Wanting to hire an Atlanta Newborn Photographer but unsure which type of session to book? This post can help you see the difference between posed and lifestyle newborn photography.
It’s honestly not as cut-and-dry as you may think. Come and join me at this *very typical newborn session. A bit posed + a bit of lifestyle photography.
Posed newborn photography is most easily described as any position that I “pose” a baby in, that is “unnatural.” Baby’s do not naturally rest their head on their hands.
Generally any time that you see a baby’s hands open as opposed to in a fist (closed), that is a posed photograph.
Posed, but also lifestyle looking ^^
These are posed, but have a lifestyle feel. ^^
Lifestyle Photography aims to portray real-life situations in a controlled + comfortable setting. These images were completely unposed. Everything you see happened organically. At times we may loosely direct and make slight adjustments, but the images are all things that would happen in any given day.
You might also want to notice their outfits. Mostly neutrals, and they coordinate.
Lifestyle: Laughs, tickles and even a little girl burying her face in her mother’s robe.
This shot is also both posed and lifestyle. Many parents hold their baby this way to gaze at all their lovely features, but I encouraged the dad to hold his baby like this so that I may photograph Ian’s profile.
Now that you’re beginning to see the difference in posed vs lifestyle newborn photography, now let’s discuss lighting. The top image is exposed perfectly. Whites are bright white and the baby’s skin tone is realistic. The image is magazine advertisement perfect. Occasionally when wanting to capture delicate infancy, underexposed images just do the trick better. You can see the example above. Notice how the underexposed, “darker” image has more emphasis on the baby and his sweet cherub like chub.
Any time an image is underexposed, I also give the parents a properly exposed image, so that they can make the choice of which they prefer. I carry a lot of responsibility in documenting these babies and wanting their images to properly capture their factual details.
Now let’s discuss black and white images vs color. I always give parents both, for reasons I mentioned above. But you can see why some images are just better in black and white.
In the color image, I see the whole image. Dad is holding his child.
In the BW image, all emphasis goes directly to those chubby cheeks! No distractions either, just cuddled, milk drunk bliss.
Understanding Flow posing: The top 3 photographs are the exact same pose, I just switched up my camera angle. Trained newborn photographers do this to prevent upsetting a sleeping baby and to make the most of our time in a home. It’s easy to slip on/off a hat, or step back a few feet, to make it look like 3 different poses/photographs.
I honestly love both the color and BW version of this image. I prob prefer the black and white as my eyes more notice the baby’s smile. In the color version, my eyes notice the name on the hat.
Same pose. Just as I added/removed a hat before, I added Ian’s mom’s hand.
These are posed, but made to look life-like.
Totally Lifestyle! Sweet older sister was not interested in posing anymore, she just wanted to play with her family. The remaining images are all lifestyle.
Even when nursing Ian, his older sister came over for some love and cuddles, unprovoked. I’m glad I was there to capture these sweet moments, and they are some of the mom’s favorite images.
Babies: the days are long, but the time is short. Even if you have to use a cellphone, take pictures, try new things! You can always delete what you don’t like. And don’t forget to back up your images.