MENU

Baby Photography Services

Diane McKinney Baby Photography Services

 

Baby photography, not to be confused with newborn photography, encompasses several milestones. Generally speaking, we are talking in terms of the 3, 6, 9 month and 1-year milestones.  But photographically speaking, it is best to schedule sessions during your baby’s actual stages so your pictures look different from one another. In other words, at 3 months we generally have the pushing up stage, where your baby is starting to push up on his or her arms. They also lay on their back a lot and grab their feet while at 6 months or a little later, they are sitting up.  The difference in your baby’s body posture will make your portrait more prominent and show your babies milestones more pronouncedly.

The following are just recommendations and by no means rules to follow rigidly.  Some parents want to know exactly what their child looked like when their child was newborn, 3, 6, 9 and 1 years old and we can definitely accommodate that. Some families prefer to have classic portraiture with a basic white background and other classic sets to give you diversity.  Whether you want props or all classic portraiture is up to you and is something that we should discuss when scheduling your baby shoot. We shoot all our baby sessions under the age of 1 year in the studio. Most babies are sensitive to the weather and aren’t crazy about the feel of grass at these stages. We also take the greatest of care with all our babies and don’t want any sun burning, bee stings or other things that can occur outside. For the 1 year shoot, you have the option to have your shoot in the studio or outside.  But with that being said, we are happy to accommodate your needs and these risks can be minimized if you’d like a family shoot outside.

Which Baby Sessions Should I Buy?

This is a great question! I detail the information on each session below with the except newborn shoots which has it’s own page here.  But with that being said, I usually recommend one of the following two.  Generally speaking, you will get a good shot of your child’s first year with a newborn, 6 month (a fully sitting up baby) and 1 year session.  This really shows the development stages that your child grows through during their first year. But with that said, many people really want to see those newborn, 3, 6, 9 and 1 year milestones as they make for great decor for the babies room, your living area, and make great first-year baby books.

3 months : Your baby is starting to push up on their arms and do a lot of feet grabbing on their back. This is also known as the giggle phase since this is when your baby will really start to develop their personality. It is a fun shoot but probably the most difficult of all the stages due to body position and the fact that they tire easily at this age.  It’s rare a baby can last more than 20-30 minutes of a photo session at this age. We use more external props and backgrounds to get some diversity and recommend probably only two outfit changes at the most because as you probably already know, most babies hate getting changed. With that being said, we keep the studio very warm so your baby isn’t so uncomfortable getting undressed repeatedly.

6 months: Again photographically speaking, the best pictures represent their stage rather than their actual age. At this stage we are looking for the sitting up baby, which might not happen until the tail end of their 6 months or even go into the 7th month.  We generally recommend your baby have a pretty good command of being able to sit up without being so great at it that they are wanting to crawl. This happens more with 2nd siblings more often.  Your baby is getting older now so they can last for a little longer photo shoot if needed but you will be the best judge of your baby at this point. We have two sessions either 20-30 minutes or 40-50 minute session.  When you schedule your appointment, we can talk about tricks to keep your baby entertained to be able to complete a longer session.

9 months: This is by far one of the best stages photography wise, for the exception of your newborn and one year shoot. Your baby probably still looks a lot like he or she did at 6 months but they have full command of their ability to sit, they can hold onto or sit in a small chair for short periods although they LOVE to try to get out. They can definitely handle a 40-50 minute session as we include playing with Mommy as part of the session, which is always a baby favorite.

1 year session: Woo Hoo! With this one we can stay inside the studio or go outside for all or part of it. If you are getting multiple sessions, I recommend doing at least part of this session inside the studio so it matches your other sessions. Your baby might be walking by now which is the photographic stage we are looking for, but again, every baby is different. My first child walked at 14 months and my 2nd child walked at 9 so it’s important to know how important standing up is to you. In case your baby is not walking yet, we are skilled in giving your child something to hold onto during the session to simulate standing if they are not quite there yet.