Jack Alexander is 7 Months Old & I’m Obsessed | Dapper Baby Boy Photos

Cutest Baby Boy in Houston | 7 Month Studio Sitter Session by Sarah Borchgrevink Photography

Greetings, friends! Today's blog post is totally going to be biased because Jack, my sweet angel, is 7 months old and I cannot help but think he's the most handsome baby in all of Houston, ha! Of course, because he's mine, I cannot help but be super biased. First things first: I'm TOTALLY obsessed with him! There, I said it! He is my last baby and smitten does not even begin to describe how much I adore him. 

If you follow me on through social media, you may know I have four kiddos total. I just keep having babies, ha! Can't stop, won't stop - well, until now, ha! My little ones are named Emma Olivia, Lucy Rose, Amelia Charlotte Ann, and then our grand finale is Jack Alexander. When announcing the pregnancy, we did a super fun gender reveal in the studio so everyone could share our joy! 

Anyway, as one of Houston's Top Rated Baby Photographers (2016, 2017, and 2018), my studio is the perfect place for having your little one's photos taken! Not only do I have an amazing set of newborn props, I have a huge variety of gorgeous items for babies who are 3-12 months old; The first year of life is full of precious milestones! I offer fully customized baby milestone sessions to all of my clients. Everything is provided such as hand-created attire and all props/styling, such as buckets, bowls, etc. Check out a sample view of my client closet to see if these timeless, classic and adorable outfits are a good fit for you. :-) 

All of this information in mind, I could not wait until Jack is sitting up and able to take sitter photos. As of 7 months old, he is 24 pounds, 28 inches long, and is truly the happiest baby on the block! Of all my kiddos, he may be the most laid back. He loves snuggles, playing, rocking, visiting the park, spending time with his big sisters, and of course, he is still downstairs in the master bedroom. I have yet to move him into his nursery! I recently told my husband, "It's like another zip code upstairs, I cannot sequester him away to there!" He still fits into his pack 'n play so no worries. Sometimes he sleeps through the night, other times he is up about 1-2 times and drinks huge bottles. Jack is a complete joy and I'm super proud to be his mommy!

A quick review of Jack's Newborn Session | Posed So Sweetly

Because I am a professional photographer (yes, it says that on my W-2 ha!), I was really excited to photograph Jack's first few days of life through a beautiful & stunning set of images. I did hire a great friend to photograph the family images, but my goodness, it was a complete honor to work with my own earthside cherub. Macro images are some of my absolute favorite photos from each newborn session I photograph so I cannot help but share a few. These are the up close, precious details that set your baby apart. Unique aspects and features are privy to your baby you spent 9 months dreaming of. As a mom, these are special to me because you think you have memorized every details such as their full lips, button nose, tufts of hair, and sweet serene sleeping face, but when you look at images of their first week of life they have changed so much!

Jack's Favorite Activity | Visiting the duck pond

Since I work full time, my husband is the stay at home parent to our little ones. It's also really warm in Houston right now. We've had a super high heat index of about 104 degrees lately, so it's not until evening can my kiddos got outside and play. To give my husband a break (it's true: stay at home parents work so so so so so hard!), I will often take my little ones to the duck pond, which is in my neighborhood. My kiddos love to say hi to the animals such as the turtles and ducklings. We also like to watch people walk their dogs and also get to say hi to some of our neighbors. Our routine has now evolved into going on a walk to get some much needed energy out, and when I tell Jack we're going to visit the ducks, he claps his hands and smiles so big! It's his favorite activity at  7 months old. 

As always, friends, I am excited to share information with you! If you enjoyed reading about Jack's 7 month old photos, you may also be interested in your own session. Check out the links below for information on Houston Newborn Photography, Cake Smash Photography, or even Little Sitter Sessions, which are a 6-8 months old.

• Newborn Photography Houston | Sample Gallery of Boy versus Girl

• 12 Month Cake Smash | Capturing Baby's Precious Personality

• 6 Month Sitter Milestone Sessions | How to Schedule

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.

Editing a Posed Newborn Session in Adobe Lightroom |Before & After

How to Edit A Newborn Photo in Lightroom | Effective and Easy Tips

Tutorial by Sarah Borchgrevink | Professional Editing Software

Howdy, friends! Today's blog post shares some effective tips and tricks for editing a newborn session in Adobe Lightroom. First and foremost: please allow me to introduce myself! I'm Sarah! I'm a professional newborn photographer in Houston TX; I specialized in posed baby sessions within a studio environment. Because my sessions are affordable and have completely transparent pricing, I am often booked well in advance. I have around 20 new arrivals in my studio monthly, which means I've learned how to edit my sessions very quickly! The best way I have learned is through Lightroom. Let's get started!

The sample photo I'm using today is of a sweet little girl named Layla. She visited my Houston Newborn Portrait Studio at 7 days old and her parents booked my 'petite' package, which includes those oh-so-adorable naked poses. This means all of her skin is exposed, so she's a great example for how to quickly streamline your editing when you have a ton of work on your desk!

Before & After | How to Achieve This Look

White Balance Adjustment

To foundation to an amazing newborn portrait is always having the perfect white balance. In my studio, I use professional lighting, and specifically use constant lights. You may be interested in this post sharing how I create a natural light look through studio lighting. I tend to prefer warmer white balances, such as 5300 degrees, or so. Whether you prefer warm or cool temperatures, make sure it is very consistent throughout the entire session. Don't jump around - it'll make the gallery lack cohesiveness. Here you will also look at the magenta and adjust as needed. I tend to prefer rosy images so I was a 50 on the magneta slider.

