Are you unsure on how to choose the right newborn photographer for your family? There are so many options out there and narrowing down your search might be a bit difficult.

To make the process a bit easier, I’ve listed my top five tips for choosing the right newborn photographer for you;

.

1. Safety

There are a few factors to consider when selecting the right person to photograph your baby and the safety of your newborn is by far the most important factor.

I’m sure you’ve all done your research on the safest car seats, prams and cribs. Please extend that same level of care when choosing someone who will be handling and posing your newborn baby.

I have over eight years of experience with newborn photography, I keep up to date on my vaccinations and regularly attend infant CPR and First Aid courses. I have attended many workshops and have done lots of hands on training with Australia’s expert newborn photographers.

The health and safety of your baby is my constant priority and should be paramount in your decision making process. Finally, I have insurance so please check that the newborn photographer you choose has insurance too.

.

2. Image Quality & Style

You’ll come across so many different styles of newborn photography and all of them are beautiful and unique. The most common style, and the style that I use, is posed.

Posed newborn photography is my specialty. I love taking the time to intricately pose a newborn into adorable curled up poses. I love wrapping babies and using cute props. The sets I create are all styled with great care and your baby is gently posed to highlight their features.

My experience with posing newborns allows me to create full and beautiful galleries for all my clients. My style and quality of work is consistent so you can book me with the assurance that you’ll receive the very best that I have to offer.

When looking for the right newborn photographer make sure their galleries and blogs are consistent in style, quality and posing. Choosing someone who’s consistent with their work will be a guarantee that you’ll receive the same quality workmanship in your photos.

.

3. Experience

When researching for a newborn photographer be sure to look at what experience they have, not just with posing newborns but with photography in general and business.

Having experience in all these areas will ensure that you receive the best in image quality and the best service through proper business practice.

All my work that I produce today – that did not happen overnight. I’ve spent years perfecting my craft and I’m still learning. With experience comes the knowledge that you’re going to receive the best in quality and service.

My experience in business will also benefit you greatly as you’ll be able to trust me to deliver the service you deserve. I have established relationships with the best printers in the country so you can be assured that your printed products will be of the highest quality.

.

4. Recommendations

Ask your friends and read reviews. This is how you can get an inside look as to what to expect from your newborn photo shoot.

Reading reviews can give you an insight into my personality, from other’s point of view, how they felt about me, our interactions, their photos and their overall experience.

Nothing is better than getting a recommendation from a trusted friend. You’ll know through their experience that you’ll receive the same quality in images and service.

.

5. Budget

The cost of newborn photography can vast greatly. While looking for a photographer, you’re going to come across a lot of different prices and, in most cases, you get what you pay for.

My fees are based on all the things listed above; Image Quality and Experience and other factors including; Time, Expertise and Equipment.

While looking at various prices from different photographers, ask yourself;

‘What am I receiving in return for my investment?’

For me, I’m not sending you away with just a USB of ordinary photos. You’ll be taking home beautiful, one-of-a-kind art pieces that’s custom made for you. These photographs are the ones that will last forever, the photos that your children will be showing to their children. These photos are the ones you’ll display in your home for everyone to admire an enjoy.

What may seem like a large investment right now, will only increase in sentimental value over time.

Invest in your memories today because tomorrow they’ll be priceless.

 

So there you have it, how to find the right newborn photographer for you! I hope you found this helpful and, as always, if you have any questions, get in touch – I’d love to hear from you.

Have any questions?

Contact me Today
0412 149 237.

Be sure to check out The Experience and details on all my Products and Packages that I have available. If you’d like to visit the studio to see all the props, prints and products, please let me know I’d be happy to accommodate you.

Really? Or do you think that by purchasing the digitals the photos will be cheaper?

 

From time to time I receive enquiries from people who are interested in my work but not the products and they all say the same thing;

‘I love your work, but I just want the digital files’

If that’s what you’ve ask for, I’ll deliver, and from time to time I do have clients who purchase my digital packages.

Now, to be completely frank, my digital packages are around the same price as my print packages, so if you do choose the digitals, you’ll know that the print packages have so much more value attached because you’ll be receiving actual products, not just an email with a download link.

