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Flow Posing

Lesson 2 from: Newborn Photography Bootcamp

Kelly Brown

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Lesson Info

2. Flow Posing

Unlike a portrait session with adults, much of a newborn session is spent getting the baby calm. Flow posing is a technique that helps keep the baby content by minimizing handling while still creating a variety of poses. Adding in compositional variety, such as close-ups and varying shooting angles, expands the variety even more. Learn how Kelly creates multiple poses with small adjustments for big variety.
Next Lesson: Kelly's Home Studio

Lessons

Class Trailer

Day 1

1

Course Introduction

11:28
2

Flow Posing

1:21:36
3

Kelly's Home Studio

39:16

Day 2

4

How to Set Up Your Home Studio in a Week: Planning

34:23

Day 3

5

How to Set Up Your Home Studio in a Week: Foundation

18:23

Lesson Info

Flow Posing

our flow posing today that we're gonna work through this morning is is something that I've been working on for quite some time because after my previous class and a little bit before that when I was teaching so many people would say you know how do we keep the baby so settled and calm throughout the session but it's understanding the baby and I've touched on quite a few times if you've seen me speak before or attended any of my sessions or classes it's keeping the baby contented all times when we're over handling them were over stimulating them so we have to make sure that when we are handling them it's gentle and we're using slow rhythmic movements with um and we're transitioning them easily when you are picking a baby up and putting it down constantly moving it from your posing bag to a prop back and forth taking it back and forth off the mother that poor baby you know it's being over handled it thinks that it's it's timeto wake up and fade or it's not going into that deep sleep and ...

