Lessons

Lesson Info

Babies Posing with Young Siblings and Families

this morning we're going to be posing newborns with their siblings we're going to start with younger siblings and I'm going to take you through the steps that I like to do when I'm when I'm working with with young children in my studio and of course number one always safety I want to make sure that the baby safe the whole time and I want to make sure that the siblings are safe so I used my posing bag when I'm doing this and I like to make sure that the babies and nice and wrapped firmly and securely so that when the total is a holding them that this you know you know no little arms and legs flying around it's easier for the siblings to hold them and they're on a on a nice phone bag with their parents close by so we're gonna go ahead and set up and we've got some beautiful little family's here with us this morning they're so cute we've got little elijah a little baby boy and his sister scarlett who was three so she's all ready to go so let's get them out here okay hi are you ready for y...

our photo now yeah so another really important come over here with me this is my beanbag do you have a bean bag at home scotland you don't you do well this is my big beanbag doing see how soft it isthe yeah sometimes it's a little scary for little ones teo lay down especially you know if they've got other things going on and this is a fairly busy room it's got lots of things for you to look at so we're going to get it done really quickly so you can go on play yeah great stuff um would you like to take your shirt off for may so I can put a special wrap around you yeah can we do that can I help you yeah I can't cool let's pick a rap I think this color looks really pretty do you like this one e co and do you think the larger will look good in this one no you don't like that cohen no yeah can you wear the brown one yeah that's gonna look great with the pink one okay and guess what I've got down here so I like to move pretty slow with total is because it's building that trust with them and oh that's a cute one it is good a photo like that one or this one great stuff okay let's go over here and get ready so we're going to get her ready first and then I'm gonna wrap elijah but because I need scallops teo you know to listen to what I'm saying it's really important that I don't I mean like I met her level now because I'm going to dress her but I'm not coming down to her level I'm not speaking to her in a baby voice and I'm not playing games with her because they needed listen to what I'm saying because we need to make sure the little elijah's safe the whole time can I hold this for a minute thank you I can't come over here I hope you can get up great staff around come this way I can chop her up okay so we don't tie it with a really big knot at the back because when she lays down that would be uncomfortable so I'm just gonna tie it fairly loosely and then if it does come was she's gonna be laying down so so we can pull it back up and I'm shooting from here up it's all about the way we position the baby in her arms so we get that beautiful connection between the two of them already I guess what I'm going to do with this I'm going to give it to your mom to put in your hair do you think she could she could do that while I wrap elijah hi baby boy look at all this hair so it's really nice and warm in here so we're gonna unwrap him but we're going to wrap it back up so he's going to go he's going to stay warm he's awake but that's okay he's nice and settled so I'm going to put him in the center of the rap and the way that I rap him will depend always on which side the light is coming from and I want to keep a hand out so that the hand comes up underneath the face and rest on scholars chest and behind me is these beautiful big windows I'm trying to put my hands on him just because they haven't quite warmed up yet get cold big boy said this little arm here it's the one that I'm gonna pull down because he's going to be facing this way we need this home I left out so pull this home down he's got hold of my thumb there I'm not pulling hard I'm just holding on to his little hand so we'll pull this side of the rap across you look beautiful would you be able to hand that to mommy scott could you uh could you pass that to mommy thank you so this hand's gonna stay out so he's just had a really big feed I was just talking to them out in the and the little baby's room all right and he's deciding teo I'm go to the bathroom right about now it's what he's working on done no he's not done okay would you be able to come over and stand next to my bag for me and yeah maybe to sit the back there that's great can you climb can you come around this way for may back around this way and can you climb up here for me and set up on top of my back can you climb up so I want scarlett's head up here and her bottom down here so you can help help me and we'll keep this up up nice and high climb up jump up here but you brought him here good good uh bless you made it when you put your head right here I'm gonna put elijah in your arms for all its soft feeling we feel how soft it is it's like a big teddy bear you look like underneath you going yeah oh uh I'd like to lay up there can you lay on your back looks comfy like that good girl okay hold major like that so what I'm gonna do is bring you a little bottom over this way a little bit come over a little bit more for me good job okay and you can use my special box to put your feet on well done sam here is gonna be a strong arm right here so we just pull your top up a little bit more yeah so I'm putting him down on his side you're being such a good girl good petting can you pet down here well done to stand here not on his face yeah so he's pulled his little hand down underneath his rap just gently sweetheart we don't wanna wake him up will scare him doing okay so I'm just grabbing his little hand and waiting for him to relax there we go well on and this he has got to come across over here can you feel those hands there you go kanye mom can you bring your hand in at the back here can this hand's gotta hold this hand well done so I'm just going to use a couple