 

Why do you think that digitals are better the prints?.

 

‘It’ll be cheaper’

I understand why you’d think that. You’re getting a digital product, not a physical one, so money isn’t being spent on prints and albums. Of course the digitals will be cheaper, right? Wrong.

What you are purchasing is a photograph and whether you receive that photograph in print form or digital form, the same amount of work, time, skill and experience goes into creating that image an that’s what my fees are based on. Just because you’re receiving a digital file doesn’t mean that I work any less, the amount of work that’s put into your images remain the same, so my fees remain the same.

Also, digital files are the key for you to able to make as many prints as you like and includes a print release for you do so. For this alone, the files should be expensive.

 

‘I’m unable to hang anything on my walls’

This is a very common situation and this mainly happens if you’re renting.

My Print Collections are created so you can have beautiful prints that you can simply put straight into frames and my 5×7 inch prints can sit anywhere; a desk, mantelpiece, dresser, table, anywhere.

You can still display your photos openly and proudly without putting holes into your walls.

Also, albums are available and they definitely don’t need to hung on the wall.

 

‘I want to do the printing myself’

So many people say this but very few actually get around to doing this. Life gets in the way and eventually we forget about it completely.

Also, some assume that by doing the printing yourself, you’re going to save money – and you’d be right! It is cheaper. But, you get what you pay for. If you go to your local Kmart or Officeworks, you’ll get really cheap prints. But, you’ll also receive really cheap prints!

All of my work is printed at a professional print lab.

Printing professional photographs is a very technical process that takes time, education and training. Only a professional print lab can print photographs correctly and to such a high standard.

Now, you might be thinking; ‘Why can’t you tell us where these print labs are and we’ll just go there ourselves?’

Well, it’s not that easy, professional print labs only sell their products to professional photographers. The two print labs that I use don’t sell to the public.

Finally, when you’ve done through the experience of a newborn shoot you’ll see all the work, time and effort that goes into creating your images and bad printing will ruin all the hard work!

.

Our photos become part of our history

 

One of my fondest memories growing up was being at my Omah and Opah’s house. They had in their study all their photo albums and I would constantly pull them out and look at all the photos, over and over.

My Omah would sit with me and she’d tell me about the people in the pictures, what their names were and how they’re part of my family.

Most of the photos were very old and worn. They’re mainly black and white prints and some Polaroid’s were in there too. But that just added character to the albums!

I’ll never forget the faces of the people in the photos; my great grandfather, in the garden, wearing his Scottish Kilt with his always-loyal Lassie Collie – McDougal. My mother as teenager, standing with her two sisters all wearing matching dresses that were bright pink and orange! And my favourite – my grandparents wedding photos.

Just imagine your grandchildren/great-grandchildren going through your photos. Looking at all the faces, learning all the names and making connections with people who have since passed. You cannot put a price on that.

Let me print your photos. Computers crash, USB’s go missing. Everything we know today about technology will soon be made redundant.

But, your prints will last a lifetime.

.

What’s beneath the surface?

Every now and then I see Facebook posts regarding photography and how expensive it is and last week I saw this question posted again;

‘Why is newborn photography so expensive?’

When I see these types of questions or remarks I always scroll past. I don’t involve myself in the conversations and I never let it bother me. Why? Because not everyone sees the value in professional photography and that’s OK. There’s things in life that I don’t see the value in.

For example, I never saw the value in mechanics. I would take my car in for a service or for a repair and, I when I got the invoice, I would always grumble and think to myself ‘what a rip off! You only fixed this or replaced that or had a look at the engine!’. But what you’re paying for isn’t just what you see on the surface. This mechanic owns his own business so he has expenses to pay for; rent, electricity, water, tools, wages and, let’s not forget about the tax man. Plus he has his own wage to consider; I’m sure that he has a mortgage to pay and food to put on the table for his family.

But, not just that, you are paying for his expertise, his time, equipment and his experience. These factors are why we would pay anyone for a professional service or product that they provide.

So, this Facebook status got me thinking about my job and putting it into perspective for anyone who doesn’t realise what’s beneath the surface in the profession of newborn photography.

