My best tips on your outfit selection for newborn photos

Imagine this: You just had your sweet baby. It’s wonderful, but you are incredibly exhausted and a little overwhelmed at times with all the new changes. You are so excited to have your newborn photos taken by me and have lots of beautiful pictures of not only your newborn, but you with them, looking amazing and feeling beautiful and comfortable. Here’s my best tips on your outfit selection to look great and alleviate stress!

Tip #1: Choose your outfit before the baby comes. Your body is going to go through a significant amount of changes not only while you are pregnant, but after the baby arrives as well. There is no way to predict what size you will be a couple of weeks postpartum, so I recommend choosing an outfit that you feel great in during the last month of your pregnancy. If you feel great in it then, you’ll feel great after too! It will most likely be a little loose on you in places, obviously, but you’d rather it fit loose than tight in areas that you may not want to accentuate. Choosing your outfit prior to the arrival of your little one will also alleviate stress after the baby is born of scrambling to find an outfit you love – trust me, that is the last thing you are going to want to do after you just had a baby! Once you have your outfit chosen, coordinate the rest of the family’s outfits around yours. In my style guide that is sent to clients who book me, I go in to more depth on styling and picking color palettes, so check that out for lots of more helpful info about that!

Tip #2: You can never go wrong with a long, flowy, loose fitting dress. There’s just something about these dresses that are so perfect for the postpartum mom. The right one can make you feel so elegant and beautiful, when in reality, you are exhausted and likely not feeling like your normal self. During a newborn session with me, I love to photograph my clients in all kinds of positions with their sweet baby – everything from standing, to laying down, to sitting on the couch or a bed. Long flowy dresses help you to feel great in a variety of positions and not be self conscious about how your body looks in that position.

Here are several online shops that I highly recommend where you can find so many beautiful options for “maternity friendly” dresses. These are called maternity friendly because they are meant for all stages of pregnancy, the postpartum period, and beyond! They are a win-win because you can wear them not only while pregnant, but for years after too!

Worth Collective 

Morning Lavender 

Nothing Fits But

Pink Blush 

Baltic Born 

Here are a few of my personal favorites: Hamilton Midi-Dress, Front Tie Ruffle Dress, Mona Maxi Dress, Hayward Dress, Melody Maxi Dress, Sakura Dress, Devon Smocked Maxi Dress, Hunter Satin Midi Dress, Haven Dress, Candace Dress, Flutter Sleeve Dress

Side note: If you are one of the lucky ones who can rock your pre-pregnancy jeans at your newborn session, by all means, go for it! I don’t think that’s most of us though, myself included 🙂

Tip #3: Light neutral colors photograph so well and compliment my photography style perfectly. As you’ve probably noticed, I absolutely love for my images to have a light-filled, bright look to them, while retaining true to life colors. To achieve this look, the colors you choose to wear play a very important role! Light cream, beige, white, heather grey, light pinks, blues – these all compliment my photography style very well and will help you get the look you see in my imagery. Ultimately, whatever you feel most confident in, compliments your skin tone the best, and you just like the most is the best choice for you! I do, however, recommend avoiding bold shades of orange, yellow, red, green, and blue, as they can create color casts on your skin and anyone next to you. (For example: If you are wearing a bright yellow color, the window light can bounce off of your clothing and cast a yellow tone onto those next to you, resulting in yellow/unnatural skin tones.) On the flip side, if you wear light colors (especially white and cream) it bounces clean light all around and keeps everyone’s skin tones looking perfect.

I hope this blog was helpful! If we haven’t connected yet and you would like more information on my newborn photography, you can contact me here!