Preparing For Your In-Home Newborn Session.

What To Expect - Home Sessions

Lifestyle newborn sessions are family-centered and include the whole family. The goal is to capture your family interacting naturally and highlight the baby’s sweet details. We take photos of everyone together, individual shots with the baby, and welcome pets and other family members to join in.

For home sessions, we will wear a mask when in your home. Babies are so susceptible to everything and take every precaution possible to keep them safe. We are up-to-date on the Tdap (whooping cough) vaccine. 

Best Time to Capture Newborns

We find the sweet spot for home sessions is 10-14 days old. Baby is still sleepy and able to be swaddled, but not as startled by every little sound and movement as when they are first born. Additionally, you are a little more settled into life with baby by this time (you need at least a few days home before we do photos). 

Prepare your home

Kat will choose 1 or 2 rooms ONLY in your home with good natural lighting and a nice aesthetic. She looks for rooms with good natural light (lots of windows but no direct sunlight), and prefers warm or light-colored furniture. She will bring small lighting in case it’s needed. When Kat first arrives, she will ask to see the areas of the home you are thinking of using. If she feels they will not work, she will make recommendations for other areas of the home to use.

Typical rooms used are a living room, master bedroom, and/or the babies nursery. We will NOT use every room in your home. In the weeks/days leading up to your session, look around your home and pick 1-2 of these above listed spaces and only make those spaces ready for us. Remove any knick-nacks you would not want to be seen in photos (picture frames, kleenex boxes, lotions, etc). Greenery and flowers are beautiful in photos so you can add flowers or green plants into the space if you have them available. We typically gravitate towards windows as that is where beautiful light comes from (but with no direct harsh direct sun beams coming in). Without light, great photos do not exist, so look for areas of your home that have beautiful windows and nice furniture.

If you look at our NEWBORN portfolio page, you will see how often windows and doors are incorporated into our photos. Remember, without great light, great photos can’t exist!

What I Bring

For our In-Home Premium sessions, we bring props (baskets, swaddles, outfits, bonnets, bows, etc) and will swaddle your baby and do those cute baby in a basket photos. Our In-Home Classic sessions don’t include props, instead we use the elements of your home and they are shorter in length.

All of my items are freshly laundered and I use a gentle detergent that is appropriate for babies and we have a smoke-free home. We do have a dog but I am careful to keep our dog away from newborn items. If any of your family members have a severe pet allergy, please let me know and we can discuss other options for props.

Wardrobe + Makeup

Keep wardrobe simple and neutral to avoid distracting from your baby. Colors like grey, white, cream, navy, and light pastels photograph well. Avoid strong patterns and bright colors. Please avoid large logos.

WARDROBE WOMEN - a long flowing dress is very pretty for newborn photos and can help hide any of those uncomfortable parts of just having a baby. If you would like further guidance selecting the right outfit to wear, please reach out. We are happy to help you select something you will love.

WARDROBE MEN - a solid shirt with a collar and nice slacks works great. If you are more of a t-shirt and jeans type of guy, that works too. Just please no logos or stripes.

NAILS FOR FAMILY - Make sure your nails are neatly manicured, as hands will be in some photos (this applies for all family members). A natural polish or bare nails is fine for adults. PLEASE NOTE: I do take detail photos of your baby’s hands. If possible, try to trim their nails to make for a prettier photo. We like Frida Baby tools, the electric trimmer is great for those a little more hesitant with nail clippings, and the Snipper Clippers are great for those a little more comfortable with clipping newborn nails. We still use the snipper clippers for our 5 year old daughter, they are great clippers that have a guard that prevent you from clipping their fingers.

MAKEUP: Please have your makeup and hair done when we arrive. If it usually takes you 30 minutes, add 15-30 extra minutes to get ready. Use this time to pamper yourself—you deserve it as a parent of a newborn!

Don’t feel like shopping? No problem! Any of the dresses from our CLIENT WARDROBE are available to you. Please let us know ahead of time which dresses you would like us to have ready for your session.

30 -60 Minutes Before Your session

Please feed and burp baby right before our session. This will ensure a happy and sleepy baby. We can take as many breaks as needed to refuel.

Before I arrive, please lay out any special items you want included in the photos, and have a pacifier or two and some extra milk or formula ready. I may use a bottle or pacifier to help soothe the baby and get them sleepy. We find the Philips pacifiers tend to be the most loved by newborns.

Tell any siblings that someone fun is coming over to take their picture. Small, bite sized snacks for younger children to nibble on can be very helpful to keep kiddos happy if they start getting cranky. Feel free to offer bribes for good behavior, you have my full support!

Prepare Your Mind

Too often have we photographed couples or families that argue through the shoot, picking at each other’s flaws. This makes for a very uncomfortable photoshoot process (for all parties involved). As best as you can, try to let go of any stress (and exhaustion) you have felt from the day and enjoy the fact that you are creating photographs you can cherish the rest of your lives! The moment you relax and just let the experience unfold is when the magic happens.

We can’t wait to meet you and create beautiful heirloom photos for your family!