NEWBORN
CLIENT GUIDE
HELLO & WELCOME!
Welcoming a new baby is one of life’s most extraordinary moments. The tiny fingers and toes, the softness of their skin, and the instant connection you feel are unlike anything else. Life changes the moment they arrive, and these early days deserve to be remembered with care and intention. We are honored you have chosen us to document this chapter for your family, and we cannot wait to meet your newest addition.
Lauren & Sarah
PLANNING YOUR SESSION
TIPS and guidelines to help prepare for your session
WHAT TO BRING
We want your portrait session to feel as easy and stress-free as possible. To help things go smoothly, here’s a short checklist of items to bring along:.
- Diaper bag essentials: diapers, wipes, extra clothes, pacifier, burp cloths, etc.
- Special heirloom pieces or personal props you’d like included. Such as quilts, swaddles, or nursery décor.
- Comfortable change of clothes for parents to have on hand in case of spills, accidents, or messes during the session.
If siblings will be part of the session, we recommend having them leave with a family member once their portion of the portraits is complete.
BEFORE THE SESSION
We know that it may be difficult to predict when your baby will want to eat and sleep during those first few days, but ideally, your baby should be fed, changed, and sleepy before the photo session begins.
- Give your baby a full feeding about 30 minutes prior to your session.
- Dress your baby in an outfit that does not have to be removed over their head. Snap or zip pajamas are great!
- Try to keep your baby awake for 1–2 hours beforehand so they’ll be more likely to sleep once we begin.
A little preparation goes a long way in ensuring your newborn is comfortable and ready, so we can focus on capturing every sweet detail..
OUR STUDIO
WE are located at 1701 Southwest Parkway #204, College Station, TX
INSIDE ENERGY PLAZA ON THE 2ND FLOOR
Props, Props, & more props!
Our studio is stocked with a carefully curated collection of beautiful and unique props. We offer a wide variety of headbands, hats, bonnets, wraps, backdrops, and specialty items to help create a session that feels personal to you. Every newborn session is customized to your style and preferences based on the details you provide in your pre-session questionnaire.
SNacks, beverages, and comfort!
We want you to feel at home while you are here. Our seating area features comfortable chairs, soft lighting, and a stocked refreshment area. You are welcome to enjoy coffee from our coffee maker, hot tea from our tea kettle, cold bottled water, and a selection of light snacks. A bottle warmer is also available for your convenience. Sit back, relax, and let us take care of everything.
SICK POLICY
To keep our studio a safe and healthy environment for every newborn, we require clients to let us know if anyone attending the session has been ill in the 72 hours prior to the appointment. This includes symptoms such as fever (99°F or higher), vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, cough, laryngitis, hand/foot/mouth disease, chickenpox, RSV, or influenza. We will gladly reschedule your session for a later date when everyone is healthy. We understand rescheduling can be inconvenient, but it is important to protect all of the babies in our care as well as ourselves.
RUSTIC WOOD
This backdrop creates an earthy, rustic feel with warm texture and character. It pairs beautifully with darker or jewel-toned clothing for a rich, grounded look.
WHITE WOOD
This backdrop offers a clean, bright, and airy style. It works best with light or pastel clothing for a fresh, soft, and modern look.
The NEWBORN SESSION
What to expect during the session
THE HEAT IS TURNED UP
It sounds bizarre, but we prefer to set the temperature much higher during a newborn session than what you’d normally have it. This helps baby feel warm, comfortable, and — most importantly, sleepy.
KEEPING BABY CALM
We’ve done quite a few newborn sessions in our day, and we have a few tricks up our sleeve to help calm fussy babies. However, in the case of a baby who is very upset, we are more than happy to reschedule.