they get overtired and then you're going to have a really unsettled unhappy baby so keeping the baby as happy as secure and as comfortable as possible throughout my sessions is the most important aspect it is all about them it's not about me as a photographer you know I love what I do and I love photography but when my clients hire me they hiring me for service and that is what I need to remember the hiring made a document their baby to photograph their baby beautifully and to say that they have those memories to last a lifetime all those beautiful big elaborate setups that I love to do it's not for every client they're coming in to remember this beautiful special time and it's not about me as a photographer creating the next big posed next big image that's going to be shared a million times on facebook it's not about that it's about my clients and keeping their baby is happy and is content as possible and you know we're going to talk about my and later on but it all sort of flows through my business when my clients are happy and they see that I am taking the upmost care with their baby you know that's something we're gonna remember I was listening teo a lady about half an hour ago when she was just touching up my makeup which was lovely and she was talking to somebody else about a restaurant and she said you know the food's delicious but the service is incredible that's what they remember that's what they need to remember for masses photographers not oh my god did you see that image they forget that image because they remember how you make them feel and how you treat them and what you provide for them so it is not about us is of photographer we do need to be able to take great photos which I'm going to share with you but we also need to remember that it's not just about that so my flow posing going back to that that goes that's the start of my session it's taking the utmost care with their baby moving them gently transitioning them from post to post without picking them up and putting them down keeping them content sound a slate and happy the whole time so when I start on my posing bag you know I'm going to start with the baby on its back we're going to move to the side onto its tummy and then around to the front and I'm going to show you how I do that step by step we're gonna cross the thing is that the baby stays a slight before it comes in here so it's nice and nice and sleepy and we can get through that hole hole up a whole part of the flow posing but another reason that I love my flow posing is that you know when I'm providing my clients with the gallery that getting a set amount of images beginning twenty images for the gallery and I can I know that I'm going to get eleven from doing my four posers in my bag and all of those images are going to be different so I'm going to take you through that whole process and get the most out of my cision without actually having to move that baby create whole new set ups and spending that time because we have to remember when the clients come into the studio a are sleep deprived they usually a little sore little tender after birth and they're also a little bit anxious if their new parents you know this is it's a whole new world for them and we have got to be in touch with them and listening to their needs the whole time throughout that session and we have to communicate the biggest part of what we do should be listening to our clients and their needs and it's that's probably one of the most important things so yeah when I was saying that I like to start with them on the back I'm gonna take you through the whole transitioning stage and you can see that the only time I lift him off the blanket unless they've relieved themselves and it's it's too bad that I can't clean it up or are you no I'm doing a blanket change and even when I'm doing a blanket change I'm lifting them about an inch off the bag and I'm putting them back down in the exact same position that I've lifted the men so I'm not picking them up handling them turning tossing any of that it is gentle slow movements and that's what my parents love at the end of the session they're always like he was so gentle and I get beautiful e mails and comments on photos online and things like that and they love the care that we take and it's you know I've heard so many photographers say all babies a server bust you know they can handle everything anything sorry and it's true like when they're born they have to come through the birth canal and it's quite a journey to be born into this world for them but that's somebody's precious gift in life that's what we have to remember not what they kind of capable off we do need to know that so we don't force them into certain poses that there not comfortable in but it's about capturing beautiful simple images and it doesn't have to be complicated to provide our clients with those and then we transition the baby from there back over onto this side and we start to set up for some more images and I'll just go back really quickly actually because I forgot to mention that when they are on their back I'm photographing them from above I'm doing in close up and then I'm going to come from the side and get a beautiful backlit shot this is what I like to do so I'm going to share that with you and hopefully you can pick up a few of those sort of tips and things along the way but I know that from that set up there I'm going to get three different images for my client's galleries from one set up and then when we transition onto the side I'm going to get a beautiful photo off them on this side and then they're gonna come up coming close and get a nice close up of their face again and I'm dressing with different fabrics and textures and then when it comes to ah blanket change we're going to lift the baby gently I've already pig in the blanket up on my client's going to help me drag that blanket through so the baby's very very gently lifted making sure that they white is evenly distributed and then placed back down then we're going teo transition onto their tummy and I'll show you exactly where I placed my hands to be able to maneuver them over and position them and all the little details because it's about finishing those images you know if you've got a baby that's a little bit tense when you are moving them or really sensitive to touch getting those safe shots is really important but also making sure that once you've got