If you are planning your newborn session – here are some tips to help you prepare for your newborn photos at home!

As a Virginia Beach newborn photographer, I specialize in helping the families I serve capture the beautiful newborn milestone with timeless, classic newborn portraits in the comfort of their own homes.

How to Prepare for Newborn Photos

Expectations: when preparing for your newborn photos, it is good to remind yourself who is in charge: the baby! If there is one thing I can say for certain; it is that baby is the main event and the boss of this session.

As a professional newborn photographer, my goal is always to work with baby’s needs, moods & energy to guide the session, capturing the moments a family will never want to forget.

Throughout the session, if baby needs a break to eat, a diaper change, or needs an outfit change – you should be prepared to take a break and take care of those things. Your photographer should have built in plenty of time during your session to allow for breaks so don’t stress if there is a need to take a break.

Best Age for Newborn Photos

When it comes to scheduling your baby’s at home newborn photos, I find the best age for newborn photos is around 7-10 days old. Babies will be stretchy, flexible, sleepy and cozy during those early weeks, but especially during that timeframe.

Baby acne and peeling skin, while totally common, usually happens after the two week age mark. If you would like to avoid having those in your newborn photos, I’d suggest scheduling earlier rather than later.

A great way to ensure your photographer will have the prime dates available for your newborn photos, is to book your session during your 2nd trimester to ensure you are already on their calendar! 🙂

Best Time for Newborn Photos

The best time to schedule newborn photos is in the early morning. I like to schedule my in-home newborn sessions between 10am-12noon to make the most out of baby’s relaxed mood and the best lighting in the home as well! Baby will usually have it’s longest nap in the morning, after their first feed of the day, so they will be sleepy and cuddly for their newborn photos at home. I suggest keeping baby awake before their feed for at least an hour, then feed them right before your photographer arrives so they will be sleepy and cozy for their portraits while you and Dad finish getting ready.

Preparing your Home for Newborn Photos

While I am a newborn photographer; I am also a mom to 3 toddlers so I like to remind my clients to not panic clean ANYTHING! I promise, we are there to document your beautiful family, this precious milestone, and are NOT here to judge. I promise not to look at your baseboards as long as you don’t look at mine if you ever come over! 🙂

1. Pick one or two rooms that have the best natural light. The master bedrooms, living room & baby’s nursery are most common. If you’re not sure what rooms have the best light, I always recommend snapping a cell phone photo/video the week prior to your session around the scheduled time and sending it to your photographer for feedback.
2. Opening all blinds and curtains before your photographer’s arrival will help them to figure out which spaces are best if they haven’t visited your home before.
3. Don’t worry about deep cleaning, but do try and declutter items on counters / floors in the spaces you may be photographed in. This will allow for a quicker session since you won’t be having to ask your partner to move things before a photo is set up. Less is more when it comes to in home newborn sessions. Sometimes, spare bedrooms are client’s preferred rooms to photograph in because most of the time, those are the rooms with just a bed!
4. For your master bedroom bedding – if you have a white sheet/comforter, I suggest using that instead of a heavily patterned or dark blanket. Dark colors and patterns can bounce off of fabrics and onto your skin and make those light and airy images you want to have really hard to achieve. Whites and creams are always ideal to ensure timeless, classic images.

Newborn Photoshoot Family Outfits

Pro-tip from professional newborn photographer: for in-home newborn sessions, it’s best to stick to light, neutral-colored clothing for your session. Keeping to these tips with all result in clean, classic, and timeless newborn photos. Usually, if you are doing photos in baby’s first two weeks of life, they will be too small for real clothing. Instead of worrying about “outfits,” keep them in a neutral or white swaddle.

Another pro tip: a swaddled baby generally stays happy and photographs super sweet too!

What Parents should wear for newborn family photos

When selecting outfits for your at home newborn photos for Mom & Dad’s outfits – simple neutral clothing is best.

I suggest these colors for families to wear newborn photos:

• Cream or off-white
• Soft/muted jewel tones like blush, soft blues, light gray
• Earth tones
• Pastels

These simple, neutral colors will allow the focus of your photos to be on your family, the emotion in the images, rather than having colors that distract from the moment.

The MOST IMPORTANT NOTE note about outfit choices..

MOST IMPORTANTLY: wear something you are COMFORTABLE and CONFIDENT in. If you are feeling great in your outfit, it will absolutely SHINE through in your photos!

The opposite also happens if you are uncomfortable – it will show in the photos. 

