Posed Vs. Lifestyle: What Type Of Newborn Photos Do You Want?

WHEN: Newborn Photos are done typically within the first month of a babies life. For posed sessions, it’s best to do newborn photos within the first 10 days. I think there is a sweet spot between 6-9 days, however. For Lifestyle Newborn Photos, you have the flexibility of doing them very early, like on day 5 or waiting until they have a sleep routine, at least a little bit, and photograph them on day 21-30. Waiting to photograph babies will make for more awake and alert photos, where as if a newborn baby is photographed in their first 10 days of life, they will most likely sleep the entire session. So that’s something to think about when choosing a photographer.

5 days old

21 days old

WHERE: You can do photos at a studio or photos in the comfort of your own home. To make this decision, think about the kinds of photographs you would like to have. Do you want photos of your baby in a basket against a backdrop or do you want photos or you holding your baby in your bedroom? Lifestyle Photography is considered to be the 2nd of these, lifestyle is more candid, more real and less posed. This allows for emotive photos, photos that make you feel something. This why I am a lifestyle photographer vs. a posed one. It speaks to me more, and the laid back nature of it is more my style and speed.

Here are some example of my favorite posed vs. lifestyle photographers:

Tarah Sweeney and Elise Meader are my top two Lifestyle Artists

I love posed newborn from Jesse Salter and Hilary Adamson