About to have an at-home newborn session and wondering how to prepare your space? Simply follow the steps below for beautiful newborn photos (photographers, snag the full breakdown of our equipment list at the end of this post).

1. Schedule your session well in advance. Most photographers book up, and the ideal time for these sessions is within the first two weeks of life. You’ll want to make sure you get your due date on your photographers calendar ASAP to secure your spot with them once baby comes.

2. When it’s time for photos, stage your house for the session. Tidy up as much as possible. Less "clutter" and things in the background makes for nice, clean shots where the focus is where it's supposed to be - on baby and parents!

3. Open all the blinds and turn off all overhead or ambient lighting. Let your photographer shape the light in your home - so help them out by giving them a blank slate to start with. Most at home newborn photographers like to use natural light for parts of these sessions and sometimes mixing natural with artificial creates strange casts of color on the image that are hard to remove in post production.

4. Bring a pacifier for the baby and have 2-3 bottles of expressed breast milk and/or formula at the ready. It is important that your photographer has access to various soothing options to make sure your session runs smoothly. In our experience if you do not have bottles, the session will run much slower.

5. Have all your outfits, props, and a few burp clothes and receiving blankets nearby. You never know when we’ll need to do a quick cleanup!

6. Try to keep your little one awake for the majority of the morning before the shoot. The sleepier the baby, the better! Some parents give the baby a bath to help keep them awake.

7. Feed the baby as much as possible during the hours that precede the session. This helps ensure a sleepy, peaceful baby for our session together.

Talk about a perfect angel baby! Little Alma was actually awake for her entire newborn session, but was an absolute dream - full of smiles, especially when in mom and dad’s arms. We did this session at their home in Somerville, and even though the nursery wasn’t ready, we made beautiful photos with them and their pup Pip using our mobile studio and their living areas.

We just loved this all white little bear setup with the flokati fabric that we started with. We then moved into a few other swaddles and special items from Alma’s life - including a handmade blanket and Appa stuffy. How cute!

One of my favorite parts of the session occurs when we take breaks for feeding and outfit changes. The candid moments at home between family members are so special, both to me and to my clients. These are the photos that become the most cherished. They look and feel like home. It’s one of the reasons I love doing lifestyle newborn sessions.

Equipment List:

Newborn Studio Props Posing table

Posing pillows

Swaddlepro

Baby Shusher

Lulla-Vibe™ Vibrating Pad

Flokati, faux fur, and other posing fabrics and backdrops

Pappasan props

Swaddle and accessories

(1) Profoto B2, with a large umbrella and diffuser