What NOT to Wear

Avoid wearing any of these to your at home newborn photos:

• Anything that is itchy
• Anything ill-fitting, ripped/stained, or heavily worn
• Heavy patterns, such as buffalo plaid, or anything that will distract from the emotion in the photos
• Large logos
• Neon colors/heavy colors – these can bounce color off of your clothes and onto other’s skin
• I also suggest not being too “matchy-matchy” during your photos. It is better to try to complement each other’s outfits and colors instead of matching

When in doubt, ask your photographer for advice about what to wear, and send them photos of potential outfits if you have any question as to whether it is a good option!

If you want more details on how to pick amazing outfits for your family photos, I’ve got more tips and details in my blog Family Photo Outfit Styling Tips!

5 reasons to consider pro hair & makeup

At Chelsey Kraus Photography, I believe Moms should put themselves during their newborn photos at home! You found your dream photographer; checked all the calendars to pick the perfect day; considered the weather, and also how you want to actually enjoy the photos once they’ve been captured… So, I recommend you let the professionals help you with hair & makeup so you can RELAX and ENJOY your photoshoot experience with your precious family!

Here are 5 reasons why I suggest Moms consider professional hair and makeup for newborn photos:

1. YOUR ZEN HOUR – Consider this your zen moment to start the day off right – kick your feet up and relax while someone else pampers you since you are usually the one pampering everyone else – especially since you’ve probably been up since the crack of dawn cluster feeding your new babe!
2. CONVENIENCE – The artists can travel to you and you will have the convenience of sipping your coffee at home while snuggling your newborn before your session starts – not having
3. PROFESSIONAL APPLICATION – Having an artists’ touch to ensure your makeup and hair style will stand up to the elements and not having to second guess if you applied your lashes correctly. 
4. TIMELINE HELP – No need to second guess your timing on when to start getting ready – your artists and photographer will coordinate to ensure the day flows smoothy and there is a timeline in place so you can have an effortless, stress-free day and enjoyable portrait experience! 
5. NATURAL CONFIDENCE – Your natural beauty will be highlighted and you can be sure you LOVE your makeup and hair styles so your confidence can shine in front of the camera – even better if you use the same hair and makeup artist for both maternity and newborn photos, then your newborn session day, you’ll be able to catch up like old friends and feel even more confident in their work.

I wrote more about the Benefits of Professional Hair and Makeup for Family Photos if you’d like to read more insights on why I feel so strongly about including professional hair and makeup for Mommas as a part of my client experience.

How to Keep Baby Happy during newborn photos

• Keeping baby feeling warm, safe and secure – and fed! – during the newborn session is key! As adults, we can “tough it out” when we feel uncomfortable, but a baby can’t!
• White noise – playing white noise or music in the background will help baby stay calm and relaxed, especially if you play the same noise that baby is getting used to sleeping with in their nursery or at your bedside.
• Feed baby right before photographer arrives – and stay open to the possibility that you may need to take a break to feed baby during the session. A professional photographer will absolutely have time built into your schedule for ample time to feed if needed.
• Snuggle – you will probably get sick of hearing your photographer say to snuggle in – but remember; a newborns parents ARE their safe space. As a parent, you are HOME to them. So snuggle up and keep that baby happy.

Lifestyle Newborn Photos in Virginia Beach

If you’ve found your way to this blog and are local to me – in Virginia Beach, Virginia – YAY! Welcome! At home newborn photos are a joy and an honor to capture and I’m thankful you’ve found your way to this blog to learn more.

As a Virginia Beach photographer, I am honored to be able to document the early years with families through maternity, newborn and family portraits for joyful families and I’d love to be considered if you are looking for the best photographer for your family!

You can find more on the Chelsey Kraus Photography NEWBORN PORTRAIT EXPERIENCE here.

To reach out to see if I have availability for your baby’s due date or want to chat on the phone about the session experience; contact me here!

Not ready to schedule a session or chat more details? NO worries! I’m active on INSTAGRAM if you’d like to follow me and stay in touch with me, see behind the scenes of sessions, and check out more client work.

Session Details and Links

Images: All photos courtesy of Chelsey Kraus, owner and lead photographer at Chelsey Kraus Photography. Chelsey Kraus is a luxury newborn, maternity & family photographer serving joyful families who cherish documenting all of life’s precious milestones.

Mom’s dress: ASOS brand, is a part of the Chelsey Kraus Photography client wardrobe. Moms can borrow from my wardrobe of curated, neutral, flattering dresses – yay for less shopping! These dresses are exclusively available for newborn and maternity sessions.

Mom’s hair and makeup: MeLissa Williams with Dhalia Edwards makeup and Kissd by Liss hair styling. MeLissa is my most requested hair and makeup artists – she brings out the natural beauty in all of my incredible Mommas!

Session location: client’s home in Norfolk, Virginia.