This is a good learning spot right now. You know what, can I borrow you? Do you see, don't move a muscle my dear. Come this way. Well, move, but leave the baby on you. Look what the baby's doing. We're gonna grab this, so I want you to come over by the crib. Okay, on this side for me, my dear. I'm sorry, this way, I know there's cords everywhere. Alright, now I'm gonna get that blanket off of you. This is a moment, okay, this is talking about going with the flow. When you see a moment happen, do you see how he's hugging her? And looking at her? What are we gonna do? Take the picture, right? We're scrapping this for just a second, and then we're taking the picture. Okay, you stay right there. Look down towards this way for me. The reason I'm doing this, you guys, I'm not gonna shoot into the window. Why? Okay, I'm not gonna have her look at me, we talked about this. I don't want, we don't have any light coming from over here. I mean, we do, it's studio lighting, just pretend it's not th...

ere. There's no window over here, that's gonna bounce back onto her face. So in order to do a back lit image like this, she's gonna look straight down at him just like she's doing. You stay right there for me. Now typically, I would put my 35mm back on, because I don't need to have a wide angle lens right now, right? 'Cause it'll distort him, so I don't like the way that angle was. I'm gonna come over here, yep, just like that. (camera shutter) Connection, now what I'm gonna do. (camera shutter) We're gonna put his little arm up, okay? Remember how when he walked over here he was hugging mom? So we're just gonna put it back where it was, 'cause this is something that was happening. Remember this is my 24mm lens, so I'm gonna walk up a little bit closer. When you shoot with a wide angle lens, you can not put your subject on the edge. That's why it's like this. Typically I shoot correctly for composition, but with wide angle lenses you're gonna have to crop back down in Photoshop or Lightroom a little bit. Not too much, because you don't wanna open those pixels up and pixellate the image. But we're not gonna change my lens right now 'cause of the setup, so we're gonna just compensate in the camera. (camera shutter) Oops. (camera shutter) Perfect. (camera shutter) Stay there for me. (camera shutter) Okay, I'm gonna turn you 'cause there's people over there. Right there. Okay. (camera shutter) Comin' up. Okay, there we go. Come see a bit more. See so what's happening right now, do you guys see that strong shadow on that side of his face? Typically I'd be a little bit closer this way but we just got people over here. So I'm gonna turn this way a little bit. We're gonna turn completely this way. I wanna get some light filling up on his face. That was too much shadow for me. We're side lighting right now. A little bit more, right there. Composition. (camera shutter) Okay. Perfect. So I would crop down on that, you see how mom's head's a little bit distorted because of the lens? So within Photoshop what I'm gonna do is I'm actually gonna take this here, can you tip your head back that way for me a little bit? Perfect. (camera shutter) Let me see what I'm doin'. (camera shutter) His little hand is stickin' out again. (camera shutter) Okay, one more thing what I wanna do. Can I change the lens? If I'm gonna have to turn it off to do it. Okay, okay. Bring this over here so you guys can see how to do this correctly. Hang tight, he's being so sweet that I wanna do this. Okay I'm putting my 35mm on. The reason being is the edges are too distorted, and we're compromising the integrity of our composition. And I don't wanna have to do that. And I wouldn't do that in real life so I'm not gonna do it right now. Alright, here we go, this is much better. So lean back towards me a little bit. We wanna elongate mom's face, but you also (laughing) elongate mom's face. Watch for all these little hairs and things, okay? 'Cause later, even though it's real, mom is not gonna like this in her pictures. All these little details are important, okay? Stay right there for me. (camera shutter) That's a much better, that should be a much better angle. Hold on. That's much better, do you see how it's not distorted now? And that was driving me batty. This is a really good image for black and white. Now what we're gonna do is we're gonna turn, we're gonna get a little bit more light on his face, we're gonna take the same situation and just change the lighting, okay? So we're gonna turn a little bit more, do do do do do do do, right there. (camera shutter) Okay, perfect. I think maybe we have a dead zone over here so I have to be careful. Turn this way for me, right here. Now, we wanna show all perspectives, okay, of the same shot. Look down at him for me. (camera shutter) He's looking at mom, do you guys see this? Hold on, lean a little bit. Okay, I'm gonna get the stool, hang tight for me. I wanna get connection, he's kind of looking up at her but I can't see him 'cause I'm not tall enough. So you pause what you're doing, don't rush, okay, you wanna get it right, okay? (camera shutter) Oop, he moved. Can you lift your elbow up a little bit for me? Towards me, this one. Yeah, right there. Hold on. Alright, hang tight, little man. (kissing noises) There we go. (camera shutter) Okay. He stretched a little bit. Stay right there for me. When moms are holding their babies, there's always something adorable going on at some time in life here. Okay, hold on a second that hand. He keeps doing all these cute things, you guys. And you capture it, like his little feet are sticking out down here. So I'm gonna show you, okay? See, we need to capture this too. Come over here for me. Do do do do do do do do. It's tricky when we're tethered. (laughing) Okay, see the feet? (camera shutter) You guys will notice I'm doing this, we can't see the image on the back of the camera, so I'm just making sure, yep, that's fine. (camera shutter) Now this is an image, where I'm going to go ahead and open up my lens. To I'm at 1.6. Or 1.8. 'Cause I want some of this stuff blurred in the background now, okay? This is gonna be an awesome image for black and white. (camera shutter) Do you see what he's doing with his hand, you guys? Do you see how I'm just capturing some of these random things? (camera shutter) Sorry, Kenna, you're in the background. (camera shutter) And we're not leaving the moment. So we're gonna go ahead and start swaddling him. And another shot I would get if I were in a home, is I'd get a pullback. Of the same. And composition, rule of thirds, okay? Yep, keep looking. Look at him lounging. (laughing) Right, so pretend this is a nursery, right? Wouldn't this be funny if she was standing by the crib and the baby's hangin'. Yep, look down at the baby for me. (camera shutter) Okay. You guys see where I'm going with this? You can take one shot and kind of work your way around. We're a little limited with our stuff, but, work your way around. If you see feet hanging out, do it. He was stretching so we went for it.

