I’ll start by being totally transparent here and admitting that sleeping newborns are in fact much more easy to photograph than awake ones. When they sleep you simply place them as you want them and snap away. You can bunch up their arms and legs, reposition the angle of their head, and move about grabbing different angles from the same position. Awake babies are a much different story. They get much more irritated with us, they make faces, and often become crossed eyed. They often move their head in positions not facing the good light and get upset before you have a chance to grab more than a couple snaps in one place. BUT regardless of all that, I still love those wide eyes. Yes, it is more work. Yes, you have to overshoot each scene. But yes, that eye contact and little expressions are everything!
It’s one of the main things I love so much about lifestyle newborn photography. Because we don’t have to spend hours getting them to fall into a deep slumber. We just go with what they give us, and capture all those real life moments that can’t be replaced.
This doll rotated between awake and catnapping, and omgoodness she gave me all the baby fever too!