It’s so lovely when you book your newborn photography shoot to involve their siblings, if they aren’t the first baby in your family. I have lots of great tips on getting some beautiful photographs as well as preparing them.
1. We usually start or end the shoot with the sibling photographs, the shoot itself is too long for a child to sit quietly, so we can get the super sleepy newborn shots. So we start with them, before they can go have fun at a local park or soft play, or even home if youre local.
2. Being a new big brother or sister is a big deal every little one is different, most will sit for a few moments and sometimes we do composite shots without baby, so we can make it all about them for a minute.
3. Bribery is lovely if you want to, but dont feel it is needed. Sometimes the idea of losing a treat is worse than the photographs themselves. Praise is great though, if you look happy and excited to be there, they will often copy you. So lots of happy well dones work even better!
4. Siblings under 4 often find it hard sitting in the studio even without a new baby, if a baby sibling shoot is the most important part of a shoot, a shoot when baby is sitting aged 7 months and above might suit you better, as your older baby will have got more used to their new sibling and you will get fun interactions
5. Siblings only have time for one outfit, as their part of the shoot is limited, due to settling time for the new baby. The best outfits are usually neutral as they dont date – so without patterns, characters or words.
Then all being well we can create something gorgeous like one of these little pairings… Now I just hope Mia is as good as these little ones when our own new addition arrives next year!
