Today I want to lift the veil for you a little.  Here’s a big secret:

Most Posed Images of Newborns that Look Impossible Are Impossible

Those Images are Photoshop trickery of the eye.

A Safe Photoshop Composite of a Popular Newborn Pose

Quiet Graces Photography, as a safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer, I care more about your little one than the any image I want to create.

If you’re uncomfortable with pose or if your baby expresses discomfort in a pose,  I will never push for that pose.  Your baby is worth more than “getting the shot”.

I have been in the photography industry long enough to have seen some scary things.

There are crazy YouTube videos about how to get the pose above (called the “Frog Pose”) without the the parent’s hands on the baby.  The baby “balances” there for an awful moment and my heart sinks to the floor watching.  A baby’s head is 1/3 of it’s birth weight.  There are no muscles on a newborn strong enough to hold a head up: not in the arms or the neck.

There are images circulated every year at Easter of babies lying in glass vases full of jelly beans or Easter eggs.  I’ve seen images of babies lying on piles of glass Christmas ornaments.  Glass!  Glass can break.  Glass can cut.

I’ve seen babies lifted 2-3 feet in the air on tree branch for beautiful hanging images in wraps or crocheted stork pouches.  Or a baby placed precariously on a stool with an over enthusiastic 2 year old sibling “loving” on him.  Or on bicycles or motorcycles or wooden swings.  Falls could happen.  It’s always better to do these images as a Photoshop composite.  And if you a see a photographer advertising these types of images, it’s always best to ask if they are composites before hiring them.  Most of these things can be done well in Photoshop, but the inexperienced newborn photographer may or may not know the ccorrect process.

Picking a Safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

Please ask any newborn photographer who has these unsafe/impossible looking images  on her website if they were performed as Photoshop Composites.  

If they hesitate in their answer, choose a different photographer.

As an artist: we have visions in our heads about where we would like to be and there is a learning curve before our images and posing reach our visions.  But a photographer who is claiming to be a professional and doesn’t know how to safely learn while keeping your little love comfortable should be avoided.

Interested in hiring a Safe Newborn Baby Photographer?  I’d love to speak with you further about your little one’s session. 

Are you a photographer or parent who wants to learn more about Newborn Safety?  Check out Learn Shoot Inspires Newborn Safety Week Posts.