Unsure which session length to book for your newborn photo session? I hope this guide will help you to see which is best for you.
You might also find it helpful to see examples below from 3-4 hour sessions and from 2-hour sessions. You can also hear from families why they chose the session length they did – and what they’d recommend.
Do get in touch to discuss what you’d like from the photographs. I’m very happy to offer guidance on what will be most appropriate for you.
3-4 hour session
No time pressure
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Natural moments
With a 3-4 hour session, we can allow each moment to unfold more naturally, meaning I can photograph really genuine family moments.
Siblings
There’s more time to capture the bond between siblings.
It’s also wonderful documenting your overall family life – while your newborn’s snoozing, for example, I can photograph older children playing Peepo and playing in the garden.
Outside the ideal 7-10 day window
If your baby is already out of the 7-10 day window and you’d rather not wait for their 6-week milestone, a 3-4 hour session gives us lots of flexibility. Your newborn may well be cluster feeding, experiencing colic or needing lots of winding and soothing.
Extended family present
A 3-4 hour session is highly recommended if you’d like to involve grandparents or extended family – there’ll be a lot going on!
Lots of variety
3-4 hour sessions allow for lots of visual variety: photographs in different rooms; in different outfits; with your baby both awake and sleep; at home and outdoors. Having a great variety of expressions, colours and moments works really well if you’d like to make an album.
2 hour session
Ideal time frame
2-hour sessions are designed for babies who are in the 7-10 day window, or at their six-week milestone.
Slightly swifter session
I’ll move on a little more swiftly once I’ve got each shot – this means the balance naturally falls more on lifestyle photography than on documentary photography.
Still no rush
Rest assured that I’ll always work at your baby’s pace, and that even with a 2-hour session, there’s still plenty of time for feeds, nappy changes and cuddles.
Siblings
There’s still time to photograph siblings together (likely just one scenario), as well as for me to take a couple of individual portraits of your older child/ren too.
A mum's experience with a 3-4 hour session
I asked Heather, mum of a toddler and a newborn, about her experience with a 3-4 hour session:
– Why did you choose a 3-4 hour session rather than a 2-hour session?
Having had a baby before, we were conscious that sleep/naps/ changes can de-rail a morning. Having a bit of extra time meant we could relax and work around the natural rhythm of the day.
Louise photographs with a natural warmth. This was exactly what we wanted in capturing those first special days.
We found it was the perfect session length to get a wide variety of images, without the shoot taking over the whole day. Shots included our baby awake, sleeping and feeding. The longer session also gave our older son time to meet Louise and relax into the experience. That definitely gave us both some fun and very sweet shots. Louise was great at getting him into the whole process. She engaged him in a fun way to make everything look as natural and un-staged as possible. We really enjoyed the whole shoot.
How do you think your photographs / experience would have been different if you’d had a shorter session?
We moved from being in the garden as a family, to individual baby portraits in the bedroom. Louise took shots of our son sleeping, then waking and feeding, in various locations, with each of us individually and also as a family. I’ve no doubt that less time would have meant we missed out on some of these. I’m delighted we had photos that recorded all aspects of the day. Newborns’ routines change so fast in those first few weeks. Having beautiful photos to remember all the little details of that time is very special.
– Could you imagine having achieved the same results in a 2-hour session?
No, not with the same breadth or variety of image styles, or with our son both awake and asleep. When they’re very young, babies do sleep a lot. It would have been quite possible for our son to have been asleep throughout a 2 hour shoot! Even the way the light changed across the morning gave our images variety visually, which we loved.
– What advice would you give to other parents trying to decide which session length is right for them?
Think about what you want out of the shoot. If you’re after one or a couple of specific images that matter to you, then a shorter session could work and not interrupt your day or routine very much. A longer session gives you a reportage style session, capturing moments and details as they unfold. It also takes any pressure off.
The longer session allows you to enjoy your time with your new baby.
