As Chesterfields leading Newborn photographer i’ve seen many photographers offering Newborn photography.
Unfortunately, the newborn photography industry has been seen, by both new and experienced photographers, as somewhat of a easy money earner, thus seeing the rise of people offering newborn photography all over the world, including Derbyshire.
As someone who has been creating beautiful Newborn portraits for near on 5 years, I can tell you its not easy as you might think and carried out by someone who’s not trained, can be quite dangerous.
Unlike many other forms of photography, which you can pretty much give it a go and develop your skills, no ones going to get hurt. Even wedding photography, to a certain extent, can be carried out by someone who is learning. Although I do recommend you use a professional to ensure you get your perfect day captured beautifully, if you did decide to use an inexperienced photographer, you may get your photos ruined, but no one is likely to get injured.
Newborn photography is completely different.
You are handing your tiny day’s old baby to a total stranger. This stranger is then going to pose them and take photos. Sounds easy right, like anyone could do it.
Now think about this.
That person is going to manipulate your tiny baby’s soft and fragile body into poses they wouldn’t naturally go into themselves. Poses that they are perfectly happy to be in, if the person doing them knows exactly what they are doing. Doing a pose wrong, can cause harm to your baby, cutting off circulation and damaging fragile joints.
I’ve have been highly trained in the art of newborn photography, not only to take beautiful photos but how to pose ensuring the baby is safe throughout the session. You can take a look at my blog about safety here
Over the years i’ve heard some horror stories of babies all over the world (and in the UK) getting injured during newborn photo shoots. Babies face planting on beanbags while the photographer is trying to do an unsupported froggy pose, babies falling off beanbags and out of props. One baby had its scull fractured when the photographer didn’t take the proper safety precautions and caught the baby’s head with their camera.
This is not a photo shoot that you can get anyone to do, you need a highly trained professional specialising in newborn photography.
Here are some questions to ask your newborn photographer before you book them.
How long have they been trained in newborn photography?
Being a photographer for years has no bearing on being a competent newborn photographer. I know wedding photographers who have been in business for 20 years who can not pose a baby safely.
Do they do the following poses as composite (this is where photoshop is used to produce a photo), Froggy, Head on arms and cocoon:
If the answer to any of those is no, run a mile. All theses poses should only be done while the baby is fully supported and then photoshopped to produce the final image. Any of these done unsupported (ie baby is left to balance) can be quite dangerous and cause serious harm to your baby. Even if the photographer says they used a spotter, a baby can throw themselves out of poses in a split second, a humans reaction time is not that quick.
What do they do to ensue the baby is kept safe during the session?
Room temperature needs to be kept at a level to keep baby snuggly and warm. Babies can not regulate their own body temperature and a close eye must be kept on subtle change to ensure baby doesn’t overheat.
Going back to the above, parents or spotters are used when doing more advanced poses and kept fully supported.
Your baby is the most precious thing in your life, don’t put them at risk by using an untrained photographer.
