What is the difference between a Posed and Lifestyle In-Home Newborn Photosession?
As a newborn photographer in the Greater Sacramento Area, I provide both lifestyle and posed newborn sessions In-Home, which means I will be coming to photograph your family in the comfort of your home. But what is the difference between the two? This blogpost will be explaining the differences, answering frequently asked questions, as well as showing a lot of picture examples. One important thing to note that is unique to myself as a photographer, is that my newborn packages are not one or the other, but rather one or both. My lower package is a Lifestyle Newborn package with only lifestyle photos, whereas I provide both a lifestyle portion AND posed newborn portion combined within my larger newborn package.
A Quick Bullet Point Comparison
Here’s a quick list of differences and then we will go in more detail below:
Lifestyle Newborn Session
Natural family and newborn poses
Emphasis on cuddles with newborn and capturing real authentic moments and memories.
Photographer does not bring or provide special props, blankets, baskets but these items can be used if owned by the family, incorporated in natural ways.
Highlights the family’s house and natural environment and natural family interactions. Newborn when photographed individually is usually on back and may or may not be swaddled. Also included are full family photos as well as photos of each individual family member with the baby.
Traditional Posed Newborn Session
Simple or elaborate setups, usually involving props such as backdrops, baskets, blankets, swaddles and other props that contribute to the artistic setup
Emphasis on creativity and creating art featuring your newborn
Photographer provides and brings along all necessary materials and equipment, after first consulting with client on preferred colors and themes.
Highlights the newborn’s features whether sleeping or awake. Often includes swaddled poses as well as some different newborn positions such as side lying or on stomach.
That was the quick and simple comparison. Now for a more detailed look and answering some Frequently Asked Questions.
What is a Lifestyle Newborn Session?
A Lifestyle Newborn session is a more laid back newborn session that focuses on photographing natural photos of your family interacting with your new baby within your home. It includes capturing family cuddles, individual parents or siblings with the baby, as well as unposed photos of just your newborn. Some examples might include highlighting the baby in the nursery, photographing sweet sibling interactions, and photographing a family activity such as reading a book together or nursing/bottle feeding. A Lifestyle Newborn Session is shorter than a Posed Newborn Session, usually between 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the baby.
Frequently Asked Questions about Lifestyle Newborn Sessions:
Where will we take photos for our lifestyle section?
This definitely depends on the home and I will ask you to send me a few phone pictures of your house ahead of time so I can advice you on best places. Common areas to take pictures are: the nursery, on the master bed, in the living room, near a sliding glass door, and near any windows that let in nice light. For a lifestyle session, we are definitely looking for areas of your home that are near a window for best light and photo quality.
What if my house isn’t “nice enough” for photos? Or it’s dark and doesn’t get enough light?
This doesn’t exist! No matter where you live we WILL be able to create beautiful pictures together. All you need in your house is a window and a wall to make beautiful photos and every house or apartment has that. The photo above featuring the mother kissing her baby was taken in a tiny and dark one bedroom apartment. You’d never know! Every family will benefit from an in-home session no matter the home! I will help you find the best places in your home that will create the best photos. Any home!
What kind of photos are included in a lifestyle session?
While not all encompassing, here are some basic photo setups: whole family together both posed and natural cuddles, each individual family members interacting with baby, baby by themselves often lying on their back in their crib or on a blanket, detail photos of hands or nursery details, baby with special items such as a stuffed animal, baby eating etc.
What kind of photos are not included in a lifestyle session?
The easiest way to answer this question is that an exclusively lifestyle session will not include things that you do not already own. I do not bring my posed newborn setup along with me, which means I am not bringing special backdrops, props, baskets, blankets along to pose your newborn in. However, any swaddles, special outfits, blankets that you already own are totally fair game to be used in a lifestyle session.
What if my house is messy?
This is the norm when it comes to newborn sessions, not the exception! You just had a baby, you are barely sleeping, and probably have had visitors or a recent baby shower. It is absolutely so common and expected for there to be mess! Keep the messy house and do not worry about this! What we do is organize and move clutter strategically. I usually ask clients to send me a few pictures of their house after booking but before our session, and will recommend 2-3 areas of the house and specific angles where we will most likely take pictures. Then we just…move the stuff slightly out of the way! In the photo above there were toys and piles of clothes on both sides of this picture, but strategically moved to the side so it wouldn’t be in the picture! It is good to remove clutter for photos but it really just has to be moved out of the way rather than truly cleaned and organized. And the camera definitely does not pick up on dust :-) Read more here on how to prepare your home for an in-home photography session.
What is a Traditional Posed Newborn Session?
A traditional posed newborn session as the name suggests involves posing and photographing the usually sleeping newborn in various creative and artistic set ups from swaddled and in a basket, to creative props such as swings and tiny beds, to unswaddled sleeping poses such as sidelying or stomach lying. These traditional photos focus more on creating art with the newborn and focusing in on their features in aesthetically pleasing ways. Traditionally, this type of session takes place in a studio, however I do these in-home and bring the studio to you! I bring all equipment and materials to be able to create these posed photos in your home. My posed newborn package includes both the posed section as well as a lifestyle session with family. Altogether, families should expect the session to take about 2 hours (1 hour for posed and 1 hour for lifestyle). I generally do lifestyle first and then posed after, which allows the rest of the family to go play!