Some photographs from their newborn session
A mum's experience with a 2 hour session
I asked Heather, mum of a toddler and a newborn, about her experience with a 2 hour session:
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Some photographs from their newborn session
Hear from more parents about their experiences
We chose a longer session because we had newborn twins, plus 4 members of the extended family all present for the shoot – we wanted to make sure that we would be relaxed enough to get lots of good photos taken for everyone.
By having a longer session, I could take as long as I liked to breastfeed and to calm the babies, knowing that there was going to be plenty of time. The baby girls took turns getting grumpy, needing to be fed, and falling asleep so I was very glad we had a longer session – having extra time gave me peace of mind.
A lot of beautiful photos that were taken for us occurred when we were not posing or looking at the camera, but just going about our business, having a chat with the grandparents, pointing at a helicopter that was flying past, or cooing over the babies. You won’t get those kind of shots if you are wary of timing or that you’re trying to schedule/orchestrate every composition. Go for the longer session and you’ll be a lot more relaxed.
We chose a longer session to allow maximum scope for a wide variety of shots, involving both my husband and me with our son. Our newborn was only 10 days old at the time, so the longer session was particularly helpful given his need to frequently feed, sleep etc.
We had a wonderful experience. Louise was lovely and helped with our 10 day old son enormously (especially given we were first time parents!). She was very patient and understanding, and had a lovely manner with our son.
The result was a fabulous range of photos and in different settings. Having the longer session allowed our son to rest when needed in between settings. The photographs made a lovely album, which was put together beautifully.
We chose a longer session because we wanted to make sure we had time to get natural photos. The longer session allowed time to take a wide range of relaxed shots, and was an enjoyable experience for all of us.
The longer session allowed plenty of time for feeding, changing and to create a relaxed atmosphere. Louise was able to capture a wide range of photographs of him both awake and asleep, and of us all together. The extra time made the whole thing stress free and meant that we didn’t have to create any forced moments. This was reflected in the happy and natural photos we got.
The longer session allows much more flexibility and gives a wide range of shots. It also ensures a very relaxed process which I think is reflected in the quality of the photos.
We wanted photographs to remember how tiny and perfect our newborn was.
We didn’t know if his patience would last for a 3-4 hour session, so we booked in for a 2 hour session which worked well for us.
It helped that Louise is a baby whisperer who managed to settle our baby easily when he cried.
Our photographs are beautiful. We hadn’t considered including ourselves in the pictures, but these are some of our favourites. The photographs are modern without gimmicks or props which is exactly what we wanted.
We felt 2 hours would be more doable with a newborn. We had plenty of time – Louise was very flexible and got some wonderful natural shots as we went about our daily routine.
2 hours felt sufficient for a newborn shoot with a first baby. If you have a bigger family, you may well wish to go for a longer session.
We wanted natural photos in our own home which is why we chose Louise. We live in a small flat, and Louise took photographs in different rooms and settings.
The photos came out beautifully – we were very pleased with all of them.
I hope you found these examples helpful. Do just ask though if you’d like to discuss which would be the best session length for you.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Sources
My approach
I’m known for being a calming presence, and I will gently capture the magic of your newborn bubble.
Newborn blog posts you might like
Newborn Photography:
Investment Guide
If you’re interested in having your own newborn photography session, this brochure gives you an overview of what to expect from working with me, and a full breakdown of prices.
You’ll get an automated email with a link to view the guide instantly (please check your spam/junk folder if it’s not in your inbox!).
And I’ll send you a personal follow-up email as soon as I can, usually the same working day.
A little freebie
I spend a LOT of time in baby’s nurseries! And I love interior design. Having cooed over hundreds of gorgeous nurseries, I thought I’d share some of the best ideas I’ve seen.
This free guide includes:
- 10 top trends in nursery design
- Interview with a designer maker
- 7 top nursery suppliers and stockists
- Links to 5 great articles on nursery design
I hope this inspires you with your own nursery plans 🙂
