Three Wardrobe Looks during One Maternity Session | Outfit Changes

Sweet lovebirds, Kendra and Mac, chose three different looks for their maternity session with Sarah Borchgrevink Photography! See highlights below + tips for styling.

Howdy, friends! Today's blog post is all about how outfit changes during pregnancy portraits. For instance, clients often ask what my policy is on outfit changes; do I limit them? Are they allowed? Have no fear! While one dress is perfect for a pregnancy session, I completely acknowledge there will be parents-to-be and expecting couples who would like to showcase more than one look. I love embracing your ideas and welcome outfit changes.

A few tips on styling:

• Always start with the casual look first

• Let your hair and makeup artist know you will be doing more than one look

• Plan for changing time so your light looks wonderful throughout each portion

• Wear clothing that represents your sparkling personality

• Let your photographer know which look is your favorite so we can spend time as needed

Kendra and Mac are the sweetest lovebirds! Aside from being an adorable pregnant couple, they're also baby plan membership clients at Sarah Borchgrevink Photography. This in mind, I like to go above and beyond for parents who have booked not only pregnancy portraits, but also baby's first year of life. Of course, when you're a gorgeous as them any outfit looks great on you! 

For our time together, we used a location in Cypress, which is in Northwest Houston. We chose a sunset appointment so Mom and Dad could have plenty of time to prepare, especially since professional hair and makeup really enhance your session plus give you a huge confidence boost.

Outfit # 1: Casual T-Shirt and Jeans

The first outfit was a casual, simple look sporting adorable custom t-shirts saying 'new mom' and 'new dad'. These are great images for your baby shower, too! Having a new baby is super exciting and it's great to see parents who are proudly showing off their pregnancy!

Outfit # 2: Cultural Reflection

The second look was still casual, and easy to change into, yet reflects this couple's culture.

Outfit # 3: Formal gown attire 

Finally, the third look, seen below, is a formal and form-fitting gown which is a great addition during your pregnancy portraits! This shows your baby bump easily and truly highlights the feminine shape of an expecting mother. The warm, golden light looks fantastic behind Mom and even the wind helped us out by creating the soft, flowing hair below. Mom is truly radiant and glowing! This was my favorite look from our time together so we did lots of poses. There's a slideshow below if you're interested in seeing the full session!

As always, friends, thank you for stopping by to read about a fun topic, such as outfit changes during your maternity session! I look forward to sharing photos of their newborn portraits soon! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Warmly,

Sarah

See the whole session before you go!

Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer specializing in gorgeous posed newborn sessions. Her studio is located in Northwest Harris County. In addition to breathtaking baby portraiture, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting mothers and couples. Sarah joyfully serves the entire Harris and Montgomery county areas including Houston, Cypress, Tomball, Spring, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Memorial & West Houston, Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Richmond, West University and Rice Village.

 

10 Week Old Miso Wins the Award for Best Hair | Baby of the Month

See highlight's from Miso's in studio, posed "newborn" session and her rocking the best hairstyle! Featured portraits of the month at Sarah Borchgrevink Photography.

Lovely Locks Galore | Houston Baby Photography

Happy Tuesday, friends and welcome! Today's blog post showcases my favorite newborn session from this past month. While I adore each and every cherub who visits my Houston Newborn Baby Studio, there are sometimes sessions that have a particularly unique aspect to them. For example, I'm a professional baby portrait artist meaning I specialize in the custom art of posed newborn photography. I typically schedule my most petite & precious clients when they're around 6-9 days old. This is where I've seen the best results. 

However: rules can sometimes be broken. Babies can pleasantly surprise you!

To elaborate further, for instance, as of 2018, I am now offering appointments to babies outside of the traditional 14-day timeframe you'll typically see. I believe parents deserve to have amazing images of their darling bundles of joy. While earlier is best, there are many options for babies who miss the 14-day timeline and I joyfully invite you to consider a session with me!