of cough nappies down the bottom here just to give him a little bit of support here kind slade he loves it there you're doing a really good job and I'm going to use another coffin happy just underneath this food and underneath scallops little arm just to give that a little bit of support so she can keep her arm up nice and strong and he starts looking for food and his sister ah ah ah ah I will always try and settle them first before I picked them up because if I'm continually picking a baby up and putting it down I'm gonna I'm gonna make them more unsettled immune over stimulate them stay right where you are sweetheart good job gets what his eyes closed so how many kids do you have five five kids how incredible is that you are amazing I love how unpredictable kids out I think you got to stay really really still for me and gets what I'm going to do now I'm gonna give you a pillow you know stay there go there we go so just by bringing her head up a little bit brings her chin forward which means I'm starting to get this connection between both of them here picture here you look like a princess go hey turn hold onto this hand over here this one hold on I believe that the question of the hand and great kay my cameras all the way over there can I get someone to pass me my camera normally I would have it on the floor right here I came in thank you good job she wants to play with a little tassel on these dummy so we're just going to turn his face up towards the ceiling because if I take a photo now I get a great photo ofthe skull its face looking up but his little faces is looking off towards that light which is where we kind of wanted to be but I do want to see more of his face great thank you so much you okay now I'm going to grab his little hand from under here so I'm not going to lift his head this way my shaking to turn his nose towards the ceiling which is a more natural angle there we go stay there sweetheart we're nearly ready to take a photo you're doing such an incredible job he's heavy though isn't it eh e o e o k k k will listen have a look he's looking at here at the windows do you know what he's looking at he's looking to see if there's any bids you look out the window for a minute and see if you can see any birds oh no he wouldn't go up there but he's not going up there let me push the boxing for your feet can you feel that box you see my camera strap it's always going to go over my neck when I'm shooting above a baby any any any any way I can bring your head over here we're gonna take a quick I'm gonna leave these dummy in for a minute just while I get a tisha so make sure you get this exposure I and he's just drifting off to sleep so my answer is going to be about six forty and here just by going off the light at the moment and I'm going to shoot it at around three point two three make sure gonna come up to three point five and I'm going a third of a stop over here yeah that expression looks pretty good are you ready now for a proper photo can we take his dummy out do you think he's what he called them pacifiers okay are you ready where's your big smiles which you're beautiful all that is the best smile well done already hold onto this hands he's going off to sleeping on we like this big you got this shit like that can you make that sound to him you do it down here when he said gently that's it like you're being such a good girl most kids would not lay here this long so she is doing an incredible job and you know when you're in a session in moving quite quickly so I would I would kind of you know take my time at the beginning to really make sure that the baby was nice and settled and comfortable okay let's fix his little hand again make sure we can see his face oh good boy so uh where's your fingers in case there I'm but I'm gonna get you to do in a minute is on the count of three when I'm ready to take this photo when I think that beautiful big smile that is the best smile just bring it this way just a little bit oh good girl are you ready are you ready to go I could smile hell with a big smile oh you've got a better smile and we have a great one of him looking for his dummy that was perfect well done are you finished can I take one more yeah so his eyes went completely closed and she was looking down and up and down it up but that's a fine way that is syracuse u u look how beautiful you look let me fix your hair a little bit I always spend more time on sibling photos and family photos because for me as a photographer and a parent having my own children captured and having those family photos that he means so much more than anything else and if you can capture a beautiful photo off their children together oh gosh that photo is going to last forever and ever and ever close your eyes uh yeah you have the most amazing eyelashes how lucky you can you do this can you lean your head there it's beautiful can I get another beautiful smile yeah how town already one two two is that smile a little one a little smile little friend do little to hit here well down you hear me good uh they're beautiful all right yeah so let's pick him up here he's so heavy with honey you were so strong ah can I grab that again thank you sisk alan thank you thank you for being such a great big sister did you have fun you did a good job good job yes so I would not push that anymore and if if there was a situation where they just decided that they'd had enough and they were ready to go get up run away whatever it means that the baby is on a on a surface so they've pulled around mount they like you know I'm done weaken just quickly help them roll away and the baby safe the whole time so putting a little one like this on a on a floor and expecting them to kind of sit up and hold a baby it's not gonna happen because they're so unpredictable with what they're doing they can just decide at any point to push that baby away and be gone be done but doing the set ups at the beginning of a session means that you've got their attention and everything's new if we let her go for about an hour and him she would own this place and they're all gonna have completely different personalities you'll have some that are really shine reserve that won't want to