Newborn Photography Safety- El Dorado Hills

Maybe it was my years of being a Girl Scout, the neighborhood babysitter or being a teacher-I’m not sure but somewhere along the way I became pretty serious about safety. Yes, I am the Mom who asks the local kids where their helmets are when they are riding their bikes without one!

Well when it comes to photographing newborn babies in my studio in El Dorado Hills, this obsession with safety sure is important. It is an honor to photograph these tiny, brand new humans and keeping them safe will always be more important to me than any photograph.

On today’s blog,  I will be showing you two final images and also the behind the scenes image to demonstrate how they were made.  I am doing this not only to bring awareness for my clients but also for photographers just starting out in this field.  There are TONS of images in the newborn field that are created by the magic of photoshop! Without knowing this someone may try to recreate these poses and injure the newborn baby. Do you know how in TV commercials they say “Do not try this at home” when there is a stunt man flying through the air…Well that should be at the bottom of many newborn photographs too.

Froggy pose!

The Froggy pose! It sure is cute and perhaps the reason why it might be one of the most popular worldwide newborn poses! It also happens to be one of the hardest poses and it also can be very dangerous if not done correctly!

The Froggy pose is actually 2 or 3 images taken with the help of another person- either an assistant or a parent and then composited in photoshop.  You take the top of the head from one image and the bottom from another and voila- photoshop magic!  A newborn baby can not be in this pose when they are young and it should never be attempted. Ever.

Also note- not all baby’s want to be in this position.  Always follow the baby’s lead when posing.  There are so many cute poses, Froggy is just one of them!

Chin on Hands pose 

Here’s a super cute one, “chin on hands”! While some babies can actually do this pose on their own for a few seconds- it’s always best to have a finger to support the head on the side or have a hand very close by. Babies can do sudden movements and you never want to risk the baby rolling over and not having their neck supported.

So there it is- newborn photography secrets revealed! I care way more about newborn photography safety than the smoke and mirrors magic of photoshop!

Please spread the word if you know someone starting out in the newborn photography field. If you area hobbyist yourself, please always keep in mind that behind many newborn photography images there could be an element of photoshop being used!

*If you are interested in have your baby photographed feel free to contact me so we can discuss the details! You can reach me using the contact page, email me at: susannah@susannahgill.com or call/text me at 1-916-936-7363

**Newborn sessions are best done within the first 2 weeks of the baby being born, so please book ahead of time to make sure you don’t miss this window of them being sleepy and tiny!