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Emily Lucarz

Emily Lucarz is a newborn and family photographer located in St. Louis Missouri. She began her career, like many photographers, after the birth of her first child in 2009. Known for her happy personality and extreme patience with children, she has quickly become the most sought after family photographer in her area, booking consistently almost a year in advance. Emily credits her love of people and outgoing personality to help her business grow the way it has.

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topics covered in this class

Family & Lifestyle Newborn Photography Portrait Photography Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

JennMercille

Oh my goodness!!! This was such a wonderful class. Not only is Emily a very gifted pro, she is the personable mentor that makes learning simple and the fun big sis you want to be around. She is a wealth of information and a total open book about it all. Being in her studio audience was so much fun, and the time flew by way too fast. I highly recommend this class not only to newbies trying to find their style and refine their technique, but also to seasoned pros looking to tweak their art with a creatively authentic perspective. As a newborn photographer with an established studio business model, I cannot wait to infuse what I have learned into my style and incorporate her business genius into my session and pricing structure. Thank you Emily Lucarz for sharing your creativity, knowledge and uplifting energy with us both in the class and behind the scenes! You are awesome!

Jessie Fultz

Buy this course! If you are at all interested offering lifestyle newborn sessions, whether you are a new photographer or you have been in business for years, buy it! It's 100% worth your time and money and you won't regret it. Emily is so fun and genuine which makes learning from her such a joy! Not only does this course go over troubleshooting different scenarios that are bound to happen during some sessions, but Emily also gives all sorts of other tips that you wouldn't even know you needed to know until she offers up the advice. It's fun to watch her interact with her clients to ensure that she is able to make beautiful pictures in such a natural setting. Thank you Emily and CreativeLive for coming together to make this course happen! I am beyond thrilled that I was able to watch these last two days and learn SO much!!

Hiba Alvi

Emily is amazing! I love how detailed she is and tells you how it is. It is nice she shares her personal journey and what she does - which is great! Love it and would highly recommend this course! I don't have a studio, and normally travel to clients home to do photoshoots - so all the tips here are more than helpful! I am so excited to do my upcoming photo session this weekend - can't wait to put these tips to use!

2,000+ classes ranging from fundamentals to advanced techniques.

Live Shoot: Mom Holding Newborn

Live Shoot: Mom Holding Newborn

Lesson Info

19. Live Shoot: Mom Holding Newborn

Lessons

Class Introduction

What is Lifestyle Newborn Photography?

Why Are You a Photographer?

Why Shoot Lifestyle Photography?

Integrating Lifestyle Photography into Newborn Sessions

Strategies to Gain Lifestyle Clients

Utilizing Your Website to Book the Right Clients

Booking and Prepping Your Client in IRIS

Integrating IRIS to Your Business

Pricing Guide & Client Questionnaire

Ways to Contact Your Clients

Step One: Plan Your Session

Step Two: Plan for Your Client, Not Yourself

Step Three: Guide Your Client

Step Four: Use the Available Light & Rooms

Step Five: Trouble Shoot Problems

Setting Up the Crib Shot

Live Shoot: Crib Shot