be a part of that photo and then some that it just um yeah personality plus they're running around having a great old time but if she decided that she didn't want to be in the photos then that's when I would introduce a prop and I would either depending on the personality I would either photographs them together using a prop with a parent close by and have them sit next to it or I would take a photo of the baby in the prop supported spotted and then I would bring in the toddler and get a separate photo and put those two together which is something that yeah I actually do quite often but now yeah toddler are the other family is ready whenever you are wonderful wonderful we've got another baby coming in and well you know what we're going to photograph them in a very similar way up on the bag but just to show you the different personalities that we're going to get and working with the different kids and it's always you know less is always more keeping it really really simple making about the connection that they've got and supporting them the whole time and having a parent close by is really important isn't he just divine I don't give him back it's just gorgeous radio thank you very very much thank you scholars and when you're up you can give it to the lady on radio okay six a m so really really similar being able to catch the different different moments in the different little personalities that come through and creating a storyboard for your parents is something that they will absolutely love so I never created this set of images to do is one whole image I just thought they were you know I couldn't choose the two best ones so I gave them all four and then we ended up creating a beautiful storyboard using all four images and it's some it's a massive canvas in their house so they you know they just love it because that's their little girl on dh she just adored her baby sister so yeah on then um posing siblings with their parents as well so always picking up the total are and having them in that in that space together but we have another family coming in so we'll pull some of these blankets of these cloth nappies back out and we'll start from scratch which is what I always do anyway wait so they're just finishing feeding oh ok cool should we doing questions then absolutely too late if you have any questions um grab a mic please in doing sibling photos with the newborns I've found a lot of times that especially that age that we just had the kind of three to five they are really uncomfortable laying on their backs like they're okay sitting but then once you tryto transition them to their back there like noona noona know and start to squirm do you have any suggestions with a kid that is that way feeling a little uncomfortable with laying down on their back and being that it's a vulnerable position for them yeah it is definitely laying down and so many kids associate laying down with going to bid and no kid really ever wants to get ahead so by making it about my being bag and not laying down so I never actually said come and lay down on my being back it was more about telling her to jump up on my bag come and touch my bag getting them familiar with that space and then telling the parent where I wanted them to be because if the parent is giving them that instruction to lie down then that's you know that's coming from a secure place and me being a stranger if I say kay I want you to lay down there like no I any laid down when I get a bit so making it more comfortable and taking the emphasis off that definitely by focusing on you know the blankets and things like that but you so write so many kids I don't like to do it and that's where I would probably bring in the prop and things like that but I find that um you know associating it with a bit of a with a bit of fun like the blanket and feeling the texture and things like that but then you'll have kids that don't like the feeling of different textures either they like no I don't want to touch that so yeah but I'm getting the parents before the session like when they when you're communicating before they actually come in and they've already told you that they've got a sibling talking to them about preparing their child is really important as well and just saying to them before they come to the session you know we're going to make kelly the photographer I tell them to use my name because I mean then they can associate when I say look out mean looking up here it kelly I already know it so that's great and and just telling them that they're gonna have their photo taken so that they don't turn up on the day and they're like why am I here what am I doing this six foot told scary looking lady with the big black camera trying to get me to lay down so making it fun and keeping that control as well I am the friend when I make them but I'm still I'm not sort of getting down in that playful role I'm keeping that kind of school teacher type of relationship with them until I've got that shot soon as I got the shot they could have whatever toys of god that they can have their bribery tools all of those sorts of things but in the prep guide that you know my client's get or just an email if they've got specific questions always tell them to bring you know their children's favorite toys and all of those sort of things as well kelly can you talk a little bit about that prep guide perhaps because is that part of the bonus materials that people will get when they do purchase the class maybe a little bit about how that works yeah definitely so giving your client as much preparation as possible is always key you don't want somebody turning up to a studio shoot or you know you turning up to their house to do an in session home home shoot without being pre warned about what's going to be happening you need them to know like for when they come to my my studio they need to know it's going to be warm in there they need to know what the story it studio is going to look like they need to know what to bring all of those things so yeah like I said we've included what I send out to my clients as a bit of a guide t just sort of help people along with with all of that stuff remember when I first started