Vintage Meets Classic for Timeless Newborn Portraiture | Gorgeous Posed Sessions through buckets, bowls, baskets and other floor props.
Floor Prop Styling during a studio newborn session with Sarah Borchgrevink
Friends, hi! I'm excited you're visiting today! This blog post is a great overview on floor props, how to style them, and from which I pull inspiration. Many parents ask, "What's a floor prop?" If you're curious about this, I've got all the information you need!
If you've visited before, you probably know my name is Sarah and I adore all things newborn portraiture. I spend my days in studio wrapping precious babies, snuggling them, getting to know their parents, and truly delighting in capturing the custom art of posed baby photography. I'm located in Houston and it's my favorite place to be!
All of my newborn collections include at least three floor props during our time together. Sessions are around 2 hours long so we have plenty of time to feed baby, do lots of cozy, unique wrapping, implement naked bean bag posing, and ensure we utilize many classic floor props, which will be previewed below.
Before we get started, floor props are literally what they sound like: props that are placed on the floor, ha! Examples include:
- Buckets
- Pails
- Bowls
- Baskets
- Trenches
- Many more! Anything is possible in the world of baby photos, ha!
Floor props are also a wonderful way to add variety to your session because baby may be wrapped or added into many different types of props so that your session is full of stunning images! We want each image to stand alone and be gorgeous.
Classic Wooden Bowl & Trench
My favorite floor props to use are typically of the wooden variety since they're both rustic and organic. After all, why be trendy when you can be timeless? As women, we all have that special little black dress in our closets. My floor prop stash is like that black dress: dependable, classic, timeless, classy, totally gorgeous no matter the occasion, ha! For instance, the baby girl featured above is named Sophia. She visited my studio space when she was 7 days fresh and new. Her mama relayed she liked girly set ups, so I pulled an antique quilt I picked up at a local shop an paired it with an organic wrap, that's soft and peach. This exudes all things girly and precious! After all, little girls are angels and should look feminine and dainty during the session. This type of wooden bowl is also versatile because you put baby on their belly, side, back, and shoot from many different angles.
However, wooden bowls and trenches can also be styled to look more masculine. This bowl, shown above, features Dylan who visited at 11 days new. He is wrapped in a taupe textile and has an adorable bear hat and matching teddy in his hands. The styling is vintage and timeless so that nothing is distracting from his handsome face. Look at his sweet little lips! His precious pout just made me sigh with happiness during our time - capturing details like this makes my day!
Rustic, Organic Wooden Boxes & Crates
Crates and boxes are excellent choices for vintage inspired newborn photography! They can be styled to reflect either gender; they look fantastic with any color option and also can fit pretty much any size baby.
When parents notify me of their little darling being earth side, I do take their weight and size into consideration. After all, baby should fit into the prop but not be swallowed up so that you cannot focus on them.
Wooden, classic props are also an excellent opportunity to document baby's macro images, too. Macro images, you see, are those up close, darling details of a new baby. These are the characteristics parents spend hours memorizing; you will not want to forget these! Examples of macro images are lips, toes, nails, eyelashes, etc - everything newborn! Since baby is styled perfectly, you can take your time and capture these detailed images. This adds much soul and breathtaking portraiture to your final baby gallery, too! Parents love these!
Sloane, for instance, shown above, has the most lovely little lips and hands. She has cheeks for days, so when she is wrapped so snuggly into this box, I made sure to take advantage of her sleeping so soundly.
As you may have noticed, wooden boxes and crates can be styled in numerous ways. They look amazing with deep, vibrant tones or even soft, muted neutrals and pastels. I like to have fun and be creative here when working with newborn loves; I have many vintage quilts, textured pieces, and adorable knitted hats/bonnets/caps to adorn your sweet baby.
Wooden Bench
This wooden bench is an absolute dream! It cradles baby perfectly and can be either styled with neutrals or color, though I do prefer muted color schemes with this floor prop.
Antique Scale
The antique scale is the perfect vintage prop because it fits any baby or gender! This sweet boy, for example, is over 10 pounds but when he visited I was able to add him into this floor prop piece. I don't use the scale often, but when I do I am reminded how cute it is, ha!
Wire Baskets
Wire baskets are a huge must have for any newborn photographer! Wire baskets are versatile because they come in any shape, size, or color. I happen to have several of these and enjoy using them in my posed newborn portraituer because the styling is always timeless. They make for the perfect bed or snuggly set up.
This gold one, for example, was purchased from Home Goods and is dainty and fresh. Anytime a mom tells me she likes the color gold I remember this basket and pull it from her. It can be used with peaches, pinks, mauves, white, purple or even cream and ivory.
A circular wire basket is a great vintage prop because it's a nice alternative to a wooden bucket. You can use any color here, too, based on your preferences.
Furthermore, a square or rectangle wire basket is also a lovely option because it's super versatile. The next image you see, shown below, is all things rustic earth tones and neutral.
But then of course, a round circular basket is fantastic because it can hold baby perfectly.
Woven Basket
Finally, a woven basket can be styled for vintage newborn portraiture because it can look lovely with any color, baby, or gender. This little girl, for instance, visited for a full newborn collection at 8 days. Addie is about 7 pounds here, but fits perfectly. I think it's extra sweet when their little fingers hand over the prop, too!
As always, I graciously thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read about what inspired me as a newborn portraiture artist. If you liked reading about how to style posed newborn sessions through vintage inspired pieces, such as floor props, you may like reading the following:
Specializing in posed baby portraits, Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer serving the surrounding areas including Houston metro area, Cypress, Katy, Spring, The Heights, Sugar Land, West University, Bellaire, and The Woodlands, TX. In addition to breathtaking newborn images, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting couples.