that safe shot you come back in and you fix the little fingers you put all those you take the time and you pay attention to detail because that's what makes an image is really stand out and then the chin on hands so once we've finished with the baby or within the bum up pose we're going to bring them around to the front and get a lovely close up of their face and then another pull back so when they're in the bum oppose I like to get four images I kind of pulled back and then a close up I might come in and get an eyelash detail and I'll shoot from the back to get those beautiful little roles as well so yeah lots of images eleven images from there and the course is is huge so every day we're going to be sort of working on different segments that are all going to flow throughout my session which I'm going to share with you so yeah and I also kelly wanted teo mention that there's a a lot of bonus materials for folks out there that come when you d'oh decide to invest in the boot camp and one of them is your flow posing guide so there's a ton of information you can go to the class page the boot camp page by clicking on the link up there and lifts out all the different bonus materials there is a bonus video's a cz well as so many different items that are gonna be great to go along with the class so the flow posing died is one of those oh yeah and it tells you step by step I've actually listed step by step where I placed my hands how high position in the guide because we don't always have time to come back and watch a video and sometimes just having a reference guide is such a great tool you know you can put it in some plastic slips or printed out or keep it on your ipad it's it's such a great thing to have in a tall and I really wish that I'd had things like this when I was starting out because I was actually just having a conversation with one of my produces and about like the questions that we get as photographers you know we had teaches we put ourselves out there to provide information and teach but we also have to find all that information for ourselves and you have to do it for you so if you have to work hard for what you want so all those questions that we get asked a lot of the times you know they can be quite simple questions but we never had anyone to answer those questions for us so we had to do it the hard way we had to find the answers and do it you know so if there is one huge tip that I can point out to anybody anybody out there starting out or even in their existing business you know you have to do it nothing comes easy you have to work hard for what you want and you have to find that information and you have to work at it because it is hard work to run a successful business definitely so yeah well I'm gonna head over and it started I'm going to set up my my little posing area I'm just bringing my beanbag and my backdrop stand forward into the into this beautiful natural light but I am going to use a light as well for a bit of fill light only because this side of the studio is now quite dark and our windows air really high in my studio at home my window's our floor to ceiling and I don't want any unnecessary shadows that are going to come in so I'm going to use my jimbo light toe ism add some light back into that space kind of pig my my backdrop up a little bit so this backdrop stand is a little bit higher than the one I have at home which means the one at home I can actually pig my blanket to the top of it but this is fine you know when I was starting out I used to produce people's dining room chairs in their house so it's easy to make do with what you've got and I'm just gonna pull it as tight as I can clamp it down and get it ready so we have two little baby boys to work with this morning so sure which one's going to come in but they are both absolutely adorable my bag is nice and firm I've got lots of layers underneath and they're all doubled over a swell so I've got one two three for five six and then my top blanket as well and I've gone with really natural colors because I find that you know when I am photographing them on on the beam you know I want to make sure that these are simple clean beautiful images from my clients were going to use him textures and some little hats and things like that to decorate but I want these to be timeless images so that they're not going today when you were using you know certain props and things like that you have to be careful that you know in time like fashion things change so we want these images to stay on our client's walls we want to create images that they can't create for themselves so make them beautiful make them simple and all about the baby so I'm just gonna bring a couple of little things over when I'm at home you know I'm working with my my stool I don't have a store here with me today but I do have an apple box which is which is exactly the same height as what I would be using at home and it just makes it easier for me teo to sit and work at my bag because if I'm kneeling for long periods of time going to end up with sore knees and bruises and when you're sitting on the floor in your leaning all the way forward to set up your images you know you're over extending your back and I've got you know back issues so I don't want to do that I want to protect myself and make sure that I'm comfortable throughout my shoot but I can also see better up here what I'm doing from where I'm going to be taking that shot from down here I can't quite see where I'm actually going to be you know how the baby's positioned I want to be in a place where I can actually see everything I'm setting up for that shot so very quickly I'm gonna put some hand sanitizer on we'll get this beautiful baby so the room is set to a nice a nice high temperature but just because it's deducted air conditioning the room is about eighty degrees celsius but there is some cool air coming through so I'm just bringing over a little space heater I'm not gonna have it too close to the bean bag just to put a little bit of warmth into that space before we put our baby down because when we're sort of taking them off their mom you know or any parent for that matter when they're being cuddled they've got that body heat they've got a blanket around them and I'm bringing them into an area that's got no direct warmth so I don't want to wake them up in any point so I want them to be nice and snugly so when I start with my flow posing