How To Take The Cutest Newborn Announcement Photos At Home

Over the course of three kids, I’ve wanted to splurge on professional newborn photos. But I just couldn’t justify the expense, because professional photos are definitely expensive. And apart from the money aspect, there is just so much going on the first few days of a newborn’s life! It’s so hectic, and adding one more thing is the last thing I wanted to do. So taking our newborn announcement photos at home was a necessity. It’s actually a lot of fun and easier than you would think.

How To Take The Cutest Newborn Announcement Photos At Home

When to take your photos

It’s best to take your announcement photos as soon as you can. I know there is a lot going on, but you want to be able to send your announcements out to friends and family ideally within the first month.

Lighting

Natural lighting from the sun is the best, but it’s definitely not always convenient for newborn photos. Indirect lighting from a nearby window is your best option. If that isn’t possible, try natural light bulbs from the store. They might cost more than regular lightbulbs, but the lighting will be less yellow. When all else fails, use a photo correcting software (like Picmonkey) to brighten your photos.

Background

Try a few different backgrounds, so you have a lot to choose from when creating your announcement card. I like to use baby blankets as backgrounds, or baby lounger chairs. Soft patterns or solid colors work best as backgrounds.

Clothing

Choose your baby’s outfit with the different backgrounds in mind. You don’t want to clash or blend in with the background. You want your baby to stand out against their surroundings. Also consider a clothing change during your photoshoot so you can take the most amount of pictures in one sitting.

Props

Get your props ready ahead of time. You can use things like baby blankets, loveys, stuffed animals, and pillows. In my photo shoot with my 3 week old, we used our Boppy® Newborn Lounger. My son loved posing for us in his soft chair in our living room.

What I love about it:
• It has soft, wipeable fabric
• It is designed for his awake time
• It has a handle for easy carrying and travel

It’s a must-have product for newborns, especially for your newborn announcement photo sessions.

You can get your own Boppy Newborn lounger at BabiesRUs, Target and Boppy.com.

Your assistant

Of course, you can take the photos yourself, but it is also handy to have your husband or a friend help you. While you’re handling the camera, your assistant can manage poses, lighting and backgrounds.

How many pictures should you take?

Take a lot of pictures! When you think you have enough – keep going! Even if you think you don’t need anymore. Why? Pictures look different on the camera preview than they do when you download them to your computer and start creating your announcement. You want to have tons of pictures to choose from, that way you will be guaranteed at least a few perfect photos.

Also, be sure to take vertical photos, horizontal photos, centered photos, off-centered photos, multiple backgrounds and multiple positions. It’s so much easier to take a ton of pictures at once than to realize you don’t have the perfect picture and you need to take some more.

Should you include siblings?

Absolutely! You may or may not end up using the sibling pictures in the newborn announcement. But you should definitely take advantage of the time and take adorable pictures of your kids together when you have a newborn.

Designing the card

Compare multiple companies before deciding which one to use. For example, look into Shutterfly, Target, Costo, TinyPrints, Vistaprint and Minted. Compare what cards are available, the paper weight, the background options and prices.

Once you choose a company to go with, you need to decide on what type of card to use. There are so many options! Vertical or Horizontal or Square. You also need to decide if you will include one picture or multiple pictures. This is why it’s so important to have a lot of pictures to choose from to make sure you have the perfect picture for the card you choose.

Purchasing the card

Know ahead of time how many cards you will need. You don’t want to order too few and not have enough to send to all the relatives. That might start a family feud! (Yes, really!) Also, be sure to shop around to make sure you are getting the best deal you can. Newborn announcement photos can really vary in price, from less than a dollar each to more than $3 each or more. You don’t want to spend more money than you have to.

Mailing the card

Once you have decided on a card, designed it and purchased it, you’ll need to start getting your addresses ready. Some card companies will even print, address and mail the cards for you, for an extra cost of course. But if you are sending them yourself, now would be a good time to print labels with addresses to save yourself some writing. You can also order stamps in bulk from the post office.

Once you receive the cards and the stamps, get them together and sent off as soon as possible. Like I mentioned before, ideally you want to send your newborn announcements within the first month or two at the latest. If you wait too long, it won’t be an “announcement” anymore since everyone will know about your new addition.

Bloopers!

I think my favorite part of a home setting photo shoot is that you end up with so many funny outtakes. I made this collage of some of my son’s funny faces and sent it to my family as soon as I could. Those sweet funny faces always make me smile.

Have you taken your newborn announcement photos at home? What’s your best trick to get the cutest pictures?