Do you offer at-home newborn sessions? These are a client favorite, but they require a slightly different posing style than a traditional studio session. In this post, we’ll be focusing on just one aspect of posing for at-home newborn sessions. Here’s how to pose new baby and family for a beautiful family portrait they will love!

Posing for the Family Portrait

Because it’s so important, I recommend capturing family portraits early in the session. My favorite way to do this is to tell everyone to pile on Mom and Dad’s bed. Tell them to sit really close and make sure they’re touching. Once everyone’s cozy, you can pose them with a few simple directions.

The 4 Poses I Aim For:

• Everyone looking at baby
• Mom and Dad kissing
• Siblings kissing the baby
• Everyone looking at the camera

How I Create the Poses

Everyone looking at baby

I usually say something like, “Everyone look at the baby. Oh, isn’t she sweet? Doesn’t he have the cutest nose?” This directs everyone’s attention to the new little one, creating a sweet, simple portrait that makes the newborn the focal point with minimal direction from you.

Mom and Dad kissing

Don’t worry too much about what everyone else is doing. When you ask Mom and Dad to kiss, the kiddos will usually look either at their parents or at the new baby. You’ll get some very sweet photos this way!

Siblings kissing the baby

If you direct young children to kiss the baby, they’ll usually try to kiss them on the mouth, which can squash baby’s face and make for less than perfect images. Instead, I’ll ask them, “Can you smell the baby’s hair?” By asking them to smell baby’s hair, you’ll get pictures that look like they’re kissing baby on the top of their head. Super cute!

Everyone looking at the camera

You can instruct everyone to look at you, but sometimes younger kiddos have trouble following this direction. I try to get creative in drawing their attention to the lens. “What’s in there, can you see? Is that a princess? Is she smiling?” Have fun with it, and they will too!

As you direct the family, make sure you’re moving around and capturing each pose from different angles. This will ensure that, even with just four simple poses, your clients will have plenty of variety to choose from when it’s time to select their favorite portrait.

The Photographer’s Guide to Posing for At-Home Newborn Sessions

Interested in learning more about posing for at-home newborn sessions? Grab the free guide here!