shooting and I was packing everything I owned into the back of my car and driving there I turn up the look on their faces would be like oh good being back on and they didn't know what that was for so and that's that's that's a huge thing like obviously that that family has quite a lot of kids I don't know if they've had them photographed before by a newborn photographer but if you've got a couple turning up with the very first baby and they've seen the photos on your website oren you're pressing guide on your block or on social media they don't know how those photos have created they don't know that they're laying on a bean bag all of those things so giving them a cz much information as possible and getting the mentally prepared for what's about to happen is going to work in your favor all the time the one thing I don't ever do is give my parent's advice on you know times that they should be feeding the baby or you know keeping the baby awake for so many hours prior to a session things like that I am not qualified to give people advice on how they should be parenting or what they should be doing and that's that's entirely up to them they're hiring me to take photos of the off their children or off their baby so yeah being able teo give them as much warning about what the session and tails step by step you know when you arrived this is what's what you know there's a space for you to feed your baby what you should bring clothing that you should wear all of those I can advise on that but when it comes teo you know telling them what to eat telling them the misuse of demi telling them to keep their baby awake all of those things they're sort of things that I don't including my guide because like I said I'm really not qualified to give that advice I was wondering how many images with siblings do you show on a appointment for viewing and picking their pictures yeah because I normally show them trained the images so how many off then would be with siblings okay depending on the clients like if they came in and they said everyone has many photos of them together as possible then I would shoot mohr that I normally would but that specific set up I probably give them two images from that she was really focused on may and smiling and and holding the baby and things like that we were kind of losing her because he was a little bit awake and she was there for quite a period of time but if the baby was asleep and I laid them down then I would definitely get one of them looking at the camera and then one of them perhaps cuddling or kissing their baby sibling so in the previous image you know we had like a real range of images which is really great but you know if they've got like personality and they're doing lots of different things I would just capture capture capture but on average it's it's probably only two images but listening to them and what they want if they're telling me in an email that they want lots of photos and you know that I'm really gonna focus on that so when you have siblings coming and especially if they're really young like toddlers do you start with those photos and then once you're done the dad leaves with the toddler or something or do they hang out until you're finished with the entire session yeah good question like andi I should have mentioned that included in that posing I mean sorry in that prep guide for my clients I tell them tio normally bring some of their favorite toys but the hop perhaps bring likes and comfortable walking shoes because I've got a park near my house that they can walk to so I kind of plant that seed so that once the photos off the their older siblings have been done then they can either go for a walk or they can sense it I don't tell them to leave but I'm planning that seed to sort of say well you know the rest of the session is going to take some time you either have the option to go off and do something or come back but a lot of times especially if they've got more than like two older siblings they had they bring into cars they've been there done that they know that it's gonna get crazy in there so yeah so we've got two little boys I'm just content my cardigan off because it's getting warm with that on so it's about twenty eight degrees celsius which is about eighty degrees farren I in here so it's lovely and warm hi guys oh look at this baby and all this here oh my goodness so he's he just had a little fade yeah he did and he's gonna tell me beautiful so how old is this little guy will be two on the twenty ninth so we've done a three year old and now we're going to do a little guy it's not even two yet so his level of what of understanding of what I'm about teo teo say to him is going to be very different scarlett we could communicate with she could listen to what I was saying e can I sit there for a job so he's wide awake sucking on this dummy but he's pretty happy now he's got a little shirt on is it okay if we take that awfully really be comfortable taking don't scratch your face you bring your little hand down here huh yeah is that all right if he takes his shadow too and take your shirt off I want to go take a shit off take this off first so I like to photograph them with this skin I wanted to be is natural as possible because I don't know about you bit through history you know I've noticed a change in fashion so when parents look at these photo in twenty years I'm not saying he shouldn't go out of fashion but some people often turn up with their children dressed in bright clothes and all that even though I've pre warned them in my prep god and I've sort of said you know when mutual colored clothing because it photographs we know beautifully and I'm just scratching his little face here he's so strong and seeing their skin like especially on this beautiful brown and when I'm going to keep it brown because they were all boys three boys and I like these really earthy natural tones hi oh my you've got eyes too you've got beautiful eyes he's a character and for something a little I'm going to go a bit lighter here because he's got such beautiful dark hair so I'm just gonna let him do his thing over here I always start with my beanbag fresh whenever I'm doing and you set up