Creamy Skin Development | Reduce Red, Yellow, and Orange Skin Tones

To create those gorgeous creamy skin tones, I use my sliders in Lightroom. This is my next step after adjusting white balance. I will always start by removing the colors that are too strong in the images; for instance, newborn babies typically have a yellow, red, or orange undertone to their skin. The best place to begin would be by increasing luminescence, which gives baby that beautiful glow, reducing saturation, and adjusting hue. I placed a screenshot above. Of course, you are going to have different settings for different babies, but the sliders in Lightroom will give you full control of the babies skin as far as color.

Fun tip: you can create skin presets on your own without even having to pay for them.

Once you find the look you prefer in your own studio, developing presets will not only make your editing lightening fast, but will give you a very consistent look. Each gallery you send to parents should be very similar to the galleries earlier that week. This is part of your brand and being one of the Best Photographers in your area! 

 

Smooth Skin

I do not do any skin smoothing in Photoshop for any of my newborn sessions. With the exception of the froggy pose, (check out a free step by step tutorial on how to safely pose a baby) all of my editing is done in Lightroom. After fixing white balance, adjusting baby's skin tone, and cropping my images, I will then skin smooth the baby. Babies can handle a reduction in clarity; I also will reduce the contrast a little bit, such as by -8, and will increase my highlights by +3, so baby still has beautiful contours and shadows to their face without the light look flat.

I will use the brush for this portion or (k) on a PC. Generally, the density is about 50-55, and I'll smooth different parts of the baby more than others. Their face, for example, always gets around 3 sets of brush strokes. Make sure you "erase" the brush on their lips, nose, and hands, however, so you do not lose detail.

Sharpen

After this, I sharpen the image last because I want to make sure it's not too sharp, but may also need more sharpening after the skin smoothing. This entire process takes me about 2 minutes/image, which means I can fully edit a newborn gallery in less than an hour. For sharpening, I prefer it to be around 70, with noise reduction at 12-15, depending on my ISO. Of course, these items will depend on what your own camera settings are. In my studio, my camera settings, according to my lights and how I like the images to look, are usually 1/160, f/2.2, and then ISO 320. I use a Sigma ART 35 mm f/1.4 and a Sigma ART 50 mm f/1.4. You'll also find a gorgeous 100 mm f/2.8L macro lens, which creates those super dreamy macro images, so sharpening of photos will always depend on your camera settings.

Thanks for stopping by my blog to read tips on how to edit newborn sessions in Lightroom!

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.

High School Sweethearts Justin & Ashley | Love Story + a Miracle Baby Boy

Featured Natural Light, Outdoor Maternity Session for the Month of June.

Howdy, friends! Today's blog post is all about my favorite pregnancy portraits from the month of June. Ashley and Justin's photo shoot took place in northwest Houston during sunset. It also happened to be Ashley's birthday so it was a fun way to celebrate her that day! Cozy up and get comfy to see highlights from their session + for a little q&a. 

How did you two meet?

We went to rival high schools, but we met in church when we were 15 on the Fourth of July. Later that summer, on Labor Day, we went bowling and started "going out". We've pretty much been together ever since. By the time the baby arrives, we will have been together 19 years (10 years of dating; 9 years of marriage)!

What is a favorite color in Baby's nursery?

The nursery is a monochromatic safari theme, but we did an accent wall in Sherwin Williams Outerspace. It's this dark, dark grayish blue. It's nice because it's a masculine color but it's also very soothing.

What was the first thing Dad did when you two found out you're expecting?

It's hard to remember! It was a shock. Long story short, prior to getting pregnant, we were told I was in premature ovarian failure, and the chances of us conceiving with my eggs was around 5%. We were actually gearing up to start an IVF cycle at the time I found out I was pregnant. It was a BIG but HAPPY surprise. Hopefully Baby Boy won't be our last, but he is definitely our little miracle!

What is Baby's due date?

August 16th

Any pregnancy cravings? Favorite meal?

I like to have vegetarian sushi or the Airstream Salad from Torchy's for lunch. Those are my GOOD cravings. But my most consistent, longest running craving is ice cream. We go to a lot of Astros games, and if you can't have a cold IPA, Bluebell in a cone is the next best thing :) I seriously eat ice cream almost every day. I think it's how I'm surviving the summer heat.

What are you most excited about in terms of being a mom?

To see different traits from my husband, Justin, and myself in our baby. I remember thinking I was nothing like my parents growing up, and now I see parts of my mom and dad's personalities reflected in me ALL the time. And to see his unique personality, what he likes, how he thinks.

Any fur siblings?

We have 2 Toy Australian Shepherds; Rookie, our male that's 2, and Pip, our female that's almost 1. Her birthday is 3 days before the baby's due date, so hopefully she doesn't have to share her special day :)

 What's the first thing you bought for baby?

It's kind of a strange purchase, but I bought these animal prints that I knew I wanted for the nursery. They are gender-neutral, so whether it was a boy or girl, I knew they would work. It was kind of a celebratory purchase once we made it to the 11 week mark and felt we could breathe a little easier.

Do you have any nicknames for your baby bump?

 Since we haven't decided on baby's name just yet, we have quite a few, but probably the funniest nickname came from our niece. She just turned 7, and is really into martial arts / karate, so she watches lots of that stuff on YouTube. From pretty early on, she has called the baby "John Cena". She says if we name him that, he will be the strongest baby in the world. It's kind of hard to argue with that logic! But it's stuck, it's a joke in our family now. 

See more highlights from their session:

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.