Scheduling Your Newborn Photoshoot at the Right Time | Oakland, CA Photography

When Should you Schedule your Newborn Session?

Choosing the right time for your newborn photoshoot includes a few different things. It’s not just the time of day you want your photoshoot to happen, but also how soon after your baby is born.

When it comes to scheduling your newborn photoshoot in the Bay Area, you want to choose correctly. If you wait too long, your baby will be a bit older and may not look like a newborn, and if you choose the wrong time of day, your baby could be a bit fussier.

It’s also important to consider the comfort of your baby with the location. While you can certainly do an outdoor newborn photoshoot, in-home newborn sessions will capture your family in the comfort of your home, where you are most comfortable and relaxed.

Let’s look at a few factors to consider when scheduling your newborn photoshoot.

How Soon After Your Baby is Born

It’s not necessary to have your newborn photoshoot before your baby is two weeks old. In fact, it’s okay to wait until four weeks or even six weeks.

The timing of your session will allow you to capture the different characteristics of your newborn. Early sessions, those done before 2 or 3 weeks of age, will ensure that your baby is truly a newborn and will look like a newborn baby. This can wear off rather quickly as babies do grow fast and change regularly. As young newborns sleep the majority of the time, most images will be of the baby sleeping.

Waiting a few weeks allows the baby to be more alert and your photographer will be able to capture images of your baby awake and interacting. You may even be able to capture a smile or two.

What Time of the Day is the Best?

Along with choosing how old the baby is for a newborn photoshoot, the time of day should be considered. It’s recommended to have your in-home newborn session around 10 am. This is the time of day when newborns tend to be less fussy and indoor lighting is the best.

If you plan to do your photoshoot outdoors, you might want to aim for golden hour. This is the time when the outdoor lighting is as good as it gets. However, you might be dealing with a bit of a fussy baby, depending on the baby’s schedule.

It’s possible, after a week or two with your newborn, you’ve figured out what time of day they are calm and happy. If this is the case, you might want to speak with your photographer and let them know when this time of day is. A fussy baby can be a bit harder to get good pictures of, while a calm baby can be just amazing to work with.

Consider a Fresh 48 Photoshoot

While a newborn photoshoot is great anytime in the first two weeks, if you want to really remember what your baby was like when it was first born, a Fresh 48 Photoshoot is a great option.