TORONTO BABY PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
SUPER FUN BABY PHOTOGRAPHY
Typically done at the 6-9 month mark, before your baby is crawling or cruising, and before they begin to loose their baby fat, their cuteness factor is seriously maximized! What better time to capture their essence in a classic and fun baby portrait?
What to Expect
For the 90 minute session, I typically arrive just after your baby's morning nap or just after his afternoon nap. We can coordinate the time closer to the session date as a baby's nap schedule tends to change every couple of weeks. I start taking pictures shortly after I have a look around and find the brightest and least cluttered areas in your home. Often the living room and master bedroom are good spots. The master bedroom in this shoot had a lovely white tufted headboard and matching white sheets. As soon as I saw it I know it would be my prime location.
What to Dress your Baby In
Given the white on white location, I suggested that we dress him in only a white onesie. This has the benefit of matching the white look and showing off his adorable arms and legs and toes.
Well Fitted
Regardless of your colour scheme at home, I suggest you have clothes on hand that fit your little one. That may be harder than it seems as clothes are often too big or already too small.
Plain as Possible
Secondly, try to find clothes that are as plain as possible. That means avoiding bold patterns, logos or really bold colours. Again, this is often tricky to find as so many baby clothes are adorably loud. Of course that makes them so fun in real life, but in a photograph they can overwhelm the image. You want to see your baby's face first when you look at the photographs. If you notice the outfit first, then it was likely too bold.
Best Age for Baby Photography IS 6-9 MOnths
The photographs in this article were all done when Harrison was about 8 months old. He was strong enough to sit up on his own. Yet, he was not quite able to walk. He was beginning to cruise around the couch, the coffee table and the window sill with the help of his mum. This is an ideal time for his official baby portrait. Very shortly after this Harrison was off and moving. Not only did he thin out a lot (and let' face it they are cute at any age but the fat rolls are definitely worth photographing), but he quickly got to a point where sitting still was way less interesting than moving about.
So, for the most effective and adorable baby portrait, aim to book your session with me at around the six to nine month time frame. If you find your wee one is developing early I can always come sooner. Conversely, if you find he is taking his time getting upright, we can always push the session back a few weeks until he is ready for his moment in the spotlight.
Best Time of Day IS AFTER A NAP
As you have probably noticed, having a baby means being on their schedule from the moment they are born. In the early days this could mean sleepless nights and exhausting days. If you are planning a newborn session, you ideally want to have that session completed within the first 10 days of your baby's birth. Email me for more information about a newborn session.
Once your baby hits the four month mark, you should begin to notice a more predictable napping routine. That can mean two or three naps per day. Since babies are often up early the first nap is usually around 8am, the second around 1pm and the third around 4pm. So, ideally I would plan to arrive as one of these naps are ending. For example, if your baby is usually pretty happy in the morning, I would recommend we start at around 9 or 10 am, as he is waking up from his first nap. We can talk through all of that when you call me to book your session.
How to Plan
The best way to plan is to start by tidying up your living room and master bedroom the day before the session. Babies are so little but we end up having so much stuff for them. Ideally you would relocate all the stuff to a dark room that you know we wont be using.
Then if you could make your bed that would be great to. As you can see from all of these photographs of Harrison, the master bed is often a terrific place to photograph your baby.
Once I arrive, your little one should be getting up from his nap. You will need time to feed and change him at that point. This is a great time for me to look around and scout where I am going to take pictures. It also gives your little one time to get used to me so that the smiles will be flowing by the time the actions starts.
At about the 80 minute mark your baby will likely tire out and that will be my clue to start wrapping up. You will likely need a rest at that point to. There will be a lot of laughing and signing and entertaining during the session so plan for a bit of down time for yourself afterwards.
How to Book
I am SO looking forward to meeting and photographing your baby. I know your time is precious so I have made the booking session easy. First, have a look at my pricing. There is a session fee as well as the cost of products such as the digital files, prints, albums and cards.
Second, contact me to pick a day and time for the session. As I mentioned earlier, as the session day approaches we can always move the day and time to accommodate your little one's growth and nap schedules.
Finally, once we have a date in the calendar I will send you a link to my easy on line contract where you can pre-pay for the session.
How to ORDER the Photos
About two days after the session, we will have a virtual sales session so that you can view and order your photographs. This is where you will have the opportunity to purchase prints, wall art, custom photo greeting cards, albums and whatever display ideas you would like. I will share a link to a password protected on-line gallery that we will review together during the call. It will have about 40 photographs from the session.
By sharing my screen during our video call, I can walk you though the collection using my software, help you identify your must-haves, and guide you to selecting products that will be show off your favourite baby photographs.
Once you place your order and pay by eTransfer, the order will be sent into production at a local high quality professional lab right here in Toronto. They will ship your products directly to you. Any digital downloads that you order will be sent to you via email.
How to SHARE THE Photographs
After you place your order, the link to the gallery will remain active for another week. You can easily share the link to the on-line gallery with your friends and family. I find grandparents get particularly excited as they scroll through the gallery. They are welcome to place their own orders for prints, cards, frames, albums, etc. using the same on-line gallery.
Order Announcements and Holiday Cards
Many of my clients purchase lovely photo cards that have a photograph on the front (and possibly inside and on the back) of the card. They then have writing on the cover and inside.
This is a great way to send announcements to your loved ones, as well as create memorable holiday cards. Your on-line gallery will have greeting card options that you can select and design yourself. I use a local professional lab to print the cards so the paper quality is usually superior to that found elsewhere. All packs of 25 cards come with envelopes.
Thank you to Harrison!
I want to thank the fabulous Harrison and his wonderful mother for permission to use the photographs from his baby session on my website. This last shot is one that makes me laugh every time I see it. Near the end of the session Harrison was very curious about the reflector that I was using to accentuate the natural light in the bedroom. He played with it for a while, and like all things a baby gets a hold of, it ended up in his mouth. Why use a reflector for light when it can be used as a snack instead?
Chaos and cuteness!
I look forward to working with you to create an unforgettable baby portrait of your Precious Little.