In-Home Newborn Session With Fill Flash

This in-home newborn session with fill flash was a fun session because mom has great style and the whole family was fun and easygoing, plus the nursery is to die for!

I shot this family’s maternity session at a gorgeous Pittsburgh location a couple months prior to the newborn shoot, so that gave me the chance to get to know Mom & Dad so that we were acquainted when it was time for their newborn session. I offer maternity as a discounted add-on for this very reason! I like shooting maternity sessions and they give me the opportunity to get to know my clients.

Though this mom had great style instincts, there was some conversation ahead of time about what to wear and what works well for newborn sessions. I am a photographer who prefers a natural and timeless newborn session that will not look dated or trendy down the road, so I make sure to communicate that to my clients before they book with me. The last thing I want is for my client to expect to incorporate a costume or other themed prop that is not consistent with my style—when someone has this in mind, I refer them to another photographer in Pittsburgh who works in a more posed, prop-heavy style. I consider myself a “guided lifestyle” newborn photographer…. I shoot many candid images, but I definitely do some directing and posing to flatter my clients and produce the kind of images I know they will hang on their walls. This session ended up being a little more guided because the baby was passed out asleep for almost the whole session!

I shoot and edit in a very clean and natural style, paying close attention to shooting for good exposure and color. To get a bright and sharp image, I almost always use Speedlites at an indoor session. I generally use 1-2 Speedlites on stands or clamps and bounce them off the ceiling or walls, though I do have a few compact modifiers that I use on occasion if the ceiling won’t work well to reflect the light. I like to use as much window light as possible so this usually means using an ISO of 800-1600 the shooting inside. I find that with my 6D this still produces an exceptionally sharp image that looks great on enlargement. For accurate color I use a ColorChecker and/or an Expo Disc.

Fun fact about this session—the baby’s belly button was still a large stump at her newborn session, and I was unable to retouch it in a way that looked natural. I came back about a week after their session to re-shoot her belly button, which I then added back to her belly in Photoshop.

These clients loved their images and purchased several Organic Bloom frames and an album, so they have gorgeous tangible products to commemorate their baby’s birth.

Missy Timko is the lead photographer at Powder Blue Photography in Pittsburgh, PA.  She shoots clean & timeless portraits of newborns, maternity, children, families, and seniors. Be sure to visit her website here.

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