I use a rap like we saw in the video and it's just to help hold them in place you can use different types of wrap some that stretch somebody needed I like to use something with a little bit of texture but still really soft and it's not too big because I'm tucking it in around the baby if it's too long too big I'm gonna have to tuck an awful lot of fabric which is going to make it then look quite bulky so I'm going to place that down in the middle of my well that I've already created and when I put the baby down I want them teo to sort of be slightly on this side towards that light if we lay a baby completely flat on their back it's very hard to kill their legs a ll the way up we put them on the side slightly weaken bring their little bottoms around and kill them up into that beautiful curly position conviction my hands warm he's been scratching his face always so beautiful do you have any other children oh a seven year old and what does she think she loved that really oh my god I have two eight year old so I kind of couldn't relate and I think we have that if I had another baby that would be they would love it you know that I'm going tio all right so I'm gonna gently gently transition onto the bag and then I'm gonna pull that rep around he's so warm shit just keeping my hand and my fingers on top of the forearm there letting and sink back into that comfy place hey so gorgeous so with this rap I don't place it about over the baby place it around the baby so I've got a little hands up where I want them to be but I want to cross his legs over so we can see those and in that way it helps help bring his bottom half up into that nice curly position so we're gonna cross the top leg over the bottom leg and then the bottom foot and if you can see then comes up to help hide any bits and pieces that we don't need to see in that further right I'm gonna pull this quite firm down here not to type but firm enough just to help hold him in place because we want him to feel secure what I'm doing is just gently rocking now and bringing those legs up to where I want them to pay and then the other side comes down and around and it doesn't matter which side crosses over because it all gets tucked in and bringing this side all the way up and around in the back here I'm just gonna check it wait I'm gonna put my hand on the back and I'm just gonna cheerily curl him around and you can see now he's studying to come up into that ball but I'm not pushing anything I'm not forcing him into any position it's just a flat soft hand my hands become an extension of the baby so they're not tense they're not shaking and not hard this soft and they're feeling his little body movement when you feel them start to tense up that's when you pull back that little bit of pressure there wait you can see where they're comfortable then and then just tucking that in underneath so I don't have a normally have like white noise in a heartbeat wanted to playing they're not playing right now only because you know we're talking we might put it on a fee starts to sort of you know way coster but he's nice and settled at the moment and I'm talking so it's kind of like a constant sound and I'm using a soft voices well I mean to be able to pass me my cloth nappies I was too excited to start so I am forgot my most important things down there thank you so much with these were not gonna lift him from underneath but we are going to place them around to support him you can see underneath where are positioned the coffin happy can you see that and it's just around the outside that's gonna help him feel nice and secure in that position crossing over hands to come to this side of the bottom of this one I am actually going to slightly put underneath his bottom and that's to give him a little bit more of a live to make him a little bit earlier but underneath with my other hand I'm just gonna hold his legs in place and now lift just taking the weight of his bottom off the blanket and then just pushing that cloth nappy in underneath there it's just folded over no particular way kind of just pushed but if you are pushing really quite aggressively you're going to stare that baby so gently sort of folding it in around them now I can start to sort of define the pose with turning the head and placing their hands and the one thing I am going to do before I position his head is turned his nose up towards the ceiling because when I'm shooting down from above from now at the moment and I would get a great side profile shop but I want to be able to see his face because it's all about that about those little details I'm just gonna put it in there for the time being and then I'm going to mold it once up turned his little head so I got a ll the way to the bottom of the blankets again at the back I'm going to keep my hand down here on his foot because when I move his head that he could possibly start also we're going to make sure that he's there we go it's gonna turn gently bring his little chin around and now we've got a beautiful circle line you can see we go from the top of his head down through his nose to his arm around to his foot to his other leg and then back up into his face so compositionally you know our eyes going to stay with inside this area this is where the images wait grab all the blankets and I'm not gonna like lift him but I'm gonna take the weight of his head off the blanket so that I can slide that klaus nappy in underneath and make him just a little bit earlier and it's also going to help him stay in that position only one is for them to look comfortable look curly and not look flat but by using you know supports underneath we're molding them into position but we're also you know supporting them in the areas that they need supporting it sorry can we can probably start shooting shooting from about sometimes it's really hard to get that right camera angle but you know when you think about it you don't want to see the bum it's not a portrait of his bombs he wouldn't shoot it from here you wouldn't shoot it from over here to see the top of his head you want to come in in the direct line of their face and that's the center of the image that the focus so we want to get nice and and sort of straddled in a position that were comfortable in and I always like to put my feet shoulder width apart because it means that I'm secure and I'm stable in the way I'm standing I'm going to shoot it a two point eight I've