Sometimes parents don't know how early they have to book to be on the calendar in advance. This is a great way to still fit in the last minute booking. Miso's parents, for instance, called me when baby girl was 10 weeks old and full term. However, no fear! Mom and I chatted for about an hour on the phone and talked about what she would like to see in their session since Miso is so much further along in development than a newborn. Mom requested macro images of baby plus parent posing. They also signed up for a baby plan membership with me, so I'll be seeing Miso for her first year of life. I'm thrilled to have them as membership clients and am blessed to meet such amazing, kind-hearted parents in Houston.

Anyway, since Miso was 10 weeks old and at the time of her session, she was sporting some amazing hair! Oh, my goodness - from the moment I started wrapping her, I could not believe how much hair she has! Mom joked they call her "Einstein," due to how her hair sticks up in the back, ha! 

Allow me to introduce Miso

Miso is a beautiful baby girl girl who weighed 6 pounds at birth. She was born on her due date in March 2018, specifically on the 3rd. When she visited my studio, she weighed a little over 9 pounds and had the creamiest, fair skin - so pretty! Mom requested all things girly for her session such as a muted pink to showcase the feminine aspects of a brand new girl. She was very alert for part of her session, giving me incredible eye contract! Her almond shaped eyes are full of wonder and truly soulful.

Here are just a few of my favorite images! Her parents received 57 gorgeous, perfected full resolution digital files in their gallery as well as the matching print. :-)

See the whole session below, including parent posing

Are you interested in scheduling your own portraits? Let's chat!

Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer specializing in gorgeous posed newborn sessions. Her studio is located in Northwest Harris County. In addition to breathtaking baby portraiture, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting mothers and couples. Sarah joyfully serves the entire Harris and Montgomery county areas including Houston, Cypress, Tomball, Spring, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Memorial & West Houston, Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Richmond, West University and Rice Village.

 

Photo Tips Newborn Sessions | Create Variety through Simple Posing

Through the use of simple newborn posing, Sarah Borchgrevink Photography shares ways to create soulful, unique and breathtaking newborn images.

Hi, friends! Welcome! Today's blog post is full of some tips for posing during a newborn session and how to make the most of each set up through simple posing. This topic is especially important to me since my newborn packages are digitally based: this means clients purchase full resolution digital galleries as well as a print release from me. This also means my galleries need to be full of variety from naked bean bag posing, parent images, macro details, lovely floor props and also back lit set ups. 

Over the years I have learned a great session flow that works well in my own studio space. I have curated my collections so that they may be photographed in about 2 hours. Part of photographing a newborn session efficiently means choosing what's most important to document and reading the baby's queues. Another aspect of creating variety in your newborn galleries is making the most of each and every set up. 

You may be asking, "Well, what does that mean?" If you're a beginner in the world of newborn photography, this can seem daunting or not very clear. However, it truly is simple: focus on the set up in front of you and don't rush. This can be achieved by:

• Using many different angles. A prime lens (such as a 50 mm or a 35 mm) is the best way to become creative. Because a prime lens is "fixed", meaning the lens does not zoom and is instead of set focal length, it's a good plan to move around. Angel your lens to many different angels through standing, sitting, "zooming" with your feet, etc. This will create variety even during the most simplistic of poses! This is especially helpful to a newborn photographer who is in the beginning stages of building a baby portraiture brand because you may not have quite figured out your session flow. Have no worries. It will come in time. Your own studio space will influence this for you and you'll learn what works for your preferences. I currently photograph about 10 set ups in two hours. 
• Hats or bonnets are an excellent way to add variety to simplistic posing, too! This can add variety by adding a pop of color and make the entire image look completely different! 
• Add a wrap to baby, too! You can drape an organic wrap or textile over baby and this will change the look of the image as well. Parents love sweet photos of their little ones swaddled, wrapped, or simple covered so they're a little more modest. 

