Hello all...
The last 2 weeks of 2010 seems to be the newborn weeks... I am doing newborn session almost every day for last 2 weeks of the year and there are a lot more newborn enquiries recently then any other type of sessions.
Bear in mind our idea for capturing images of newborn or children is to preserve the very natural behaviour of the little people... Newborn photography is about preserving the memories of the newborn as how they might be in mother's womb, the connection shared by the parents to the newborn.
Here is the Fact (according to me, anyway...) about the newborn photography and the reason....
1. The best time to do the newborn session is 5-8 days to a maximum of 14 days.
Why not 4 days and why not after 14 days? you may ask... well, most newborn will retain their "curled" up position like how they were in their mother's womb for 2 or maybe 3 weeks.
If you are a first time parents and your aim is to breastfeed, your milk supply might not be there yet at 4th day, 5th Day, usually is better... so with sufficient milk supply, we will have a contented newborn, which will give us a lot of opportunities to capture images which happen once in the life-time.
Why not after 14 days? for those who already have a child prior will note that, the "growth-spurt" happen on 3rd week, 6th week and 12th week from birth... during that period, the newborn is generally unsettled and require constant nursing which is tiring for the mother and the baby... and yes, the poor photographer too... hahaha
Once past that 3rd week, the newborn will start to stretch and straighten the body like a little baby instead of newborn. So the images after this time tend to look stiff and not as exquisite.
Of course, if you are looking for those connection type of shots, it is possible at any given age.
2. The best time to book an advance session is when you are about 25+ weeks onwards
If this is your first pregnancy, you might want to have some memories of your "pregnancy" curve especially those who would think to have just 1 child.
We like to think first Maternity + Newborn as one of the most major "milestone" in your life... it can never be repeated...
So, we created a perfect Maternity + Newborn session just for those who is looking to "capture" their memories of the lifetime with us.
It is very difficult (not impossible though) to schedule an ad-hoc request for newborn session through out the year, as we understand how precious this can be so we don't over-commit ourselves by make time for our clients who has booked our service prior. It is just fair for our clients.
3. Jaundice is not a reason to postpone the newborn shoot
Most (~95%) Asian newborn that I have photographed so far suffer from Jaundice which makes them sleepy and "yellowish".
It is probably the most asked questions about newborn, what if my newborn has jaundice?
There is nothing really stop us capturing the most amazing images of newborn while they have jaundice. Some would prefer not to have the "yellowness" in pictures... that is why we shoot digital and that is why, we do post-production work to ensure the "yellowness" is tone done if necessary.
To be entirely honest, because of jaundice, newborn tend to be sleepy which allow us more time to create a lot of images that is so precious for our clients.
Some of our potential clients make mistake by "waiting" for the jaundice to subside, it could take up to 6 weeks... and remember, the best time to do the session is 5-8 days.
4. Newborn session could take up to 4 hours or longer
Yes, you heard it right... most would thought, it is so simple to do a newborn session as the newborn tend to sleep a lot... it is correct, if they are being swaddled tightly... but best newborn images tend to be when the newborn wearing their birthday cloths (ie, Naked) as clothing tend to "swallow" the newborn.
The reason why we allow 4 hours or more for the newborn session is to ensure a nice total experience. We allow a lot of time to feed, comfort, carry, burping, etc.... and most of great shots are done within 1 hour once the newborn in their "optimum" timing and this optimum timing can happen once I arrived, after an hour, after 2 hours, or after 3 hours... there is no correct timing. The longest session I have done is 6 hours... and there is no additional charge..
With longer session, it allows us to bond with the newborn as well as the parents. It is very important to establish rapport with any type of portrait work.
During the 4 hours, if the parents permit, I will be the "part-time" nanny, which allow me to "feed" the baby if bottle feeding is the preferred option, burp the baby, carry the baby... lets face it, most first time parents are still nervous when carrying their little newborn.
My suggestion to parents is, clear your day like I clear my day just for your newborn session.
Why do I do that? because, I think this is the only way to get exquisite newborn images.
5. Newborn session is generally happen at client's home using natural light
A lot of our clients are worried that they are not "ready" to go out from home when the baby is so young.
However, our solution is to have the session done in the comfort of your own home.
The reason we offer the home service rather than getting our clients to our studio is to ensure, we get the best images we could and it also allow us to incorporate the client's home decor for the newborn images which is unique to them.
We also use natural window light to do the session. We don't use flashes not because it may hurt the newborn, it is simply nicer and more "organic" using natural light. It is trickier to shoot as it require high iso and better (spell - EXPENSIVE) lenses to get the best of it. That is why, when you look at the images from our website, you are amaze with how "organic" it looks as there is an absence of flash.
in some cases, our clients prefer to have the session done in our studio, we are happy to do so.
6. Hart is a part-time nanny....
hahahaha.... anyway... that's what some of my clients refer me to.... I am not... I just love children....
Regards,
Hart
Tomato Photo
www.tomato.sg
