• Safer at Home~ Tips for capturing your own Maternity & Newborn photos | St. Louis Maternity, & Newborn Photographer

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Times are certainly rough right now for all of us. None of us are unaffected by the Corona Virus sweeping its way through the world. Some of us are affected by our employment being interrupted, some of us are working more because of being medical professionals, first responders, or have another essential job. Store workers are overwhelmed and working so hard to provide stocked shelves for us to be able to care for and feed our families. The list of critical workers goes on, and I am SO thankful for each and every one of them. Expecting moms everywhere are worried. So many unknowns, will my partner be able to be in the delivery room, will my parents be able to meet their grandchild, will my other children have to wait to meet their sibling? It’s scary! Its also been unfortunate to have to turn down clients who had their sessions already scheduled with me or who have recently inquired, because I am unable to capture these last weeks of their pregnancy, and them welcoming their bundle of joy as planned. My hands are so tied but I thought I would take a little time to give you some tips as to how you can at least take some photos of your own so you are sure to have these memories regardless of whether they can be photographed by me or not. Each of the photos in this gallery are captioned with instructions on how to carry them out. Here are some tips to think of:

First of all- I know this is such an overwhelming time and many of us who cant go to work find ourselves in our morning pajamas, and switching straight from those into our night pajamas, lol. But here I am telling you, plan this out! Get a shower, do your own hair, do your makeup, and feel refreshed.

If you have a maternity photo outfit already at home, think about whether you want indoor or outdoor photos. If you want outdoor photos, aim for heading outside about an hour prior to sunset. If you have no shade around your property, this will be a good time for you because you’ll be outside when the light isn’t so harsh. I love backlit images, you can find lots of examples across my social media.

If you don’t have an outfit selected, I bet you can find something perfect in your closet. I recommend at this point doing them in your home, on the bed, in front of a window of sunlit curtain. You can wear something comfortable and simple. Off the shoulder tops or sweaters, knee high socks, bras with a cardigan, really simple items will create a super cute outfit. Be sure to get some sitting on a couch or bed with legs crossed, as well as standing In from of a wall with nothing hanging on it.

As far as posing- whether indoor or outdoor- get a variety of shots- standing, sitting, looking into the distance, looking over your shoulder, looking down towards your shoulder, some with hands on belly, one hand on top, one on bottom of belly, one hand on hip with the other on the belly, some sitting with your new photographer standing above you and looking down at your belly, some of you laying down slightly on your side or on your back with the photographer off to the side of you or behind your head.

For the newborn session- I suggest keeping it simple. As most know about my style, its simplistic for the most part. Round up some simple solid or very slightly patterned wraps, and lay baby on a white comforter or blanket. This is something I recommend doing near a well lit window or sliding glass door etc. You dont want harsh light coming in so if thats the case you may want to pull a curtain slightly. Do some cozy wrapped shots of baby. Shoot from the sides, above, and capture the tiny details. DO NOT shoot up the nose! This is something a lot of people do and it isn’t a good move 🙂 I do not recommend trying to do poses that require baby being posed in any way that they don’t put themselves into naturally. Very posed newborn images should ONLY be done by a highly trained and experienced newborn photographer, which means I do not recommend these for your DIY newborn session. Safety is my #1 priority. Never leave baby unattended, even for the super simplistic photos you are taking, please have a spotter In place for babies safety.

Next unwrap baby, and capture whatever it is they are doing, yawning, opening their eyes, stretching, etc. I love the natural and candid expressions. Sometimes you get lucky and even Catch a smirk which is always the best!

For siblings, keep it simple! For big brother, consider a skin to skin photo, for older siblings, wrap baby and sit the older sibling on a rug slightly out from a solid color wall and have the older sibling hold baby with both hands looking down at baby, lay them both down and have sibling wrap arm around baby and snuggle in close. If baby is sleeping, have the older sibling close their eyes for that magical moment. Don’t stress if siblings aren’t that cooperative. Its tough photographing your own children, trust me, I am in the same boat with my own but I know that these photos will be something you treasure forever!

Lastly, theres a chance you are doing these with a cell phone, or maybe you are doing it with a DSLR. Either way, you may need some extra tips or will want some retouching. I would love to help you with that if you will be doing your own photos during this challenging time. Here is how I can help- Call or Email me and set up a time for me to FaceTime you during your session. I will help lead you through the steps necessary which may help keep this task more realistic for you 🙂 Additionally, please email me up to 5 photos that you have taken for your maternity and or newborn sessions, and I will retouch them for you at no charge. Please keep in mind these MUST be your own photos, as I can not edit photos from other photographers without their consent.

I wish you all the very best during this time. I cant wait to get back to work capturing all these once in a lifetime moments for you.

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