Labor & delivery is an out-of-this-world experience, to begin with, let alone experiencing it during this unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic. It breaks my heart that many times I’m not able to be there at the hospital to capture all those fresh little moments of your new little bundle of joy. To help my fellow mamas, I decided to put together a little DIY guide for taking your own DIY newborn hospital photos or “welcome baby” photos as I call them!

Tip #1: Take Your Photos During the Day

Hospital rooms can be pretty dark sometimes, so taking your images during the day when you can have a lot of natural light coming in from the windows will be a huge help!

Tip #2: Turn Off All Artificial Lighting

Hospital lighting/lamps typically cast a very yellow/orange color and can create unwanted shadows, it’s best to turn them all off and use the natural window light.

Tip #3: Bring Your Baby Close to the Light

Position your baby in the hospital bassinet very close to the window. You don’t want to shoot directly towards the window as the background will most likely be too blown out. You should stand in between the window and your baby.

Tip #4: Choose Your Angles Wisely

Try to position yourself so that you’re not shooting up the baby’s nose. You want to have more of an above angle to capture the baby’s face correctly.

Tip #5: It’s All in the Details

Don’t forget all those tiny little details; ears, nose, tiny toes, and hands. Those are the things that change so quickly!

Tip #6: Don’t Forget Mom & Dad

If your significant other is able to be there with you, don’t forget to take turns taking photos with the baby as well. If you’re able to get your hands on a tripod you can even set that up to take some sweet family pictures using the timer setting or ask a nurse to snap a few for you!

Tip #7: Editing 

If you are shooting your images on your phone, I suggest downloading the free Adobe Lightroom app. Practice on an image by adjusting the lighting and coloring. I always suggest practicing on your own first before jumping into purchasing mobile presets. A lot of mobile presets are just not colored correctly for newborn images.

Hang in there mamas, you’ll get through this and still have beautiful images to look back on! If you need any help editing your images, I’m here to help!