Frequently Asked Questions about Posed Newborn Sessions
How do you decide what poses to do at our session?
When you first book your sessions, you will answer a questionaire on basic preferences for your session, primarily things like preferred color schemes. This will give me a starting point of which of my materials I should consider bringing along to our session. In addition, I will be consulting with you either through email/text message or phone call/Zoom depending on your preference in which I will send you example photos of various setups to see which you might be interested in for your own baby. For instance, I might send you the photo shown above, asking you if you are interested in a swing photo. Working together, we will figure out what your preferences are. I will take that information and create multiple different setups to bring along. Then once I arrive for our session, I will show you all of the materials and setups I brought along and ask you to rank them in order of your preference and we will work our way through the setups in that order. This ensures that all of your favorites will be photographed even if baby becomes fussy or needs a nursing break and we possibly don’t get to one of the setups.
What types of poses will be included in the session? How many different types of setups will there be?
I almost always do at least one basket setup, one swaddled setup, one unswaddled setup and something creative, and I of course customize the types of setups based on your preferences. I bring a minimum of 4 options along, with backups as well. How many setups we actually can do does depend on the baby and the session however. Newborns can be wildcards and certainly have their own preferences :-). Some babies love certain poses and are easy to photograph in that pose whereas other babies resist and dislike the same pose and we have to move on. So while we certainly plan ahead of time, there will be adjusting at the session based on your individual baby. EVERY baby will come away with cute photos though! I always make sure to bring many different potential setups so that we can be adaptable and every family will come away with beautiful photos whether it was 2 setups or 4. Also don’t forget that in my posed newborn sessions I also include a lifestyle portion as well, so this will create additional opportunities for posed photos such as in the crib or posing with parents.
Where will the posed newborn session take place in my home? What if the light isn’t good?
If you own a sliding glass door in your home, this is where we will be doing the majority of the posed newborn session. I literally set up my newborn bed and backdrop on the floor right by the sliding glass door. Luckily, a majority of homes in California have one so this is an option for many families! However, it’s definitely not a requirement. I have very successfully done posed newborn sessions in the middle of tiny nurseries before because that was where the best light was coming from. I will always consult with you ahead of time to see what your home’s basic setup is and at what time the best light is available and I try to schedule the session time for when the light will be best in your home. And I will always be able to find good light, no matter how dark your home! The photo above was taken on the family’s dining room table!
Help! What if my baby is super fussy or awake the entire session?
Deep breath! Newborns are certainly unpredictable but that is ALL newborns! Your baby is expected to cry at times and expected to be awake at times and expected to be fussy or not like something. I am an experienced newborn photographer and will get you great photos regardless! How your baby acts at a newborn session does impact which poses are possible, but not whether or not we will get good photos. We will! Swaddled and basket poses are accomplishable with any newborn for instance and usually help settle awake or fussy babies. However, an awake baby will generally not successfully take a swing photo because they do not hold onto the ropes long enough in this back-laying pose when awake. For the baby shown above, Mom really wanted a sleeping photo with her son holding a teddy bear. The only problem was, her newborn decided the newborn session was so exciting and stayed awake for the whole 2 hour session! We were not able to get the calmly holding and sleeping teddy bear pose we had envisioned but we were still able to get some truly adorable photos. This is where you can trust in me as your expert! We plan ahead of time, but then we adjust based on my experience and baby whispering abilities to create wonderful images no matter the newborn :-)
How will you ensure my baby’s safety?
I’m so glad you asked! Safety is my absolute number one priority and I am THE most safety conscious newborn photographer in the area (Maybe in the state or country?). Not only am I trained for safe newborn posing, having taken a plethora of newborn photography classes on safety, but I have something that no other newborn photographer has: A vast amount of personal experience in real life critical scenarios. My son was born at 28 weeks, spent 3 months critically ill in the NICU on oxygen support, but then also went home on oxygen support for an additional 3 months, unable to survive without it. It goes beyond “learning what to look for” in a course, I know the signs of oxygen deprivation because I looked for them 24/7 for 6 months, have seen them myself daily, and have navigated real health crises with my son and saving him after turning blue.
I am absolutely committed to newborn safety and experienced in ways that no other photographer is, besides maybe a former nurse. I not only know exactly what signs of breathing distress to look for, but also know how to pose and swaddle in a way that these situations will never even arise because protecting a newborn’s breathing airways will always be priority number one.
Safety for me begins before I step into your door. I mask for every session to ensure that no newborn will ever get sick from my germs. After that, safety continues in how I swaddle and in which poses I choose, and in the continuous experienced monitoring that I do to ensure every baby is breathing comfortably. Rest assured that if you book a session with me, you are booking with someone who has your baby’s safety as number one priority and has the knowledge and experience to ensure it.
More questions? Never hesitate to reach out and ask! I am always thrilled to answer any questions and put all concerns at ease. If you haven’t booked your newborn session yet, fill out the inquiry form below!