without any cloth nappies or anything in there and then I kind of just slipped them in where I need them he does not want to look out this blanket he's like come on I know it's soft actually I've taken my cardigan off and I can feel a coolness in there so I'm not really prepared to take the the blanket off without some form of uh you know heat and warmth coming through just because they don't want him to wake up because he's just drifting off into that slate and if I go yanking his blanket off he's going tio to be really aware of what I'm doing so I want him to stay in c he's starting to relax he's got his eyes closed he's very familiar with the sound of his brother but what we might do is they got a space heater on over here I'm just gonna jump up while he's going off to st and I'll turn it on and this would be just to add a little bit of warmth into that space whenever you put a baby down into a cold um onto a cold surface or anything like that well turn it off when I can start to feel that wants coming in this direction did you steal my seat did you steal my seat you stole my chair be careful please thank you all right you have to be so careful not to overheat the babies but also making sure that the other children and the other family members are not uncomfortable with it being too warm so we just want to fill this area here with a little bit of warmth and then we'll turn it off when you're working with like an air conditioner that you sit to a temperature when it does heat up the room heats up it will start to blow cold air I've noticed in in my studio at home so I don't want any cold air blowing directly on them yeah oh he's beautiful you were comfortable oh sh he loves eyes so cute so I'm just keeping my hands on his little arms because I don't want him to get that startle because he's not asleep he's got his eyes closed but he's really second hard on his tell me because these little feet so when you're when you're holding on to them and you're wrapping them with any pose you can feel all of their little muscles and arms and legs moving in your hands so you know when to let go when you take that pressure off so I'm holding his alarm dan egan exactly the same way I was before and I'm gonna wrap him a little bit more security than I did with their previous baby only because his brother is so much younger and a little bit more unpredictable and he's got lots of energy so we want to make sure that this is you know you're going to be as safe as possible for both of them and easy for him to hold his some his brother I'm just gonna pull it down on the back here with a gun I always end up the stairs so I'm gonna pull that above the knee joint if you can see and dan hey loves having his hands by his face and then this one's going to be gathered and come across this hand to stop it from coming up on the reason he's scared it's okay come here it's okay it's okay ah it's okay sweetheart we don't have to use that camera doing what I want him to be scared come over here come here it's okay it's not going to come down here uh come here it's okay we won't make him and that's like you know whenever they go into a new environment if there's something in it it's scaring them you know it's probably best to remove it we can't really remove the camera but we would never force them to do something that they're uncomfortable with because it'll just end in tears and it's always better to be safe than sorry but you know keep them happy a child's happiness is always a parent's happiness right if their child is is really unsettled and thinks that it's going to make the parents feel a little bit anxious as well hi it's all right it's not going to hurt you it's okay yeah do you know what I might actually do is I could I could possibly walk towards it and show him that it's okay so making them feel safe is really really important I'm not going to tie it like in a knot or anything but I'm just going to look that over once little hand is there so it's nice and safe but he's happy now that is his wrapped up nice and firm give him a cuddle ok look yeah yeah look it's a camera you want to come and have a look at the camera it's all right it's okay it's not going to hurt you would you like would you like to come and have a look at the camera you come and show him that it's okay because big brothers of the best look can you see inside there yeah there's nothing in there yeah it's okay yeah would you like to come and have a look way won't make him so in this instance we're going to try and get him towards the bag and away from the camera but if he doesn't want to this is when you know you could use another option like doing a composite image of something like that all right would you like to come and have a come and have a lay down on my bean bag no no he's really freaking out it's okay khun stay there I don't think he's gonna do it that's okay oh go on give him a cuddle that makes me sad you are such a good brother so we're gonna we're shaking a photograph um newborns with older siblings in a little while we just wanted to really focus on photographing them with younger siblings and working with him but there's really not much I can do about that camera tomorrow so he I don't think he's going to come in and lay down and really trust me and he's still drifting off to sleep here which is going to give us a good good opportunity to let him go into a nice deep slate while we set up for the next segment I would try and lay them down on the ground with a couple of you know lodge sort of blankets to get a combined shot but because he's just a little bit scared I'm not even gonna try and make him lay down like you said in that vulnerable position and once we've taken a photograph off his older brother together with his baby we can bring him in and he might sit down next to them and to get a cup like a couple of shots of them together yeah so let's bring this back drop out I'm just moving quite slowly here because these arms so strong you should feel little muscles you can probably see easels shoulders they're so strong and he's still kind of moving around like this so I'm just gonna give him back to mom very slowly and gently to keep him nice and sleepy