I am editing a newborn session I had over the weekend and am struck yet again by how different it is to edit these pictures. I strive for a “natural” look;  I don’t want the baby to look “over-processed”. However labor, the elements, hormones and those sharp little infant nails are not kind to baby’s skin. I find babies often need quite a bit of work to give them the look we expect of a newborn – fresh, smooth, dewy, new. . .

I thought I would post a few before & after examples to illustrate what goes into editing newborn pictures.

This little guy is totally cute and a champ at sleeping while I posed him. He was a little older (almost 3 weeks) and had some acne and flaky skin that needed to be addressed. I was able to smooth his skin, getting rid of the flaky quality as well as removing the couple of scratches he had and the acne on his nose.

I find with newborns there tends to be more uneven skin tone/color. Here, this guy had a yellow cast to his skin in the “T” zone while around that was more magenta. I evened this out for the final product.

Sometimes I am so focused on the baby I miss things, like the blanket being wrinkled! Luckily this can be fixed as well. BTW – I knit this hat. Isn’t it cute? I must make another!

I can’t believe what I received today in the mail box. Among some other things that I will blog about tomorrow, I received these four marketing items I ordered. Wow – I just LOVE the way they turned out!  They are 8×8 inch metallic prints on black styrene to make them sturdy.

Special thanks to Michele of Pinkletoes4Photographers for the awesome templates.

This little sweetheart’s photos are edited. Here is an example of what a newborn proof set from a shoot might look like.

Just a few weeks ago I was taking maternity shots of this couple. I got to shoot them again this morning – only this time it was with their newborn daughter. Seriously – have you ever seen anything so cute?

Unlike the babe last week, this one was either sleeping or eating the entire time. No open-eyed picture for her! While she ate, I was able to get some cute pictures of her proud other sister. Then while she slept, I got some of her. . .

Many thanks to Estella and her family for sharing the morning with me!

What better way to start a new blog than with a new baby. This little one was so tiny – you really do forget how small they are – and squishy! She was awake & alert most of the session. After a couple hours I thought perhaps we would need to give-up on a sleeping shot but then she finally dozed off . . .

Special thanks to Greta and her mom for spending the morning with me and being my first blog post!