In-Studio or At-Home Newborn photos?

You may have seen that we offer two types of newborn photoshoots – either in our studio in Tuakau, South Auckland or in your own home. But what you’re probably wondering is which one should I pick? What style is right for me? What’s the difference? And what are the benefits of each one? So I thought I would take this blog to explain the two sessions, so you can pick which style suits you best.

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Studio Newborn photos

A studio session is perfect for you if you love the look of babies posed in super cute props and setups, or if you’re uncomfortable with the thought of someone coming into your home just after you’ve given birth.

Our studio sessions are a lot more posed than a lifestyle session and tend to have a greater focus on baby themselves. We do of course capture photos of the entire family in both sessions.

In our studio sessions, you have access to our large range of props, blankets, backdrops and wraps etc, and we will work with you to incorporate the colours you like, or that will suit your home.

We can control nearly everything in our studio from the lighting and the posing, right through to how warm the room is. In these sessions, we take care of everything so all you have to do is sit back and relax while we work our magic.

Studio sessions are best done in the first 2-3 weeks. This timeframe is perfect because the baby is more flexible and sleepy, which helps us pose them in the super cute poses you’ve seen on our website and Pinterest. Just because this is our preferred time frame doesn’t mean we can’t do cute studio photos of older newborns, we just have to be more patient.

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At Home Lifestyle Newborn photos

Lifestyle sessions are done in your own home and really focus on the interaction between family members. Think photos of you all snuggled up on the couch, giving baby a bath, baby in their nursery etc.

These sessions are less posed and the aim of these photoshoots is to capture images of you doing everyday things and all the emotion and fun that comes of having a newborn in your house.

No props are used in these sessions, and your baby will generally remain dressed throughout the photoshoot, or wrapped in one of your own wraps.

These photos are great if you feel really relaxed in your home environment and don’t want the stress of having to venture out. They are also perfect for older newborns as babies don’t need to be as sleepy, as they’re not posed into those super cute curled up shots.

Often you’ve spent hours doing up the nursery and buying a beautiful bassinet so with these sessions you get the added bonus of capturing these things as well.

The downside to an at-home session is that people often feel they have to tidy the house before we come. It’s true we need the basic stuff put away, but by no means do you need the perfect house, and we are more than happy to shift things around if needed. All we ask is that you pick up some of the “clutter” and that you open all the blinds to help us get the best light. Because we can’t control the lighting in your house, we may move a few things around to ensure we can work with the best natural light possible.

Our in-home sessions are slightly more expensive (unless you live in the local Pukekohe / Franklin region, in which case they’re the same price as our studio sessions) as there are additional costs in travel time, petrol etc.