The images above, for example, are of sweet baby girl Sage who visited at 8 days new. Her parents came from The Woodlands, TX for their posed newborn session and asked for hunter green during our time together. Baby is wrapped with her cute toes out, but we also used a classic bonnet and headband for her images so two different looks resulted from a simple switch. 

• Communicate with your clients. Don't be afraid to try different things. :-) You can also ask Mom and Dad what their favorite preference is, too! For example, yesterday's newborn session visited for a full newborn collection; in her prep e-mail we chatted about what poses she liked the most and what styles of wrapping. This allows you to focus on what's important to the parents and make the most of that set up + your time in studio. If the parents dislike a set up, just don't include it. This is also part of having Top Notch Customer Service, too - double score!

Before we delve into the 3 set ups that result in the most variety, you may be interested in reading about these topics: 

1.  The Three Free Cloud Storage Systems you should recommend to clients
2.  5 Must Studio Newborn Props on Amazon Prime
3. Pricing Your Newborn Collections | Packages & Pricing for Houston Sessions

Let's get started! Here are my go to set ups that are more simple yet can evoke a sense of tender beauty, are favorites among my own clients, and also can be full of variety, thus resulting in an absolutely fantastic newborn gallery! Wow your clients! 

Tootsie Wrap

Tootsie wrap is a wonderful way to create variety in your session! This sweet baby girl is named Zoya and she visited my Houston Newborn Portrait Studio when she was 17 days fresh and new; she slept beautifully for me and we used many gorgeous textiles from my favorite vendor for wrapping. The sage green is the perfect color on her gorgeous skin! I also paired this set up with a dainty, feminine and stunning newborn tie back from another great vendor named Violet Loves Me. 

Variety was created in this set up through the use of a floor prop (check out my favorite newborn session styling tips with vintage inspired floor items), and then also moving baby to bean bag. This was a simple adjustment that still looks cohesive, but also makes an impact since you have the wooden floors in one shot but then the soft, muted, classic sage green backdrop in another image. 

The second way to create variety here is to take the time do some macro images. When photographing my macro images, I like to wait until baby is nice and sleepy. I use a 100 mm f/2.8L macro lens from Canon. Macro images are especially near and dear to my heart because while I am a professional Houston newborn photographer, one of which works full time, I am also a mommy to three little ladies (Emma, Lucy and Amelia) and one dashing fellow (Jack) so I can attest how important these images are to parents. 

Through this one simple style of wrapping called tootsie, baby remains calm and content; you can take your time, capture these macro details and make your clients' heart sing when they see the beautiful work you've created. Simple posing is best because it showcases baby in the most lovely of ways; removing distracting pieces is truly the heart of my custom newborn portraiture because this preserves baby for a timeless and classic look.

Back Lit

Back lit images during newborn photography are some of my absolute favorite. So much, in fact, you may be interested in seeing which lighting equipment I have in studio and how I create gorgeous light with artificial lighting.

Back-lit images are also a great way to create absolutely breathtaking images in your newborn galleries because they're ethereal and ever so special as the soft, white light surrounds baby. The heavenly look is perfect for macro images, too! 

My favorite macro details are always profile, hands, lips and cheeks. 

Potato Sack Wrap

Baby girl Shelby visited my studio at 2 weeks new for a wrapped session. She looks lovely on the green backdrop of flokati rug. 

Potato sack pose is truly a stunning syle of newborn wrapping! Not only is rustic, fresh and organic, but it also can be done with both boy or girl babies. You can do a variety with potato sack pose from flokati rug, seen above, macro images, or even styling with different headbands or bonnets. This pose is versatile because it also may be used on bean bag, floor, or during parent shots. 

Specializing in timeless posed baby portraiture, Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer serving the surrounding areas including Houston metro & 610 area, Cypress, Katy, Spring, The Woodlands, Sugar Land, West University, Memorial & Galleria, Bellaire and The Woodlands, TX. See why Sarah offers the Best Newborn Photography. In addition to breathtaking newborn images, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting couples.

Sarah's Studio is located in Northwest Harris County