What to wear during newborn photo session
Today we will cover these clothing topics
One of the most asked questions after a booking newborn photo session is what to wear for a newborn photoshoot. I wanted to create a little guide and talk about what clothing mums, dads and siblings could be wearing. This is definitely not must-needed clothing but should give a good idea on what I would be looking for.
Few things to bear in mind are about clothing. Try to pack it or do a little shopping early. Most likely some of these items you might not have in your wardrobe. During newborn photo sessions, the studio is very warm (and I mean very warm!). The newborn baby wouldn’t be wearing anything, so we need to ensure that the studio is the right temperature to make little baby comfortable.
Newborn family photos what to wear.
Colours of the clothing. To determine what clothing you will wear, you need to decide if you would prefer light or dark clothing to wear during the newborn session. Final images would be either light, dark or medium grey background.
Keep it pretty neutral. Simple tones. Warm tones, beige works the best. White is ok, as it is easier to get it. If you are wearing black then you could have a medium grey or black background.
It all depends on how far in advance you are preparing for the session. The more time you have, the more you can research.
General guidelines.
- Whatever you’re wearing, make sure that it is ok if we end up with little accidents happening. Trust me, we will have them. Pretty much none of the sessions passes by without them. Either on mum or dad, but someone will get little wee or something more substantial on your top. Sometimes it is me who is getting all joys! :)
- Bring an extra set of clothing in case we have more that one accident happening :) Extra change of clothes is also useful if you want me to decide which combination is the best.
- This is important for mums. If you are concerned about your arms, I would recommend you definitely to bring long sleeves items or ¾ sleeve length tops.
- Make sure your clothes are ironed. It is an absolute nightmare to remove creases out of shirts. You can store clothes in hanger bags.
- Avoid clashing colours, stripes across the body, big logos. You don’t need to wear matching clothing, but similar tones are good. It depends on what tone of clothing is easier to by at the time.
Clothing recommendations for mums.
If you are planning to achieve a more skin to skin look with newborn baby, then I would recommend you to get something like a bandeau. Ideally, this is a light colour or skin colour if we are doing light background photos. If we are creating dark background photos then you would be getting a dark one.
You can also wear a long sleeve top or cardigan. Again light or dark would be your preference, it all depends on how are we planning your session and what type of newborn photos you are after. Normally I don’t mind if you are wearing jeans or leggings. I would be concentrating on photographing the upper part of the body. As long as you feel comfortable in your clothing, we should be ok.
Clothing recommendations for dads.
With dads, it is pretty simple. The same rules of plain clothing would apply. Same as mums, you would both decide if you go for lighter or darker background images. I recommend bringing both sets anyway.
Very often I photograph dads with no tops on. Of course, it is up to each of you if you want to do that. Sometimes dads want to show their tattoos, and I would either then photograph dad with no top on or maybe something like tank top/sleeveless top on.
If you wish your photos to look more formal, you can bring a few shirts too. Dark and light, and avoid lines in clothing.
What to wear for newborn photos with siblings.
More and more, I get to photograph siblings with their little baby brothers and sisters. To source out nice plain children’s clothing might be a bit tricky, especially for boys. Boys’ clothing lines pretty much always have some sort of logo, images, or other types of distracting elements.
For girls, it is a bit easier, although sometimes this means too much choice! I recommend to bring a couple of outfits in a dark tone (pretty much impossible to find) or just bring lightly toned outfits and I would photograph on the lighter background too. For girls, I would avoid wearing very fluffy dresses or tutus. If photographed together with newborn, it might take too much attention away of little baby.
What do newborns wear during the session?
Normally newborn babies are not wearing anything. The room is very warm, and I tend to concentrate more on simple photos that just show off the features of the baby. In saying that, however, we do photograph quite a lot of wide-awake newborns too, and we do have a great selection of various clothing pieces for them to wear. I like to wrap them up too, as it makes very pretty images. See the gallery below to see some examples.
One more thing I forgot to say. Don’t worry about bringing light-toned clothes. Sometimes parents think if they wear white, then they will disappear in the light background and it might result in a floating heads situation. Don’t worry! I light portraits in such a way that background becomes more off white and closer to a light grey tone, so you will be fine with light tone clothing.
For a few more ideas, you can have a look on my clothing Pinterest board too. It is more general clothing for shoots but could be a few ideas for you there.
Check out my other guides for parents. DIY newborn photos at home, DIY Maternity Photos, What to wear for black and white family photos.