My Baby Photo Essentials

When I first started taking photos of my daughter, Hailey, I wasn’t sure where to start. The truth is, taking pictures of a baby can be difficult since they can’t sit up, pose, smile, or generally cooperate. So, while my process was a lot of trial and error, I figured not everyone needed to go that route! So, I’ve rounded up my baby photo essentials, starting from newborn all the way to their cake smash session! Although you don’t need all of these items for a successful shoot, they will be helpful. You might even find items around your house that you can use!

For newborns:

Heater- newborns get really cold, especially since a lot of their photos involve being nude or barely dressed! You should invest in a heater for the photo session, which you can also use if it’s cold. We have a Dyson heater/fan, which we keep in Hailey’s room for the winter. It’s perfect for setting to a reasonable temperature (for us, it’s 75) and it comes on when the room goes below that temp. For newborn sessions, keep the heater high and closely to ensure baby stays warm and cozy.

Butterfly Pillow- Newborn babies can be a little “mushy” so one of these pillows will help you pose baby so that they look cute!

Donut Pillow- Ditto for this one, except it’s also perfect for putting inside a basket. You can adjust all the mini pillows inside too!

Swaddles- Swaddles are perfect for keeping baby in position, staying warm, and being comfortable so they don’t wake up. You can get a set of knit wraps or a few of these swaddles for your photos so that baby looks nice and “dressy”. As an alternative, you can use lacy or patterned fabric for swaddles. Check your local fabric store for something fun! Just make sure it’s soft and pre-washed for baby’s sensitive skin.

Fur Blanket- Give your photos some fun texture with a fur blanket! This will help your photo look “warm”, even when baby’s sitting around naked.

Basket- perfect for keeping baby in position and having some visual interest in the photo! There are tons of options and I’d recommend hitting your local Target or Home Goods for affordable options!

All ages

White blanket- This is my favorite backdrop for photos! I have a large blanket that’s probably full or queen size that I use to cover my headboard, lay on the floor, etc. It’s wrinkle resistant and easy to wash, which makes it perfect for photos!

Stepstool- If you want to take photos of baby laying down, you could use a bit of height! This step stool is SUPER light but also very sturdy. Perfect for taking around the house and being super safe while you’re at it! I fell off a chair and fractured my toe, so I don’t recommend using one for pics. Get a step stool. Better safe than sorry!

Boppy- you probably have one of these pillows already for nursing or bottle feeding baby, but they make perfect photo props! You can use them for tummy time pics, to let baby lounge, or to help them sit up in photos. There are so many uses!

Monthly Blanket- this is a really easy way to have consistent milestone photos plus it provides a nice backdrop for your pics. There are tons of different cute options for every style!

Monthly Milestone Markers- Use these to easily distinguish how old baby is! You can get stickers, wood markers, or even blocks!

Photo Equipment

A Great Camera- You can definitely use your phone for your pictures, but I would highly recommend getting a camera if you’ve been on the fence! I personally have the older version of this Canon EOS Rebel (mine is the T6) but this newer one has such great features! Touchscreen is a newer feature, plus this set includes a remote which means super easy shooting if you want to do some family portraits on timer mode!

Lightroom/Photoshop - these are my go-to apps for photo editing! You can do so much with these apps for only $10/month. If you want a more budget friendly option, try the LR phone app! It has tons of free features.

Tripod-  Perfect for taking photos with your baby! If you want to try and take your own photos, I would highly recommend this tripod! It folds up really small, plus you can tilt the head so that you can take landscapes or portraits! It's light, compact and folds up small. It's perfect for taking on the go and storing in a closet when it's not in use. This is the exact one I use for my photos!

Phone Tripod Mount- If you want to attach your phone on this tripod, you'll need a special adapter. I use this one, which does the trick! You just swap out the head it comes with and then expand it for your phone. The great part is that it's adjustable, so you can use anyone's phone. I'd recommend checking the measurements if you have a newer iPhone though. Those things just keep getting bigger and bigger, so I'm not sure if this particular one will get big enough.