got my camera strap over my neck I'm gonna go two thirds of the stop over exposed to start with because I'm shooting on a light background you want to bring those skin tones into that really beautiful creamy range but I'm also going to rotate my cameras well to position him with inside my frame and a trick to getting that camera angle right is moving yourself ah so cute I could see that come up in a second I'm always gonna focus on the closest to the frame you know if you like that if you don't like to shoot completely wide open that is entirely up to you you shoot where you're happy at I love beautiful soft images I like to shoot wide open but that's me so this is how I do it and I'm just sharing it with you you need to find what's comfortable with you and what you like and then the next thing I would do would be going with my backlit image so I would come from the side and still making it all about their little face I'm gonna get a shot and I'm just going to quickly pull that foot in just a bit more we can bring the exposure down just a bit and when I look at the back of my camera I'm not looking at the image I'm looking at the history ram I wanna make sure that I'm not over exposing any of those highlights and keeping all of the detail where I needed to be so we would come in and we were just tidy up some of these little bits and pieces I love the way you just did that bring that foot over a little bit more so I can see those toes and there's so many different ways that you know you can sort of style this if you've got a long rap and you don't want to tuck it away and then you can you know tired off to the side and let it drape into the background and play with it it's just so many different ways that you can do it we can stand in front of my life here I'm being careful to look and watch out for the nose I don't want to shoot up his nose there we go that is beautiful he is just gorgeous from case and now we're gonna transition him onto his side I'm gonna leave the backdrop down while I do this because once we got him over onto his side I'm gonna leave him into sort of settle into that position while I pick up the backdrop and by not touching him for a couple of seconds that means that he can drift back off into that beautiful slate that is in now but I always move my cloth nappies from out from underneath before I start a start on a christlike fresh flight so I'm supporting him from underneath and holding him up while I pull those out the one at the back though because we're going to turn him onto his side he's going to come off that one at the back so we'll leave that there for the time being because it's under his head and I don't want him to startle so because they're light sources over here I'm actually going to turn him towards that light source um would it be better for the camera if I turned in this way it's probably easier if you two see on this side isn't it will do that because we still have our beautiful light here I don't I don't want you guys to not see what I'm doing windows khun b feel like today so I'm just pulling the cloth nappy I mean the coffin a beat the rap way and that because we are going to turn him this way decide here I want to pull down like this I'm not gonna pull it out just yet because as I turned him it's now gonna come out the back we're just going to bring his little bottom around making sure that the elbow stays in line with the body and the hand is up so that when I do turn him his hand doesn't end of a pier and we're going to really struggle them to bring it down in line with the body now I've got his fingers I'm sorry I've got my fingers on his elbows so as I gently turned him my little finger under here is going to push that rap out the back I dislike that I bring for a minute making modest and then bringing him towards the front of the beanbag towards that beautiful light and then the hips so they're not facing up we're gonna sort of face them over turned them over towards the bag I've got one hand on the back supporting him and one hand on his shins and his knees so I'm just gonna give him a little turn down that way and push his bottom towards the back of the bag so we let him sink back up into that slave try and make my blankets as smooth as possible before I take a shot so then not having to do so much work in post production to make them smooth oh look he's smiling other is kitty still doing it I mean use another piece of fabric now to wrap over the top of him and I've got lots of different textures in here and and beautiful color tones and he's just got the most beautiful skin so wantto put a beautiful color on in here I bought too many things with me so my mom has been busy knitting she does some beautiful things and she's been using some of the monkey movement patterns which are now available ice to buy a lot of my props from her but now she's actually making patents and selling them and no longer knitting so yeah she's having a great time creating all these wonderful bits and pieces so we're going to use this and these colors are going to go really well together I'm just using my hand over the top of the fire there so it doesn't kind of flinch with the side pose I like to have the feet tucked up towards the bottom as much as I can and this is going to come over the top and it's going teo just all high he's just having a stretch he's posing himself I'm not actually gonna have any of this coming out as a detail and talking really tight because it's not very long so I don't want it to look too silly when it's you know a little bit of length you can actually drape it and it looks beautiful but we're gonna tuck it in scrap that call from the back of the bank because I see a little bold there on when the light hits that's gonna cause a shadow so we want our blankets to be nice and smooth got his feet pretty much where we want them to pay we will perfect them in a minute but I'm just gonna pop that cloth nappies in underneath there just to give a little bit of resistance there so he can sort of feel some form of support there can you use the weight of my arm just on his body it's not heavy it's not hard it's just so that he feels secure walston moving him so with this side what I'm going to do it in a second I'm gonna lift here from the side of his head and I'm gonna push with my finger down on the bag to bring that cecil down so I'm not actually lifting his head this way I'm kind of turning