Lifestyle vs Posed newborn: What's the difference?

First, what is a Lifestyle Session

Clients are always asking. Can you come to my home to take photos of our baby?

Yes of course I can. I offer a lifestyle newborn session in your home. It is a beautiful way to capture your new family in your space, enjoying each other and loving on your new baby in beautiful natural light.Think of it as a documentary style. I tend to use only natural light. I don't bring in studio lights, and I do not use lights in your home. These sessions are best done midday when there is lots of indirect natural light in every room of your home. Lifestyle sessions typically take about 2 hours. you may have to clean a few spaces, a bedroom, the nursery, and maybe the living room, but some parents really gravitate to this style of bright and airy photos that feel a little less posed.

What is a Posed Newborn Session then?

A posed session is done in my gorgeous Cambrian San Jose area studio. I have hundreds of props, outfits, dresses, backdrops, accessories, headbands, wraps, bonnets, fabrics, etc. to customize several unique set ups that will focus on baby and create amazing portraits. I use studio lighting, which is far more reliable and consistent than the varied lighting I experience in any client's home where lighting and color casts from walls can differ a ton from room to room. These look like traditional portraits. Baby is delicately posed in every image with extreme attention to detail. Posed newborn offers a very clean and polished look to your portraits.

Will you come to my house then and just do the posed newborn session in my house?

There is simply no way to bring the required lighting, props, etc to a client's home and even pretend that it looks the same as what I can offer in my studio. My clients deserve the very best portraits, and a posed session can only be perfect when all lighting is controlled, and all my props and posing tools are available to me. But both lifestyle and posed photography is beautiful. I have even had a few clients who chose to do both! They did two separate sessions to enjoy both a posed look and a documentary style session in their home. You should absolutely follow your heart and get the kind of photos that inspire you. Contact me to see example gallery's of both. I'm always happy to share!