Newborn Photography

Looking for a way to capture your newborn photography? Mat Tam is a professional newborn photographer, based in the Boston area who can help. He can help you create a newborn portrait that ensures those important first days can be preserved forever.

When taking a baby photograph, it’s always important to keep your baby happy. Mat always focuses on creating an atmosphere that your baby will enjoy – keeping those important new born photos happy and spontaneous.

It’s not just about keeping your baby happy of course, that’s why Mat aims to bring his superb knowledge and years of experience to every shoot. Your final baby portrait will capture memories that will last a lifetime.

When Can I Have My Newborn Photographed? And What’s Available?

Essentially, child and baby photography sessions can be split into several groups.

• Newborn photography – Always taken within the first 5-10 days after birth. Why so quick? Well, you won’t believe just how quickly your newborn child will begin to grow. Eventually, your newborn baby just won’t be so small anymore – book your newborn photography session quickly!
• Baby photography – Okay, you might have missed capturing the first month of your child’s life. It’s okay, Mat can photograph your child at any age. Baby photography can happen anywhere from 1 month, right up to 12 months old. In many respects, a good baby photo session can be quite fun, as your child begins to crawl and become more expressive.
• Toddlers – These sessions are oh so much fun! By this time your child will likely be communicating with you, crawling and walking everywhere; generally becoming a little terror! Never fear, Mat has worked with hundreds of small toddlers and knows all the tricks to keep them happy – whilst creating moments for you to cherish forever!
• One they’re children – Of course, the fun doesn’t stop once your baby grows into a fully-grown child. One of the great things about a good child portrait session is the fact your child will be able to do anything during the shot, including poses for the camera. This makes for amazing and dynamic shots that preserve a slice of family life for many years to come.

Typical Baby Poses

Newborn photography poses are completely different from their toddler and child counterparts. A newborn child can’t move much and will need careful placing to ensure they don’t get hurt during the shoot.

1. The Back Pose – A classic and timeless newborn photo. Simply put, you place your baby on their back, ensure their head is supported and snap away! Of course, there’s more creativity involved than that, props can be used to add interest to the picture, and sometimes your photographer might produce a sepia, black, and while, plus a full-color photo for you to choose from.
2. The Side Pose – A slightly harder pose to get right, you place your child on their side, head supported and take the photo down at their level. Blankets and pillows are often used to give support to the baby during these poses – yet you can get creative with whatever support you provide!
3. The Tummy Pose – This pose is very cute and extremely popular. Your baby is placed on their front, almost as if you’re trying to help them crawl. Of course, a newborn baby won’t be able to crawl, yet sometimes their instinct to try a little shuffle is a joy to behold!

The tummy pose is just about the most dynamic photo you can take of a newborn baby, especially if they try to move!

4. Close and Personal, The Small Details – This style of pose is very contemporary and popular amongst young parents. It involves a close-up shot of a particularly cute part of your child’s body. It can be a foot, a hand and of course your baby’s face.

These photos are very modern, very cute and a perfect additional photo to a main full-body portrait.

Newborn Photography, Getting It Right

We know, you’ve probably taken a million photographs of your baby – even before they’ve made it to their first photography session. Every parent loves to document all those funny moments that make up a happy childhood!

Even so, Mat has some top tips to help you get the most from your newborn studio portrait day. Some are helpful ways to keep your baby happy, whilst others are simply to help you relax during the shoot.

1. Get the Timeframe Right – The sweet spot for photographing a newborn for the first time is in the first 14 days. During this time, most babies are only interested in sleeping and feeding – making any studio portrait session a snap to complete!

Of course, you don’t want to book your baby in too early. It’s always best to let your child’s umbilical cord fall away before the photo, which happens after about 5 days.

2. Don’t stress over poses and perfection – Children being children, they’ll never 100% follow your lead. They’re far too busy exploring, laughing and thinking about their next feed to follow orders!

Therefore, during your baby portrait session, Mat won’t try to push your child to do things they’re not happy with. Smiles, spontaneity, and happiness are golden in the photography business, and this is what Mat will focus on. Let your professional baby photographer do their job, and try not to worry. As professionals, they’ll know exactly when to hit the shutter button for that perfect newborn image.

3. It’s always about the smiles – What’s true in general, everyday photography is even more important during a newborn studio shoot. Your baby already understands a small number of expressions and faces, and they might be able to replicate them too. Mat, as ever, will know exactly how to draw those smiles out for all to see!