here snow's up towards the ceiling so I'm not over extending his neck or anything like that because if you stand there or you lay down and you try to go like that it's not that easy but you khun turn easily so it's the same with babies we've got to remember that they did the same as asking just a ridiculously small version so making them comfortable the whole time that just might that always can do it for me again uh easy baby now I want to bring this top hand when he's lifted his head earlier he's bought the top hand in over the top of the bottom hand but we want this bottom hand in underneath because if I was to take a photo now it would become quite blurry and you would see that in the image I'm shooting wide open I'm focusing on the I the hand is going to be in front of the face so it's going to appear bigger and it's going to be blurry you can see where the arm underneath is now it's in line with the body that was up like this it would be the same as the hand it would be a large sort of object in front of the face being the elbow so we don't want that any anywhere near his his little face it becomes all about the face and he's interesting so I'm gonna bring that up so when you're working in your studio and you've got this down pact you know you wouldn't be going through all the steps and going slowly like I am you would move through these poses really quickly and sometimes the trick is just knowing where to put your hands to keep them secure you can take your head off I'm just waiting for him justice relax I had a stretch and that's some something else that we will send you to remember is that when we lay down in bid we lay down on the couch watch tv or we sit somewhere we get comfortable all the time we do it without even noticing we move until we're comfortable they did something that they have their own comfy place and we've got to remember that you know not every baby we're going to every pose comfortably and as easy as a side poses sometimes baby don't babies don't like playing on this side and that's the beauty of having the flow posing and if you've got a little one thats not quite happy in one position you can transition over into the next and when you're using bows or anything like that if they're too big they're gonna become distracting you do not want anything in your image is competing with little ones face so what I'm gonna do is to stand above here and I'm going to take the weight of his head off his hands and slide the other hand in underneath so I've put my finger through the palm here bring those little fingers out and push the some through just like that and then when he relaxes that ober just giving in a little general rock now when I lift out he'll probably move with me khun slide that thumb in over the top of the other wrist I'm sweating in front to relax those fingers sh we've got those hands in place I'm just talking that heading so it doesn't look too big ok now I can start to make about called snap peas to get everything in the right place so I'm just pushing it down underneath his little neither so we don't have like a big dick sort of well here and then it kind of just comes up with the end of his feet we wanted to be a nice smooth around well when I shoot this image from over here you know I want his little feet kind of drift off into the background now I'm gonna use one of my nephews is just to give his little here a little bit of a lift and then that's going to put everything um keep his sort of his chin and shoulder together to keep that happened places well some sliding one hand underneath it's there under the bag and what I'm going to do from there is lift his head take his weight off the bean bag and slide the cloth maybe in underneath his head it's moving that cloth nappy they can see it kind of just punched it up underneath there moving it around teo to sort of pushed them into that position if he was really stirring at the moment I get a safe shot um I'm just gonna do a little bit more talking here I want these images to be beautiful for mom and then a little bit more hide here underneath the face underneath those hands just to lift it up off the bag you can see just by pushing their I've just turned his little nose up towards the ceiling which is where we wanted to pay can we make it our first shot even though that I'm really happy with where this is at I would still like to get some flat fingers in there when I'm shooting anything I'm using my twenty four to seventy lanes I want to free at that seventy mil focal length here so we get a quick shot he's just had a little bit of a regal several gonna fix his hands and then we should be right to take our image so when I come in to fix hands I'm placing my hand over the whole body there I've got this part of my hand on top of the nie I've got my fingers on his body and I've got my other two fingers on that top hand so they're not gonna go anywhere I'm going to keep them where I need them to be I'm just gonna lift up gently here I just want to bring some of these fingers out under here there we go so what I did was I used this part of my hand just push his head up nice and flat some it's not pointing or anything like that and then I scooped the fingers out and then we don't want it covering his cheek here so we want to bring that cheek forward thought looks nice and full so just pushing at hand a little bit further up on underneath his his cheek and then we've got a beautiful straight fingers let's talk about had in a little bit more you know it's funny whenever we have sort of different little props and things like that not all of them are going to fit every baby so we conduct them in wherever we need them to be and they don't need to look perfect at the back they need look perfect at the front so he is absolutely adorable I just changed my my camera angle slightly there I get my pullback shot and then I would come in trying not to be watching the light across his face so I'm not standing in front of my life and get a beautiful closer and I'm focusing on their eye closest to me god he's gorgeous in case and now we can move over into the obama pose and I used to photograph babies naked a lot and I always like to cover them now because everything is on the internet and you you know you don't want bits and pieces sort of out there so we and my brother once said to me when he walked into my house you know that baby looks cold in that photo so I