How to Become a Newborn Photographer in New Jersey | Baby Photographer in Chatham, NJ
Capturing those 10 tiny fingers and those 10 little toes gave you the best idea. Becoming a newborn photographer! While it is very rewarding (and sometimes not so glamorous!), the reality is that is not as easy at it seams. In my 9+ years of being a newborn photographer in Lincoln Park, NJ I have found that most people think that becoming a mom or having experience taking care of babies gives the false thought of “this will be a piece of cake”. Let me tell you there is nothing further from the truth and I see it with each one of my students. But, do not despair! I am here to help you and give you a guidance on what steps to take.
Hi! My name is Tamara and I specialize in Fine Art Newborn Photography. I’ve been in business for 10 years with 9 of those here in North Jersey. I started teaching 3 years ago and the reason was to help starting photographers and guide them through the process into finding their own style and learning how to safely pose a newborn baby. When I first started there was not a lot of video learning or a social media explosion of tips and how-to’s like there are now which can be very overwhelming. Here below I am gonna give you a starter-kit advice on how to become a newborn photographer in NJ.
Get inspired!
First things first. Start following photographers that inspire you. Look for styles or poses that you like. Set ups, ideas, colors, etc., is all important to develop the style that you want to be consistent on.
2. Gear
Wether you have a start up camera or a latest model mirrorless, start practicing so you can get comfortable with it. Learn about the exposure triangle. Also, it is important to decide if you want to learn to use a strobe or artificial light, opposed to natural light. At the end, the fianl goal in terms of lighting and posing is the same. But camera adjustments are different. One requires minimal adjustments throughout the session while the other one requires more adjustments depending on light situation and changes during the day.
3. In person learning with a mentor
While learning with videos and online classes are great to have a foundation, the truth is that learning how to SAFELY pose a baby cannot be learned on a youtube video like you are learning how to put together a shelf. This is a real baby and a precious new bundle of joy for a family. Babies are very fragile and there are do’s and don’ts in order to secure they are never in danger or at risk. I have taken safety classes and many workshops to work with different babies. And yes. I did an in person 1:1 class with a professional photographer before I worked with any baby, I remember asking Angie sooo many questions! Something you cannot do to a video.
4. Consistency
I remember hearing Sue Bryce as a key note speaker at the Baby Summit saying something that stuck with me. “Do not try to master all at once. start with a pose and dont go to the next one until you have mastered it.” This is sooo true! There is so much information given and so many things you learn at a workshop that you want to try it all and the reality is that you could get overwhelmed and frustrating because you won’t master them all at once. I tell my students to start simple and just be consistent.
5. Editing tools
Make sure you have the right editing tools like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop to edit your pictures. Make sure you shoot in RAW and not JPEG format. There is a lot of learning tools out there and Adobe has a whole library of videos that will teach you included in your subscription. As part of y mentoring class, I offer a post- processing session at a later date via zoom s we can talk abut editing once you have culled your own images and you had time to process all we learned at the newborn workshop.