FAMILY & SIBLING SHOTS
We know that having your older kids at the shoot for the entire session may be a bit much for them. For that reason, we photograph family and sibling poses at the beginning of the session. We request you arrange for childcare for them when they are not being photographed.
posing & wrapping
You don’t have to come up with poses or image ideas. We’ve got all that covered and know exactly how to set up an image to get great shots. We’ll also take care of all the prop setup and wrapping. We hand select props and backdrops based on your preferences.
PARENt help during posing
We encourage parents to relax in our seating area while we work with your baby. There are times, however, we may need parents' help during our shoots for composite imagery or spotting.
WE TAKE OUR TIME
There is no rush with a newborn session. We plan for extra time that baby may need for diaper changes, feedings, or breaks needed to soothe your baby into a deep sleep.
NEWBORN SAFETY
SAFELY CAPTURING PERFECT IMAGES
One of the questions we are asked most often is how we make newborn portraits look so perfect. The truth is, much of the magic happens both during and after the session, using a technique called composite imagery. This means we combine multiple photographs into one final image during post-processing.
Sometimes it is a matter of capturing the perfect expression in one image and combining it with another where the positioning is ideal. In other cases, we combine a backdrop scene with the image of your baby.
This is done not only for artistic effect, but also to ensure your baby’s safety at all times. We are highly skilled behind the camera and trained to keep your baby happy, comfortable, and safe throughout the entire session. For example, the popular “froggy pose” may appear as though a newborn is holding their head in their hands on their own, but in reality, it is created from two separate images carefully merged together.
The Art of Newborn Editing
Every detail perfected, while keeping your baby beautifully natural
Each image you receive is hand edited with care to highlight your baby’s natural features. Skin tones are gently balanced, redness is softened, and temporary blemishes or flakes are removed with precision. Birthmarks and other permanent characteristics are always left as they are unless you specifically request their removal. The result is a polished portrait that still feels authentic, preserving every detail that makes your baby uniquely yours.
FOLLOWING YOUR SESSION
WHAT TO EXPECT ONCE YOUR SESSION IS OVER
01. Once your session is complete, we carefully review every image taken. Test shots, duplicates, and any images that do not meet our standards are removed, so only the strongest photographs remain
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02. You’ll then receive a proofing gallery with lightly edited images. This gives you the opportunity to see a wide variety and choose the ones you love most.
03. After your selections are made, each chosen image is hand edited with care. Skin tones are balanced, temporary blemishes are removed, and details are refined to create a polished and natural result.
04. Your final gallery will be ready within 4–6 weeks and delivered through a private online link, where you can view, download, and share your portraits.
The questionnaire
Please fill out the following questionnaire to help us better prepare for your session
Some people were meant to be twin parents, and never have I felt more assured that a set of parents was ready for twins then these two. They are chill enough they didn`t find out the gender of their babies before birth, and yet on top of things enough to be EARLY to their newborn shoot? (This never happens). Truly impressive. How perfect are Theodore and Franklin?
The Andersson family is brand new to College Station and already winning at life because their realtor surprised them with a family session gift certificate when they closed on their house. Realtors, take note! This is the kind of closing gift that actually gets used and actually gets loved.
They showed up ready for fall photos and were an absolute dream to work with. And yes, we are wildly behind on posting all of our fall sessions, but honestly I choose to believe it just adds to the charm at this point.
So welcome to College Station, Andersson family. And please ignore the fact that we are posting this approximately seventeen years after fall ended. We’re doing our best.
There are two types of baby hair I particularly enjoy; the type my babies had, (which is none, you will find yourself reminiscent for the type of babies you had as an old lady like me) and the type Julia has, which is happy and spiky hedgehog hair. <3 Just the cutest little lady!
This beautiful little guy is Grayson! We don`t often shoot 5th kids, but we`ve had two this month,- kinda fun how things come in groups like that!
We`ve had a string of little boys in the studio (6) so it was kinda fun to be able to break out the soft pink and purples for Abigail`s shoot. Sometimes I wonder how I got lucky enough to play dress up with babies as a job. <3
@LAURENANDSARAHPHOTOGRAPHY
