Tag Archive for: in-home

Christmas at Home: What Better Place for Your Christmas Portraits?

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As the holidays near, families are looking for that Christmas card-worthy photo. And what better place to do that than in your own home? This year’s photos are a fun mix of families and kids and babies with the excitement and cheer that only Christmas can bring. My favorite shot of the season is with this family in their Christmas jammies. This mama has a ton of Christmas spirit and her family is in for a treat over the holidays.

family in Christmas jammies

And Christmas time is so much fun for babies too. This baby’s mama mentioned that she pre-cleaned this strand of lights before their session. So cute!

baby with Christmas lights

I’m sentimental, so it means a lot to me to photograph my sons in front of their own Christmas tree. I think the mama of these cuties pies feels the same way.

by the Christmas tree

And this little sweetie even had a reindeer ready for her photos! I love seeing all of the fun families have with getting their kids excited about Christmas!

little girl and reindeer

Pittsburgh Newborn Session: Getting Comfortable with your Photographer

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It was an absolute treat to photograph this new family. I know this couple from church and I am blessed to witness their family grow.

mom, dad, and baby on bed

For every session, I try to identify a take-away that I can offer to anyone reading my blog that might be helpful to apply to their next session. Usually it’s clearly titled after the colon in the title of the post. And for this session, I really felt the biggest benefit I noticed is that this new mom and dad were totally comfortable with me. Now they have an advantage in knowing me from somewhere else, and hopefully have the sense that I will support them and encourage them in this exciting and sometimes challenging thing called parenthood. But I want the same for every family I photograph and I try to show my support and encouragement throughout the session. So what I’m getting at is when my clients trust that I support them, they can relax and that is very evident in their photos.

baby talk

We spend so much time admiring our babies, so it’s natural to spend a lot of time doing just that during a newborn session. And I think it shows the love that a parent has when they welcome a child into the world.

admiring their son

We also spend lots of time lounging on beds or couches because it’s comfortable when holding a baby.

family portrait

This session took place in November on a mild day, so we were able to get outside and get some fresh air.

family portrait outside

Its so sweet seeing babies look into their parents’ eyes.

looking into mama's eyes

And when the baby turns to look toward the sound of my camera’s shutter, I’m always happy to get a bright-eyed close-up.

baby's close-up

This dad is pretty smitten.

father and son

And this little guy is getting lots of love from his mama.

mama kissing baby

Love this shot of them walking in the alley behind their home!

going for a walk

Pittsburgh Family Portrait: Sometimes the Best Location is Right at Home

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I’m a huge fan of backyard portraits especially for families with young children. It’s less pressure on the whole family and it captures a place where the family has spent most of their time together. And in the particular case of this session, when it started to sprinkle, we didn’t need to reschedule and just moved inside until the rain stopped. Plus this bubbly little girl was so proud to show off her bedroom!

lifestyle family portrait

Just love seeing families walking together holding hands.

walking through the backyard

Big smiles coming from this little man on his swing.

riding on his swing

Love how her personality is just beaming here.

big sister close-up

Piggy back and high-fives!

piggy back high fives

What a sweet, unscripted moment.

kisses for daddy

And here’s the whole family sitting so nicely with their dog! And that’s one more reason why portraits sessions at home are awesome because it’s easy to just add in the family pet.

family portrait with their dog

The giggles in this image were provided by their daddy, who would run up and tickle them and then run behind me. Sometimes as a parent of young children, you end up with a workout during a family portrait session.

giggling at daddy

This should be a must-have in all family portrait sessions, because it all starts here.

husband and wife

And this big sister really had her heart set on being photographed on mommy and daddy’s bed. It was a silly and fun way to end a great session!

upstairs on mom and dad's bed

Pittsburgh Newborn: Finding Natural Light in the Home

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When possible, I love to use natural lighting for newborn sessions. When I first spoke with this mama, she was concerned about whether her home had enough natural light and I assured her that I’d do a quick walk-through to find some of the best spaces and bring supplemental lighting as back-up. But look at this first portrait of her and sweet baby by the window. So glad I didn’t need to get out my strobes until later!

mama and her baby at the window

Sometimes siblings of newborns are in a tender state as they adjust to life with a baby. For that reason, I love taking some time to make them feel special too.

dad and big sister

We still haven’t left their bedroom as it has lots of soft light and the bed is a perfect place to photograph the whole family.

family portrait on the bed

Just love how babies gaze at their parents and this little guy seemed to be very aware of his surroundings.

father and son

I’m not bashful about admitting how I love this arrangement for the parents and baby. My husband and I spent a lot of time on the couch, just checking out our little baby boys, so it comes naturally to suggest this.

baby looking up at his parents

And for a close-up of just the little guy, we snuggled him up in this blanket and placed the basket on the landing of the steps that was washed in bright window light. This baby boy was so close to falling asleep!

snuggly baby boy

Blessings to this sweet baby and his family!

Pittsburgh Newborn: Photographing Siblings and Baby

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One of the toughest photo requests I get during newborn sessions, and one that I deeply understand the motivation for, is a shot with the baby and sibling/s—especially when there’s uncertainty about being able to hold the baby safely. There are lots of different approaches for this like propping them up between pillows on a couch or bed, or laying them side-by-side on the floor. But my favorite find during this recent session is when there are older siblings who can confidently hold the baby, to let the siblings interact and not really pose them at all.

siblings and baby

Aren’t these children adorable with their matching blonde hair?! And then their dog even sat in for a portrait! Impressive!

family portrait

When you have a larger family, I feel like a lifestyle session is really the best way to go. There is so much to photograph so why not capture the whole family in a free and lighthearted way?

a family and their dog

I love using shallow depth of field to lead viewers to the main focal point, but with just enough detail out of focus to tell the story. It’s important for me to have everyone comfortable and feel part of the shoot before we break away to focus on just baby and parents.

mom and baby with family

And this little sweetie pie, stayed awake for the whole session and was so pleasant!

mom and baby

dad and baby

parents looking over their baby

The kids were so great for this session, but they were naturally getting a bit restless, and we had one more family portrait in mind. And I love the result. Dads have a knack for embracing the chaos and this shot makes me smile to see big brother upside down. We have a photo like that too, when my second son was born. Maybe that’s why I like this one so much? Even though my oldest wasn’t into begin photographed that morning, I’m so glad our photographer captured our chaos.

embrace the chaos

And this last shot is a happy conclusion to this in-home newborn session. What a sweet and blessed family!

family portrait on the bed