Three years ago when I had my first baby, I figured "I am a photographer. I know how to take pictures of my own baby."
And here is what I took:
Yes, correctly exposed, well focused, rule of thirds obeyed... it's just not what you really expect from a professional newborn photo. It doesn't make you go awwww.
Because yes I knew how to take a photo, I even knew how to do a very basic edit on that photo, but I had no idea how to pose a new baby to look their best. So my photos look just like snapshots that my mum could take.
If I could go back in time, I would insist to myself to book a newborn session with a newborn specialist. Its such a special time in your life, and it is such a short time, your new baby and your family should be captured in the most beautiful way.
It was only after I took a course in newborn posing, a course in newborn editing, upgraded my photoshop tools and skills and bought proper posing equipment that my photography of newborns jumped into a different league.
I learnt how to pose newborns safely. I learnt tips for seeing those beautiful little faces best and I learnt what props and photography tools I needed to be able to do the job right. This is why a newborn photographer will always take photos that a family member or friend, no matter how talented, could take (unless they are a newborn photographer also, obviously).
This is why it is also important to book a specialist newborn photographer and not a wedding photographer, product photographer, landscape photographer or one of those pop-up supermarket/mall photographers for your newborn photos. I can't photograph those other specialist genres like they do, and in all honesty, its not where my passion lies. I absolutely love meeting and photographing new little people and so have invested in the necessary tools, time and education to do so.
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