Newborn and Senior Session Tips and Tidbits

I had a goal to blog about every session I do, but I'm usually a little behind on my goals. Oh well, here's my last two sessions in one post. Since I put lots of pics on Facebook, I'm mainly going to use this as an opportunity to make some notes to myself, and who knows, maybe someone out there will find it useful too. I usually have at least one thing I can learn from each session. I hope I never stop learning!

I picked a spot in my clients house in front of a large glass door that was letting in plenty of light. If I was paying closer attention, however, I would have looked at the other side of the door which was free of furniture. Since there was a big china cabinet right next to me, I was unable to get any side shots of the baby and changing my shooting position plays a vital part in getting different angles and helping each picture look unique. This was pretty much as far over as I could get. It works, but I'm a perfectionist and it could have been better. I can't stand to have a ton of pictures that all look the same. So, next time, I'll need to pay attention to giving myself enough space to move around!
In this newborn session, I tried layering my backgrounds on top of each other, so all I had to do was gently lift the sleeping baby and pull the blanket back to reveal a new backdrop. It worked wonderfully. The session moved much more quickly that way and helped me get a variety of shots without having to wait for the little one to go back to sleep. I also organized all my backdrops, swaddle cloths, and hairbows or tutus into the groups I wanted before hand, so I didn't end up rummaging through a wadded up pile of fabric on my client's floor. Another advantage to this was that my client could choose which ones she liked the best and I could make them priority in the shoot. That's time management for ya.

For these senior portraits, I loved that he was comfortable looking in front of the camera, but it was at the end of the session when I worked up enough nerve to crack a little joke, that I saw some pretty natural smiles. Sometimes I let my introverted side get the best of me. Other than that, I was pretty happy with this session. I love all the walls and rocky textures that Tennessee has in its architecture!