.

Here’s what you’re paying for:

.

Expertise

Newborn photography is a specialised field, there’s no doubt about it. Perfecting poses and handling newborns (and doing so safely) takes years of training, practice and hard work.

This is especially difficult to learn because there are no room for errors. We work with the most precious people on earth and we simply cannot make mistakes with newborn babies. Any professional newborn photographer will tell you that, above everything, safety is paramount.

We have spent so much time educating ourselves on newborns and newborn anatomy so we can be prepared for you, your baby and for whatever arises from a session.

You are paying for the knowledge that we know how to perform newborn sessions safely. Do not compromise on this.

 

Time

For most of my jobs I travel to people’s homes and, because we live in Sydney, there’s going to be traffic; so it’s a two hour round trip per job. That’s time I do not get to spend with anyone else, clients or family. I do this because I want to provide convenient service for you.

I also spend a lot of time on my email and on the phone preparing for your shoot, organising times and dates and settling matters with supplies to get your products perfect and ready for you.

And, let’s not forget the shoot itself – newborn shoots can run up to four hours, depending on how the baby’s feeling. Because of this, I can only fit in one shoot a day. By doing only one job in day my income is limited. But, I want to do this – for you. I hate rushing through sessions, particularly with newborns because we never know what’s going to pop up during these sessions.

Post production is another major factor with time. Just because the shoot has ended doesn’t mean that it’s ended for me. I spend, on average, one hour working on one photograph; editing, retouching, processing, saving, backing up, converting, getting it print ready, etc. So, if you’ve bought 10 images off me, that’s another 10 hours of work that I put into your photographs so they’ll look perfect for you.

You are paying for the photographer’s time with everything that they do for you, in-front of and behind the scenes.

 

Equipment

All photographers have invested tens of thousands of dollars in their equipment; camera bodies, specialised lenses, computers, software programs – all these things we need to get the images you want.

With newborn photography, there’s also all the props that we’ve bought. The amount that I have spent in newborn props runs into the thousands of dollars; beanbags, backdrop blankets, specially made outfits, tiebacks, baby shushers, special curtains, wraps, backdrops, props and so much more.

Newborn props are specially made for newborn photography. They’re expensive to buy because they’re not massed produced, they’re unique and they’re made by other small businesses. But, we want buy these props so your photos will be extra special. We want you to have beautiful and unique photographs that reflect your taste and personality (and that reflect our brand).

If you were to buy all this stuff on your own, you would spend more than ten times the amount on the equipment needed, then you would have if you’d simply came to us for photography session.

You are paying for the photographer and the use of their specialised equipment. Equipment that most people do not know how to use. (I don’t know how to use any of the equipment that fixes cars!)

 

Experience

With a photographer’s experience, you’ll book them with the confidence to know that your photos are going to be amazing and that you are getting what you pay for because they are experienced.

Photographers spend years working really hard on their art, just so they can provide you with a magnificent product and service. We have worked with countless families and suppliers, have attended many workshops/seminars/mentoring sessions, we have made many mistakes along the way (not with posing newborns) and we have agonised so many times at 3am over our work and our products. We are skilled in what we do.

All of my work that I produce today – that did not happen over night.

You are paying for the knowledge that your photographer has spent years perfecting their craft and has the knowledge and experience to carry out the job that you want them and pay them to do.

.

It’s up to you

As I said earlier, not everyone sees the value in professional photography and that’s OK. If you don’t agree with spending lots of money on your photographs then don’t.

There are lots of photographers out there that don’t charge a lot for their photos and that’s OK too. They may not have the expertise or experience that I have, they may not spend a lot of time on their work as I do and they may not have all the equipment that I have – their price probably reflects these important factors.

With any product or service, you are getting what you pay for. But, with newborn photography, please do not compromise on the safety of your precious baby.

After running my own business for a number of years now, I can easily see the hard work that goes into any business, including mechanics. I am now aware of all the hard work that my mechanic has done for me throughout the years and I am so grateful. Because of him I’m able to get to all of my jobs.

But most of all, my car is safe – for me and for other people on the road. Please make sure that your photographer is safe with handling your baby.