First Newborn Shoot

And man she was a screamer. For two hours straight. Just wouldn't settle so gave up on the shoot.

These are the only three I got. With some edits also.

www.sevenagesphotograp​hy.com/ag1.jpg
www.sevenagesphotograp​hy.com/ag2.jpg
www.sevenagesphotograp​hy.com/ag3.jpg
www.sevenagesphotograp​hy.com/ag4.jpg
www.sevenagesphotograp​hy.com/ag5.jpg
www.sevenagesphotograp​hy.com/ag6.jpg

Not the best, but hey. First shoot an'all.

Hopefully a newer newborn this coming week - the one above was 16 days.

a baby at that age that is AWAKE, will often not tolerate that type of tummy shot, especially if you keep at it, trying. If I do a tummy shot at that age, the baby is asleep. If it is not asleep, it had better be happy, and even then, I prop 'em up on their elbows, balance the head on top of their hands, holding it all together with my one hand -- then snap, snap, snap. Shoot from eye level or a bit lower and MAKE IT FAST!!!! As long as they are happy, you are golden, but if they get crabby, odds are because they don't like the tummy stuff. Stages of development are very important at this age, and when they have so little developed neck muscles.... even a couple of weeks makes a huge difference!

keep shooting. experience is key with these little ones.

Actually she screamed no matter what position she was in. On her back, side, front. Etc etc. For 2 hours. Just wanted to suckle with mom. Didn't feed. Just suckle. And screamed as soon as we moved her. Two hours.

Did I mention she screamed for two hours?

Babies like to be warm and snuggly... If you reshoot. pump up the heater to at least 85-degrees.. . and make sure you have plenty of white noise...

You have to be very calm and centered around teeny ones because they will sense your frustration within a second. I try to get baby away from the mama, and rock them myself. Usually within 8 minutes you can get them sleeping and then move on to posing...

But make sure it's WARM!! If they only want mama.. then drape mom with black fabric, and allow her to be the posing pillow, and backdrop... it can be done, you just have to be a little creative sometimes.. definitely the most challenging subject to work with...

Don't give up.. because after a few times around you will develop a workflow and be more comfortable with it... and the end results are simply priceless.

In case you all don't know, I work with in the NICU. So very used to babies of all sizes etc. Trust me nothing worked. At all. And I have stood wait babies for two hours trying to get an iv line in, so I tend to be very patient. But nope. She screamed.

I thought she was maybe too warm, so undressed her a little.

Screamed.

Then put her into a coccoon.

Screamed.

She would settle after being rocked, but then scream again as soon
as we moved her. Tried waiting 10 minutes after she fell asleep.

Screamed.

And then some .

So I figured I would come back another day. It was a free shoot anyway to build up my folio. Same with the next one too. But hopefully she will be younger and much sleepier.

Btw what do you use for white noise?

I love the shots, well done

Lol, it's frustrating, isn't it? The set up, lighting and PP is good though, for next time. You can use anything for white noise- I have a fan heater that's quite noisy, but you could try an untuned radio, turned down a bit.

Thanks

Hopefully next one will be my money shots

For white noise I use a heart beat machine and a loud heater, both at the same time, up very loud, non-stop. The heater is a double bonus too!
Good luck next time! Let us know how it goes

Another photographer gave me a great tip-- lay a heating pad under your fabric.. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but I too just did my first newborn shoot and it was really tough! I also struggled a lot with posing and trying to find an angle to shoot from.