Outdoor Newborn Photography – Ottawa & surrounding areas

Little Wagon Photography shares tips on photographing newborn babies outdoors in the Ottawa area.

newborn baby and dog in Ottawa

As more and more people get vaccinated and Covid starts slowing down, we are thankfully able to start photographing outdoors once again. The reality with newborn sessions is that it usually takes place indoors. Photographers have a lot more control of the lighting, warmth, etc when photographing newborn babies in the studio. However, thankfully it is Summer in Ottawa and the weather has been helping us! This has made many of us step out of our comfort zone and take newborn sessions outdoors. 🙂

Ottawa has many beautiful parks to take advantage of and I am so glad that so many of my clients have been as excited as I am to photograph their little ones outside. As we do indoors, I still take a variety of photos of baby alone as well as with parents/siblings (depending on the package). The main difference is that when photographing newborns outside, I do mostly photos of them wrapped to keep them warm and content. Here are some tips to make those newborn sessions more successful when venturing out in nature:

1 – Keep baby warm! Newborns settle best when they are warm and swaddled. And even in warm summer days, outdoor photography can bring a light breeze that may affect baby’s temperature. So while naked photos of babies are adorable, I choose to keep them swaddled for most photos, switching wraps and styles but keeping them warm and content throughout our session.

Ottawa newborn in basket

2 – Make sure they are fed prior to the session. This goes with indoors and outdoors. A fed baby is a happy, sleepy baby. 🙂 I always suggest to parents that they feed baby prior to leaving the house. This will give them a chance to fall asleep in the car and arrive at the location ready to go. 😉

3 – Have mom/dad hold baby. There are so many different poses that you can do with baby while being held by mom/dad or sibling. And with nature as your background, you just can’t get it wrong. But choose the location wisely! Make sure there are no distractions behind them and choose areas that will compliment the photo.

newborn baby and sibling

4 – Make sure to choose shaded areas. There are 2 reasons for that. First, babies’ skin are very sensitive to the sun and it is super important to keep them safe at all times. The second reason is that direct sun will not only end up waking them up, it will also not help the look of your photos. Open shaded areas are always best regardless of the photo session you are doing. The exception is if you are photographing towards end of day. That beautiful golden hour allows us to photograph clients in open areas without any problems.

newborn baby boy wrapped in basket

5 – Check the forecast! Just as we like to keep the studio warm for newborn sessions so that they stay sleepy and comfortable, it is important that you only photograph newborns outside if the weather will cooperate. Anything below 24 degrees celcius is a bit too cold for me. Even if it’s warmer, make sure you check to see if it will be a windy day or even if there’s a chance for showers. Although it takes a bit more planning to make it work, it is very worth it in the end. 🙂

baby girl wrapped in pink swaddle.

Although I have mostly photographed newborn babies indoors in the comfort of my Stittsville studio, I must admit that I have fallen in love with outdoor newborn photography in Ottawa. Nature provides such beautiful backdrops and it’s hard to compete with that.

Phase 2 is soon opening up and clients will now have the option of photographing indoors or outdoors. You can see a list of my packages and see what would work best for you and your family. And please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Newborn Photography Ottawa – Spring Baby!

It seems like the weather is finally deciding to cooperate with us and Spring is in the air!! Spring brings in so many new beginnings, including a lot of newborn babies! And that means we get a lot of newborn photography in our little Ottawa studio (yay!). 🙂

Back when I started doing photography, newborn photography was the trickiest type of photography session of them all! Although I had already had my two babies by then, it is very different posing them and getting those adorable photos that you see in my gallery. It took me many years and a ton of practice to finally get all of those little details in place. And I’m still constantly taking newborn photography classes, watching newborn photographers’ videos, etc. Always trying to improve and grow my newborn photography skills.

When talking about newborn photography, it is important to talk more about how to pose newborns. Although the photos seem so effortless, it can take a bit of time to get newborn babies to pose just the way I want. This is why newborn sessions can take so long. I never rush a newborn into doing anything he/she doesn’t want to. And we always take a break if baby needs to feed or settle before we keep taking those beautiful baby photos. In my Ottawa studio, I only do the poses that feel most comfortable to baby. Not every newborn will want to settle into every single pose. But thankfully most babies settle quite easily into the most popular poses.

There is also another little trick when it comes to newborn photography. Not every photo you see was taken exactly as is! Newborn safety is so important when it comes to newborn photography in my Ottawa studio. One pose in particular (the famous “froggy” pose), is completely Photoshoped. Baby is being held my mom’s or dad’s hands at all times. Isn’t that so interesting!

Now let’s move on to some photos of this sweet baby girl who has such a sweet family and one of the most adorable big brothers ever! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to book a spot. Thank you for visiting my website!

 

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Newborn photography Ottawa – sweet baby Sophie

This season has been so busy that I’ve hardly had time to keep up with social media, let alone blogging! I’m hoping to make up for it in the New Year but for now, I just wanted to post a few sneak peaks of this sweet newborn baby girl who I recently photographed in my Ottawa studio.

Please feel free to contact us for more information and click here for more newborn photos or here for more baby photos. Thanks for stopping by!

 

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