Mini Tripod- If you want a tiny tripod for a tabletop or even easier portability, try this one! I haven't used this one personally, but it had great reviews on Amazon. I'm considering getting one myself, especially since I like to take videos of Hailey doing cute stuff. She always stops when she sees me holding the camera, so with this I can go into stealth mode! If you want something more affordable, try this one instead.

Box Lights- These are a bit of an investment, but I honestly can't recommend them enough! I use them for practically all my blog photos and occasionally whip them out when the lighting isn't ideal for portraits. Another option is these umbrella lights, which aren't quite as bright. Both of them fold up super tiny and can take up just a corner of a closet! It's actually pretty remarkable how mighty yet tiny they are. Just a note that these won't make a dark room bright, but they will assist in compensating when the room just isn't bright enough for a good picture.

Ring Light- These are perfect for low light situations. Full disclosure- I’ve never used one, but I know a lot of people have great luck with them. For the love of all that is holy, don’t blind your child with flash! You should never use flash- it’s just not flattering at all.

Cake Smash

Once your baby turns a year old, you may want to do a cake smash! These are so much fun and there are so many ideas on the internet (especially Pinterest!) that will help you decide on a theme. I’ve got a blog post all about my cake smash I did with Hailey, including what I used for it! No fancy lights or even a backdrop required! You can check that out here.

Once I started taking my own photos, I realized the importance of having the right equipment to be able to take the best pictures possible. Taking these photos helped me to feel more connected to my baby, and break up the monotony of the day!

Helping The Border Crisis With Dreamy Baby Photography

I’m interrupting the regularly scheduled blog programming to share a special message. Without going into too much detail, since I’m sure all our hearts have had enough, the crisis at the border was weighing on me heavily yesterday. I can’t fathom a situation so horrible that I’d risk my life AND my child’s life so dangerously in the hopes that things would get better. That’s a privilege I am lucky to have. Others are not so lucky. We should not be punishing these people. We should be trying to find ways to help. I hope that if I was ever so desperate to save my child, that things would finally start to look up for me on the other side. 

Instead, these people are met with force and punished, their children taken away from them and not given proper care. There are young children taking care of babies. There are kids without access to nutritional food, clean clothes, a toothbrush or even soap! The list of atrocities seems to keep growing, but I think the fact that children are dying in these conditions should be setting off major alarms for people. This is not ok. None of this ok. 

There isn’t much I can currently do to help, and so I thought about ways in which I could help, even in a minor way. 

From today until July 4, I’ll be donating $20 from each sale of my Dreamy Baby Photography course to RAICES. By enrolling, you’ll not only be able to learn to take photos of your own baby, but be able to help a mother reunite with hers. That’s a donation of over 50% of the proceeds. I created this course with the dream of helping mothers. By donating, together we’ll be able to help the mothers that need it the most. 

By purchasing the course, you’ll be making a $20 donation to help the crisis at the border. To purchase the course, visit this link. If you don’t have a baby but still want to help, you can forward the link to someone that does or share it on social media. If you have the means and want to donate directly to RAICES, click here. I donated $10 last night, but I felt like I wanted to do more. Alternatively, you can donate to Together Rising, who says “Every penny we receive from your personal donation goes to people in need” by clicking here. I saw that most of their donations were only small amounts like $5 but they still managed to raise 2 million dollars!

Disclaimer: Because the donation will be made ASAP, any course refunds during this period will only be for the value of the course minus the donation. The usual donation to March of Dimes will be placed on hold until after July 4. 

Loving your child is universal. It knows no race, religion, or bounds. I’m sure many of us would risk our own lives to save our children, doing anything we could to help them. So please, imagine the torture these families are going through. Parents don’t know where their children are. Children are abandoned and alone, dirty, hungry and crying. We need to help them however we can. Please donate now to help these families in need.