During their lifestyle newborn photo session a family of four laughs on their couch.

5 must take lifestyle newborn photos

I’ve gotten the honor to be invited into many homes and photograph their precious babies and with that I’m sharing 5 photos that must be taken during a lifestyle newborn session.

As a lifestyle newborn photographer I consider it my job to see and notice the good, the precious, the beautiful.

And with the job of taking newborn photos (and as a mama and before that a nanny/babysitter), I’ve gotten the honor to be invited into many homes, adored so many babies and helped quite a few families in those new baby days.

Now as a parent myself, I know how blurry, how exhausting, how emotional those first days are. When you wonder if you’ll ever sleep again, when you just have to about pinch yourself because your precious baby is HERE! When feedings and counting diapers takes up all the space in your brain.

Central Oklahoma newborn photographer takes a photo of a baby sleeping in parents arms.

When I enter your space my desire is to notice and capture the things that tell your story. So that in a few years you can look back and go, “oh yes that was what happened during those newborn days!” Those little bitty details and beauty in the chaos that tell the story of your new family. The things that you lose sight of in the blur exhaustion, excitement, change and delight.

For each of my lifestyle newborn sessions I have a list of “must get images” that guide my sessions. All of these are images that I try to make sure is taken.

Let’s chat about your session!

5 Must Take Lifestyle Newborn Photos

At each newborn photo session, this is the basic shot list I have of photos to take. I do consider all my sessions “baby-led” . This means we don’t confine baby to having to act a certain way or having to be in a certain position. If baby needs to eat, they get to eat. If baby needs to held and walked, we will work with that! Baby does not have to be asleep or overfed.

1 – baby with each parent – a top priority is photos of baby with each parent and parents together. This little one came from you and these photos are what I consider the most precious and most important. I especially focus on Mom and baby as usually mom is the one in photos the least as baby is growing!

2 – newborn alone – after all this little new baby is the whole reason we are taking photos!

3 – surroundings – the room baby sleeps in, that bottle and book sitting next to mama’s nursing chair, the home of the baby. These look different for every family and I look for what tells your family’s story most. I’ve done homes where we worked in only one corner and homes where we had several rooms!

4 – family shot – all of you together and in love. This is usually the most important photo for everyone.

5 – details – those itsy bitsy details that make a little one absolutely so delightful!