20 Creative Newborn Photo Ideas for Expecting Parents

Did you know that around 360,000 babies are born every day? That rounds out to about 130 million births per year!

More than 151,000 babies were born today and the number continues to grow. In the last 7 months of the year, more than 78,000,000 babies were born.

Capturing the beautiful moments of your newborn baby’s life is crucial. Scheduling a photo shoot is the best way to do it. There are many newborn photo ideas to try for your baby album, keep reading to find out what they are.

1. Newborn Photo Ideas and Inspiration

There are so many wonderful ideas when it comes to setting up a photo session for your newborn baby. You can try different outfits, poses, backdrops, the list is endless.

A great idea is to use one color scheme throughout the pictures, classic choices are grays or whites. You can also use one color until you’ve used every color of the rainbow for the photo series.

2. How to Get the Most Out of Newborn Photos

A great baby photoshoot will use great props. You can use cute toys, creative backdrops, a display with a theme, the sky’s the limit with prop choices.

The great thing about photography, specifically baby photography, is that there are no limits to how to photograph the new addition to your family. It’s about capturing the precious moments you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

3. Newborn Photography Tips

One of the best tips for getting beautiful pictures of your baby is to focus on capturing the tender moments in their new life. These will make for the best photographs of your new little bundle of joy. Coming into a session, we’ll make sure to capture all those moments for you.

Capturing the moments your newborn stretches makes a cute and funny picture. Taking a photo of your baby as they’re yawning is also a precious memory to capture on camera.

4. Book Newborn Photos Even Earlier

It’s important that you talk to newborn photographers as early into your pregnancy as possible. With their busy schedules, you want to make sure you’re able to schedule a session on time. We suggest booking before the start of your 3rd trimester, this ensures that you’ll be able to get those precious photos of your newborn baby.

5. Go for a Natural Look

The focal point should always be your beautiful newborn baby and sometimes going all-natural is the best way to capture the best photos. Laying your baby down on a simple surface without any outfit might seem plain but you’re guaranteed to get some beautiful photos.

The pose in these photos should be whatever is comfortable for your baby, whether they’re laying on their belly or back.

6. Wearing Matching Outfits

While the photo session is about capturing your baby, having a couple of parent and baby photos is great too. You’ll want to have some memories to look back on when your baby had just come into the world.

A great idea for these photos is for you and your baby to wear similar outfits or matching colors. The photos will be a cute addition to your baby photo album.

7. Try the Classic Frog Pose

Some classic newborn photo ideas include using classic poses during the photo shoot. The frog pose makes for a beautiful photograph.

The photographer will help you lay your baby on their belly with their legs wrapped up on their sides and their head placed gently in their cupped hands. While this pose sounds intricate, a great photographer will be able to capture it while ensuring your baby’s comfort.

8. Pictures With Personal Mementos

What can make a baby photo more precious? Adding some personal mementos in the background.

Whether you put your baby in a scarf grandma knitted for them or lay them down in a blanket that belonged to you as a baby, these belongings add a touch of personal history that’ll make the photos that much more special.

9. Have a Sibling Photoshoot

Make your newborn photo session more dynamic and beautiful by having a sibling photoshoot. Including their big brother or sister makes for a fun day. The older sibling will feel proud of getting to make memories with their new baby brother or sister.

Make it even cuter by having them wear matching outfits. These photos will capture sibling love in the best way possible.

10. Place Your Baby in a Womb Pose

Some great newborn pose ideas include putting your baby in the womb pose during the shoot. This pose is comfortable for your baby and looks adorable too.

Your baby will be lying down with their back facing up. Their legs and arms will be wrapped under them. Laying them down on a blanket or decorative pillow will add to the cute factor.

11. Baby in a Blanket

This is a very common baby photo look but it’s one of the most precious photos to capture. Having your baby wrapped in a soft blanket makes them look comfortable and protected.

A wrapped blanket around your baby also adds texture and layering to the photo making the background more dynamic. This makes it stand out in a photo series.

12. Use Lights

One of the many baby picture ideas that can add a unique twist to your photo collection is adding lights. Twinkling, stringed lights can add a touch of magic to a picture of your newborn.

They’re also great if you want your photo series to have a specific one. Perhaps a fairy-themed series or a heavenly theme. These are all great ideas for your baby’s first photo shoot.

13. The Precious Hands Under Chin Pose

Great newborn photography is all about finding the best ways of capturing your baby’s delicate image. This includes finding poses to capture their cuteness.

The hands under the chin pose is a very sweet and simple pose. All you have to do is lay your baby down with their head tilted to the side resting on top of their arm and hand.

14. There’s Nothing Cuter Than Your Baby Sitting in a Basket

This is a really great idea for a baby photo because it helps to show just how small and delicate your newborn baby is. It also looks like you’re getting the most precious gift delivered right into your arms. You can take this photo outside in a grassy area to give it a more rustic look.

15. Use Seasonal Decorations

Holiday newborn photos are some of the best photos to take of your baby. You can create a Christmas theme around them, use red and green colors, or add some fake snow. If they were born in the spring, adding some floral arrangements in the background will make for some beautiful photos.

16. Focus on the Smaller Details

While newborn photography is about capturing your baby’s cute face, it’s also about capturing the smaller details as well. Some photos focused on your baby’s tiny feet and hands will make a beautiful addition to your baby photo album.

You can also have a couple of photos taken with your baby’s feet resting in your hands or their feet next to yours.

17. Capture the Serenity of a Sleeping Baby

There’s nothing more beautiful than a sleeping baby, they look so peaceful and innocent. Photographing this moment in whatever position the baby turns makes the photo more natural.

It’s pretty easy to photograph a sleeping newborn, they do it all the time! You might even get some funny poses too.

18. Animal Outfits for Babies

There’s no better combination than tiny babies and cute animals. Doing a couple of photos of your baby in cute animal outfits is a great idea for your newborn’s first shoot.

You can even make it a theme and include a couple of different barn animal costumes in the photoshoot, adding a rustic background can help too.

19. Cute Hats

Just like the animal costumes, cute hats can add a silly element to your newborn baby’s photoshoot. You can have one over the top hat or do a whole series of them.

Choose crazy color combinations or funny animals. This is an opportunity to have fun and be creative with your baby’s photos.

20. Beautiful Attire for Your Little Girl

Capture some beautiful newborn portraits of your baby girl with cute, girly outfits. A ballerina tutu, princess crown, or pink fairy wings are all good ideas for photos. They all add that feminine touch that’ll make for a beautiful picture.

Newborn Photo Ideas for Your Baby’s First Photoshoot

Your baby’s first photoshoot is incredibly important. The list above includes some great newborn photo ideas to make the session memorable. Contact us with any questions you may have or to book your first session.