5 Tips for Styling Your Newborn Sessions Using Professional Backdrops with Julia Valdesalice

5 Tips for Styling Your Newborn Sessions Using Professional Backdrops with Julia Valdesalice

The way we, as Photographers, style a newborn session is one of the best ways to separate ourselves from others in our area and also help us form a consistent brand. It’s imperative that we listen to our client’s desires while also staying true to ourselves as artists. Prior to all of my newborn sessions, I meet with the expectant parents and talk about styling to ensure the overall aesthetic of the session suits their personal style and home decor. This leads me to my first tip on styling newborn sessions!

TIP #1: Plan your color scheme.

During the pre-session consult, one of the first questions I ask is about colors. I encourage clients to choose 2-3 colors that will carry through their entire session. This way, when they flip through pages of their album, the images look cohesive. 99% of the time the answer is pinks and creams or blues and grays. Why can’t I ever get some purple??!!

TIP #2: Coordinate textures. 

Since we are trying to stick with a maximum of 3 colors, it’s important to mix textures to create depth. Another question I ask during the consult is about their personal style and home decor. Do they lean towards rustic, boho, glam, clean and modern? This helps me determine which textures to use, including the wood floor mat, since Intuition offers quite a variety! If I use fur in one set up, I try not to use it in another. If they tell me they like rustic, I’ll go for a more weathered wood floor mat and maybe add some burlap layers. Fur, wood, burlap… oh my!

TIP #3: Create variety. 

Backdrop pictured "Ballet"

One of my goals is to offer clients a good variety of images to choose from. Of course, the most obvious variety comes with changes of poses, however, if the entire session is shot on the same backdrop, clients may have a hard time noticing the difference in poses. For this reason, I make sure the backdrops I choose, while in the color scheme, are completely different from one another. Since Intuition offers such a dynamic range, it’s easy to find options like a floral, a concrete and a wood. For a boy, perhaps a more solid colored drop with soft texture, one that’s more geometric, and then a wood. Always a wood!

Backdrop pictured: "Lily"

TIP #4: Consider perspective.

Backdrop pictured: "Valetta"

Depending on how baby is posed, you may be shooting from above, straight on or possibly from a side angle. Most backdrops from Intuition are incredibly versatile and will look amazing regardless of the shooting perspective. There are some drops, however, that may look better shot from above. For example, some of the drops that have a print like a larger floral around the perimeter. If you put the baby in the middle and shoot from above, the floral print will frame your subject. It’s important when choosing drops to consider the pose and angle you’ll be shooting from.

TIP #5: Look at it as a whole rather than parts.

There’s a lot to consider when planning an entire session and it can get overwhelming. When choosing drops for your session, I like to lay them next to each other and see if the colors are complimenting rather than competing. If you plan the entire set together as a whole, you may be able to swap layers from one set up to another or grab a bunch of headbands and know that any of them will work with all of the concepts. This way we can be confident in what was said in Tip #1 … the aesthetics of the session will flow from concept to concept will colors, tones and textures all complimenting each other. 

About the Author 

Based in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Julia photograph's the precious journey of pregnancy, newborn baby and through baby's first year of life.  Her goal is to create art for families that is classic and timeless.