Santa Barbara Newborn Photographer

Santa Barbara Newborn Photographer

Santa Barbara newborn photographer A & J Photography, located on the Central Coast of California. We specialize in photographing newborns 2 weeks old and younger. At times, that isn’t possible. We can still achieve beautiful results. This baby came to us at 1 month old! It was such an honor to be able to capture images for the parents of this beautiful baby girl.

Older baby tips from Santa Barbara Newborn Photographer

When an “older newborn baby” (more than 2 weeks old) comes into Santa Barbara newborn photographer A & J Photography’s studio, we have some tricks to capture those cute sleepy images.

Preparation

First we send parents some sleepy baby tips that work well with any age baby. We keep the studio warm and use a noise machine & baby shusher to help make baby sleepy and comfortable.

Wrapping and swaddling the newborn baby

We start the session with wrapping the baby in one of our many swaddles. This helps the baby feel secure, like when they were in mom’s tummy.

Then we will take a variety of shots with the wrap, changing backgrounds, headbands, color of wrap, and take awake and sleepy shots if possible. Our favorite wraps are from Freebird Prop Shoppe. Freebird makes wraps and backdrops specifically for newborn photographers, and we have a lot of options to choose from here at our Santa Barbara Newborn Photography studio in Solvang.

Sometimes we will also make little changes like taking a the hands or feet out of the wrap to add more variety. Parents love this process because it is not stressful, due to the baby being comfortable and wrapped, and we still get beautiful and timeless images.

We will also photograph baby in a few props and different fabric or flokati backgrounds. It’s fun to add some on trend props to the gallery in addition to those timeless images. One of our favorite prop vendors is The Original Photoblocks, based out of the Netherlands. The specialize in fine, original and trendsetting newborn photography props. Our clients love them, and we are happy to offer a variety of choices from their shop.

Posing the baby

When baby has fallen asleep, we will slowly start to unwrap him or her changing the look and taking shots as we go. While we can’t guarantee that baby will cooperate, we have been very successful at getting at least one unwrapped pose with older babies.

Parent and sibling shots

We always recommend adding some family shots. Parent and sibling shots with the newborn baby are some of our favorites. These shots look very lovely with a swaddled baby. Our Santa Barbara Newborn Photographer studio is full of different backdrop options for parents and sibling shots. We have many different color backdrops – white is pictured below. We also have a a large window, backlit options, and a bed with a white comforter that is ideal for family shots.

Newborn photography detail shots

We love to include detail or “macro” shots of the newborn baby. In our Santa Barbara Newborn Photographer studio, we have the lighting and equipment to document those

When to Book

Most of our clients choose to book in the second trimester! Click here to get in touch today.