28 March 2012

Newborn session set-up

A little while ago I posted the aftermath of a newborn session. Today I was setting up for one (I have two this week) and thought I'd take some photos showing how I have things set up.

First of all, here is how our living room looks normally:

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Actually, those side tables have been moved (a project that I'll eventually finish and blog about) and the coffee table has been moved into the garage for a change (and to make room for sessions). But other than that the living room generally looks the same.

When I have a session I swing the two-seater couch around to face the three-seater and put the "leather" trunk next to it, between the couch and the TV. This leaves room to set up my backdrop stand. For newborn sessions I don't have to make it very high - I have it about neck height.

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The first backdrop I put up is my white one. I clamp it to the stand with my slave strobes.

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These are the slaves I have - they are triggered by my main strobe light. They are Portaflash brand and have a ball-and-socket joint so you can angle them any which way, which is handy.

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I sometimes get a bit of light spill so today I taped some cardstock to them as a makeshift shield.

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Having the three slaves pointed at the white backdrop ensures a blown-out background of pure white. Here are some examples:

Grace 1

Baby N, 8 days old

Here's the same setup but with the slaves turned off - the background then shows as grey:

Jasmine 10

Jasmine 01

Once the white backdrop is set up ...

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... I turn the slaves off and remove the top slave and clamp it to the bookcase for later use:

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Then I put the black backdrop over the white one and right over the slaves. It's just a long length of black cotton fabric:

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I clamp it to the stand with these little plastic clamps from the DIY store:

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On top of the black, fairly close to the backdrop, I place the beanbag:

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I top that with some laminated cotton fabric that is waterproof:

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Here's a close-up of the fabric - you can see the edge of the plastic layer that has been bonded to the cotton material:

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On top of that goes a towel:

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And then I fold a corner of the backdrop over the beanbag:

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Why just a corner? Because if when baby poops, pees or pukes on it then I can remove that corner and use the opposite corner and I still have the center as an option should the second corner get soiled.

If the backdrop remains clean then I can get mom to sit on the baby's beanbag, drape a corner of the backdrop over her and get some shots like this:

Baby N, 8 days old

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Okay, so then I add some items to the setup:

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By the way, the white backdrop sticks out so much because with the slaves on I have to move the baby much further away from the backdrop to prevent light spill. I don't have the same issues with the black backdrop which is why the beanbag is so much closer to it than it would be if the white one was in use.

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Sometimes the mom sits on the sofa and sometimes she wants to be near the action, hence the beanbag for her to sit on.

My hair dryer is magic. I turn it on and 99% of the time the baby immediately goes all still. It's so funny to watch, it's as if they melt. I just have the hair dryer on a low setting and on cool, and aim it away from the baby as I just need it for the noise. Actually, it also comes in handy on a hot setting to warm up the beanbag or anything else that the baby is about to be placed on.

I will place the baby on his / her back, side or tummy on the beanbag. Here's an example of the black background:

Baby N, 8 days old

I sometimes use the beanbag with other background than just the black. It works great with any throw or blanket over it on a black or white background:

Jasmine 03

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I have some throws, blankets and baskets ready for use:

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The small basket has a towel and a bath mat in it, ready to add a blanket to the top. The big basket is fairly tall ...

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... so I weigh the bottom down a bit with food cans so that the basket doesn't tip over when the baby's in it near the top.

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I then add a blanket ...

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... and a towel.

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It will be topped with a throw or blanket before baby is placed on it.

Here are some examples of babies in this basket - I don't have many as it's new (I wasn't allowed to bring my baskets into the country from the UK):

Baby N, 8 days old

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So, that's how I do it. I'll show you how I store everything in another post. Hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions.


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