Lifestyle or Posed Newborn Photography - Which is right for you?

So you’ve chosen to capture your new baby’s tiny features with a newborn photoshoot. Your baby is only going to be this little for a short time, so you and your baby deserve the very best newborn portraits, with an attention to detail to capture those tiny features. Hey! That’s what I do! While every photographer is different in their approach, there are basically two camps to choose from when it comes to the style of newborn photography you like the best. In this blog, I’ll explain the differences between the two, going over simple and advanced posing, whether you need to consider your baby’s age or not, if you want to feature your baby’s nursery or would prefer to not have to clean the house, with examples that will hopefully help you choose which types of photos you like best (or you may even choose to do both kinds of photoshoots or combine them!).

Choosing between Lifestyle or Posed Newborn Photos

There are two basic types of newborn photography and they are drastically different so it may be easy for you to choose which type of portraits you like best rather quickly.

Lifestyle Newborn Photos - Simple Posing

Lifestyle Newborn photography is very simple with relaxed newborn posing, usually lying on a bed or blanket with a relaxed fitting swaddle wrap or poses with parents where parents are holding the baby on a bed or couch and you’re just letting baby do what it wants to (arms moving where they want to). It’s often accompanied by simple neutral clothing and is often a quick session as there isn’t complicated posing involved. The posing will often look like what you could capture at home with your phone but with professional equipment and good use of light.

Posed Newborn Photos - Advanced Posing

Posed Newborn Photos involve more elaborate set ups and posing and will often take 1-3 hours to photograph. It is a skilled photography trade that takes years of practice to master and involves understanding the biology of infants so that the poses you put them in are not affecting their airways at all. The poses of the newborn with parents are also more complicated and there is a lot of patience involved in posing both parents and other siblings with the baby. These sessions are almost exclusively done in a studio and often have controlled studio lighting to bend the shadows the way the photographer sees fit.

One type of newborn photoshoot is not better than the other, it all depends on which type of posing you like best.

Set Designs: Posed vs. Lifestyle

As you can see with the posed newborn photos above and below, the poses are often accompanied by beautiful custom designed sets by the photographer incorporating the colours the parents like best (from bold to vibrant, soft and muted or neutral). While newborn posed portraits can include neutral set ups, you’ll often find fun props, textured wraps, blankets, flowers, greenery, specialized newborn outfits, hats and delicate headbands that enhance the visual appeal of the portrait in a rainbow of colours.

Where as with Lifestyle photos, most have a very simple set up or can have a boho feel to it with more natural elements (which can include soft greenery or organic materials like pampas grass to create simple sets ). Again almost all studio lifestyle set ups will be in neutral colours (white, browns and beiges and creams). Although most posed newborn photographers can also create those set ups in the studio as well.

Want Baby’s Nursery Featured or Prefer to Have Everything Taken Care of in the Studio

If you love your baby’s nursery and want it heavily featured in your baby’s new pictures to show what life was like in that room when your baby was small then a home lifestyle newborn photoshoot might be exactly what you are looking for. It allows the photographer to capture the special details you’ve included in your nursery decor and it can be a great idea if Mom had a particularly rough birth experience and doesn’t want to leave the house. If you have great light coming into the nursery or in your main bedroom then some really beautiful portraits can come out of that session. I know you’ve spent the time creating those magical spaces and you might love to show them off! BUT, you have to be okay with cleaning your house while taking care of your new baby.

If cleaning your house and making sure it doesn’t look cluttered or if having a stranger (even a nice, helpful one) in your home right after giving birth sounds like it may cause you stress then a lifestyle newborn photography session in your home might not be the right approach to take.

The alternative of going to a studio where everything is provided for you (props, even some outfits for the family) and you don’t have to think of cleaning or anything except having a shower and getting dressed in the morning and driving over to the studio might sound like the best thing since sliced bread! Depending on which posed newborn photographer you choose, you can usually have everything taken care of for you and that might sound heavenly to you, especially if you think you may be overwhelmed by this big life change in those first weeks but you know how important getting newborn portraits taken are. I believe they are essential to documenting your baby’s story.

Your Baby’s Age Can be a Determining Factor between Choosing Lifestyle or Posed Newborn Photography

Lifestyle newborn photography can be a great session option for baby’s that are older, maybe because they were in the NICU or because having a newborn was overwhelming and the parents just didn’t think about capturing this moment until many weeks later. You are not too late! A lifestyle newborn session can take place at any time and as the baby gets older you can have great interaction portraits between parents and the baby where you can see the baby’s personality shine through.

If you choose a skilled newborn posed photographer then you’ll be able to bring your older baby in to get great posed photos, but many posed newborn photographers do like to have the baby come into the studio in the first two weeks of life. The sleepier baby is, the easier it is to pose them and not only because they love to be curled up still like they were in Mom’s womb but also because they are naturally more sleepy. An awake baby is definitely hard to put in posed portraits and you’ll often see some lifestyle type of posing included in a posed portrait session if baby is fussy or awake and not willing to go back to sleep no matter what the parents and photographer do to help them go to sleep (rocking them, feeding the, using shushing noises to lull them to sleep, etc). But don’t be discouraged because a skilled posed newborn photographer can still capture great posed portraits when a baby is older.

Remember, the most important aspect of the photoshoot is to embrace the love and connection shared within your family. So whether you choose newborn posed photos or newborn lifestyle photos, there is no wrong answer. You’ll get beautiful portraits of your new baby and you’ll love them!

I hope this blog has helped you figure out which type of newborn photography is right for you and if you are local to Kingston, Ontario, I’m always here to answer any questions you may have and help you choose which newborn photos are right for you.

And if you like my approach of having posed and lifestyle posing in your session then get in touch to start planning your newborn photography photoshoot today!

P.S. If you want to see more adorable newborns you can check out our Newborn Portfolio page!