones cheaper that are good. The really good ones here have taken a lot of special training in photographing newborns so they don't hurt them when their positioning them. However I still feel $800 for 3 hours work is a lot, even if you added another 3 hours for editing time. I think I chose the wrong carrer path!

Newborn sessions are more than 3 hours of shooting and 3 hours of editing. Most likely your photographer is also providing props, lighting, blankets, backdrops, and possibly a studio space to use. A single photo can have an hour worth or more of edit time put into it, too, so don't underestimate the amount of work and time going into your session. If you are looking for a more budget-friendly option, finding a start-up photographer, student, or hobbyist is a good way to save yourself some money and give them a good opportunity!

depineta · June 2016

Thanks for your responses! This actually just makes me feel a little better about paying that much. Sometimes I feel like we've been a little too "this is our first baby so take all of our money," and I'm trying to be just a little more cautious!

Kaytee1087 · June 2016

I have a question.

I didn't do newborn photos with DD 7 years ago (I just kept the proofs the hospital photographer gave us and took a million at home). I'm considering them with this one, and the photographer we're looking at has a package of Maternity, New born, 3 Month, 6 Month, 9 Month and 1 year pictures for $395.00 which seems awesome (his newborn photo package is $124.00).

My questions is, is it tacky to ask on my for monetary contributions to the photo session on my Baby List registry? I would make it be like $20 or $25 increments so it isn't this huge expense.

Thanks in advance for your input, ladies! I just don't know what's "proper" anymore lol.

nlane0723 · June 2016

My birth photographer is $100 and that includes all digitals. Her actually rate is $300-$400/session. We were her first clients and she gives us a locked in rate for all sessions (we give her a very generous tip as well). She is exceptionally talented. However, she hasn't ever done newborn photos so we will be hiring someone I've used for mini-sessions. $289 for the session with a $99 credit towards prints/digitals. The digital package we selected was $299 for 30-40 images with print rights.

nlane0723 · June 2016

Yes, I think that's tacky. Just set aside a little money each month. $124 is ridiculously cheap for a newborn session, IMO. @Kaytee1087

allison_smith_6212 · June 2016

I think a lot depends on the location of where you live and the number of photographers of that specialty in your area. I would recommend seeing if the photographer you're contacting offers a package for "the first year" or some kind of package bundle.

I also think it helps to shop around and look at the different styles of photography that they offer. Our first photographer was all in studio sessions and did not do at home photos (this was also the norm for our area), while looking for a photographer this time I found more photographers who did sessions at home that cost a lot more and only a handful of studio photographers that charged a lot less. For our first I remember a range of around $500 to $800 for photos. Now where we are I found quite a bit more range, some would charge $200 - $500 for newborn session only without digital rights, while others I found would charge $500 for a package with multiple sessions.

It also depends on what kinda photo access you want. I also feel very strongly about wanting to be able to have a CD of my photos and digital rights to my images, I want to be able to change my mind a couple years down the road and be able to print new photos for my wall.

In Iowa for a "first year" package - newborn, 4 month, 8 month, 1 year I paid around $650 and receive a CD of photographer selected photos with the rights to the images.

Here's a few of the pictures we got from out first little guy's session:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/ig/vpwp7y9f0isy.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/03/10q6x3kac0qr.jpg

Now that we've moved to Missouri I wanted to find a photographer with similar styles, so in a collage frame the photos don't look weird mixed with each other so for a "bump to baby" session - maternity, newborn, 6 month, 1 year I will pay $425 and receive all photos from each session on a CDs with digital rights and then after the first year we'll get a few prints of the images from newborn to first year.

Good luck mamas finding your newborn photographer. I love being able to look back on the images from my son's first year, and can't wait to see what this photographer will do.

nlane0723 · June 2016

^wss!

I was a cheapo for DD. The lady had a mobile studio. I hated most of the photos. My current photographer is magical. She turned a parking lot into the most beautiful backdrop for our photos last year. In February, we had beautiful photos taken at a wetland. Find someone that styles shoots that you want.

Mobile studio

Parking Lot

jbal918 · June 2016

I've done photography on the side for the last 7 years but I studio so my Mom's friend is going to do ours at our house once the little man is born that way we can be in some pictures with him too! Then, I'll do my own monthly ones, although I don't have the props she has.

kmvisioli · June 2016

@kaytee1087 Those are awesome prices! If it were me, I would just set aside a little each month for a few months, or ask your photographer if you can set up a payment plan since the photo sessions will be over the course of the whole first year. It seems tacky to ask other people to help pay for something that is really just a keepsake for you and your family.

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