Our advice? Try to create a completely normal day for your baby on portrait day. Feed them at the same time and play with them as normal. During the shoot, it’s worth ensuring that your baby is freshly changed and recently fed to avoid them crying. Unlike some photographers, Mat will never put a fixed timeframe on a shoot, especially when young children are involved. Relax, let the professionals handle things – this is your time too.

4. What your photographer will do – It’s unlikely your professional photographer will put their camera down during the shoot. Those spontaneous and funny moments can happen, and disappear in a flash. It’s your photographer’s job to try and capture them before they vanish.

To help your photographer, try to follow their lead and ultimately let them snap away. You’ll thank yourself in years to come when you look back on a wonderful baby portrait day!

5. Multiple shots and angles from every conceivable place – Is exactly what your photographer might try to achieve. Every professional photographer understands how to take flattering and interesting images – it’s part of their craft. During the shoot, never be afraid to try something interesting and always ask for your photographers’ input. Most professionals are true artists at heart, so it pays to let them be creative during your shoot.
6. Trying to stretch out the studio time – This is probably the most difficult part of your photographer’s job, as there’s only a finite amount of time before your baby will become bored. Thankfully, Mat knows every trick in the book to help your child stay involved in the shoot, regardless of how long it takes.

To give Mat a helping hand, it’s always a great idea to bring toys, teddy or other “special items” that your child’s loves to have with them. This created a sense of normalcy to the portrait and will help them enjoy it a bit more. For baby and newborn photo sessions, being your child’s favorite blanket and teddy with you – they often make amazing props too!

Planning for The Big Day, And Getting the Most from Your Baby Portrait

Unlike child photography sessions, newborn sessions bring with them a whole host of challenges. From what to do if your child begins to cry, to capturing dynamic moments when your baby may not be capable of much movement.

Mat has the following tips to help you get the most from your baby portrait session.

1. Photograph your child every day – There’s nothing more frightening for a child than to be suddenly placed in front of a rather scary piece of electric equipment, a camera to you and me. It’s amazing how quickly children can develop either a pure hatred of being in front of a camera – or alternatively a love for it.

Unfortunately, this can prove troublesome whichever way you cut it. Some children will shun the limelight, making photography sessions difficult, whilst others might put a barrier up, creating a persona whilst in front of the lens that won’t lead to those natural moments we all love to see.

Our advice would be to get your newborn used to the idea of being photographed. It can be a smartphone or a dedicated camera, it really doesn’t matter. All you’re trying to do it make being photographed a completely normal part of family life. That way, by the time you get to the big day, your baby won’t mind at all.

2. Get outfits and props organized early – There’s nothing worse than being in a rush, and children are particularly perceptible when they feel their parents worrying. For that reason, we always suggest picking your baby or child’s outfit early on; even letting them wear it to help them get used to it.

As for props and other items you might want to bring with you to the shoot, it’s best to get there early and in the case of baby photography, make sure your child doesn’t worry about them. It’s perplexing when a baby develops an irrational hatred of items, no matter how mundane it might be.

Get your items and outfits early, and get your baby used to them.

3. Whilst we’re talking about outfits – color co-ordination – Color coordination is a wonderful way to add interest to a newborn photo. It’s also a way for parents to let their creativity fly! By co-ordinating hats, bonnets, blankets, and toys, you can create a photograph where all the different colors combine to create something special.

One of the most popular ways to do this, is to have your child in one color scheme, for example, pink and white; whilst a toy or teddy bear can be used in a completely clashing color, like yellow. Your photographer will be able to advise you on what colors really work in photography. They’ll also relish the chance to work with parents who enjoy a little creativity!

4. Don’t forget the toys – The main thing to do for any baby or child photo session is to make it fun, happy and normal. If your child has a fun game they like to play, or a toy they can’t leave the house without, bring it with you.

Sometimes, fun games and toys can form the backdrop for all kinds of fun and dynamic shots. Don’t feel silly bringing toys with you, your photographer will be happy to discover what your child loves to do.

5. Go to the park before your session – Okay, not just the park, you can take your child anywhere they enjoy visiting. By winning the photography session with something fun, your child will begin to love the portrait sessions as they grow older.

There’s one caveat to this, try not to tire your child out too much before the photography session. Your professional photographer will try several tricks to try and keep the momentum up during the shoot, these might not work so well if your child is already tired.

Want to Book a Boston Newborn Photographer? – Mat Tam Photography

Now you’ve read our tips, we bet you can’t wait to begin documenting your baby’s life by booking a professional photography session. If you want to book straight away, look at our Newborn Photography Rates, and feel free to get in touch with Mat to see how he can help you take a newborn photography that you’ll love forever.