This week on the blog, I am featuring a piece by Tanis Saucier on how photography editing software helps us keep babies safe during newborn sessions. I hope you enjoy the images and gain some fun insights into the world of newborn photography!

Baby Posing Safety
by Tanis Saucier

In the realm of newborn photography experts agree that baby posing safety is the most important aspect of what we do. We are trusted to handle the world’s most precious cargo and we need to take that responsibility seriously. Getting those sweet, dreamy images means so much more than “pushing a button” or letting my “awesome camera” take a picture.

It is ensuring baby is comfortable, content and safe.

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The above pose is called the “Potato Sack”. It’s okay to laugh out loud at that one! Every niche has it’s own terminology, right?

To achieve this and other advanced newborn portrait poses most professional photographers choose turn to the magic of photoshop. Unless baby is lying comfortably on his or her back, soundly sleeping in a secure set-up, like a basket or bucket, hands need to be supporting their tiny and very wobbly frames at all times.

If I get requests for these types of advanced poses I will either have my assistant scheduled for that session or I will employ the steady hands of mom or dad.

Below is a collage of images straight out of camera (SOOC). I always get one image of the scene all by itself and then instruct my assistant/mom/dad with safety positioning to ensure that I get 3 clean shots of the different parts of baby’s body, hairline and face.

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Once the session is over, the real magic begins! It is always a challenge to nail the in camera angles so that my post production workflow is quick and seamless.

Carefully and with much zooming in and out, I layer the images and remove what I don’t want ( a big, hairy man arm!).

The result of my labour is (hopefully!) flawless and many who happen upon the image in their Facebook newsfeed may believe that this is just the way that babies hang out. But now you know the truth and you can help spread the word about newborn portrait baby-safety!

Of course, I take my composited image and transform it further with my hand editing. Finally, it is deemed worthy for the parents to oooohhhh and aaaahhhhhh over!

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If you are near the Montreal area in Canada, and want me to create some newborn photography magic for you, contact me today so we can be sure to have the all the helping hands we need!

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Tanis runs a full service photography studio specializing in Maternity, Newborn and Children’s Portrait Photography. She can help you celebrate the beauty of life at every stage. She works with both natural and studio lighting to create heirloom-quality, custom designed products. She lives and works in beautiful Montreal, Quebec Canada.

http://www.tanissaucier.com

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I hope you enjoyed this week’s guest post! Tanis is a very talented newborn photographer and I want to thank her again for contributing such great content to our site!

Mary Thomas | Two Happy Lambs Photography