like to make them look it's comfortable and warm and secure as possible in the images but before I turned him over onto his tummy I'm going to slip a pair of pants on and then once he's over I can pull them up the back let's take the head off first I've got my thumb on his elbow that tickles he can mix up your images you can take a shot with the head on you can take a shot with the hat off you know to really add some variety there it's entirely up to you I just love the way that little sort of bow and tessa were coming down so that's why I left the hat on for that side side profile shop make sure we've got the tessa lt's to the pants where we need them to be bringing up over the knee these little pants from a pistol sty I think it is I'm not quite sure on the pronunciation but also in the bonus material is my suppliers guide so all the proper companies that I like to use and anyone that I purchased things from they're all listed with their websites in that god wait so just making sure that they're up above the need before I start teo to turn him over sh we can do the rest of the pulling but I also want to make sure but when I do turn him that I can still access this tassel to pull the back of the pants nice and tight so they don't look loose and when you are turning a baby forward you know we've got this beautiful well but you can see that it kind of rises here so we don't want that teo you know seem like we're trying to push something upheld we want to push all that down and turn him into a nice flat surface so we'll bring the cloth nappies from underneath out and I'm going to take the white of his head underneath the blanket and slide that pia so that it's not so jolting for him and then lower him slowly push our brains down you can see my bags firm but it's still got enough give to be able to do this with radio so for this post we've got one arm underneath we've got to get that arm out the back so when we go over into that bum oppose we want their little face like this that we want this arm at the back of his support and that's because it's going to prevent them from rolling backwards if it's underneath them it's going to continue to change color like this which is not you know ideal and it's not comfortable for them so we got to take his weight off that limb and pull it out the back and you know what it's like with you're laying on your stomach don't lay on your arm you have your arms out so we make them as comfortable as possible so with my my hand here on the forearm and his other hand here because I want that out I don't want it to go under his body on my other hand on the back of his shoulder when I turned him and I'm gonna do it while he's moving I'm pushing that little arm out the back and bring him forward the legs always follow so now is over we can bring those pants up we're gonna cross the feed over the other way is my vessel so I'm not gonna tie it in a boat or anything but I'm going to pull it pull it nice and tight so it pulls the back of the pants in but it's not cutting into him so they sit properly and then this part here can just tuck in over the top of the thigh so they conceal these beautiful details all right so when it comes to positioning the feet just move around here but more sick and see um you want to make sure that the legs and the knees a shoulder with the part and not how they become supported underneath if the one leg is kind of scooting through they can sort of lose their balance and fall and we don't want them to feel like they're not stable the whole time and it just makes them sit better in this position so is also being a boy he's also got you know it's down here that we don't want to squish and he's got pants on so we gotta be extra careful but I know where where they are so I'm making sure now by pulling his feet apart but they're down and underneath him with my fingers under the shins yeah good angle that's a great angle with my fingers in under the shins I'm going to tuck his knees up underneath him so that they're nice and shoulder width apart like this always actually and then I'm going across the back foot over the top off the front foot and stack them now it's easy tio bring his little bottom half still got my fingers under ishan around to the front and this is how we're getting that beautiful girl pushed some of those beans into that back area there going going no way it's gonna look really good right the back of his head he's just getting comfy like I said so I'll bring his bottom half back around this way a bit more transition his head pull this little arm down I love how they just born with their little personalities already I don't want to play that way with my hand in underneath his head very gently from side to side wait you can't good boy and elbows down job sh like I want to go back where I was pleased no he's not waking out okay okay it was that she's getting comfortable but I had to show him who's boss already let's check these little legs back up again the plain white noise is such a great thing to have in your studio but if he was staring and making a noise like if he'd started to kind of go like that type of thing then I would sense that he's he's really aware of what I'm doing but he's just getting comfortable you know he's just moving from from from side to side so now we've got the basis ofthe pot's already done I want to flatten the fingers and I want to bring his little chin down towards his shoulders this poses all about connection so we want the knee in the elbow touching and we want the chin and the shoulder touching and that's how we get that beautiful girl so it's like my finger in underneath this hand pushed that thumb through so that when it's sitting under their thumb is not preventing it from going flat we want to put the thumb through so it's it's nice and flat that's not going to squish his chicken or I'm holding his elbow with one hand to keep it in where I wanted to be one finger to go there and he's thumbs through so we can see that and now as I lift and again I'm not lifting this way I'm turning his nose towards the ceiling so it's the tone like that and as I lift I'm gonna bring my finger through on his hand to straighten those fingers just like that I wouldn't lift in march but we just took took the weight of his head off the bag and brought it forward on to his little hand way don't want his cheeks squished good a nice tense grip there so we'll just wait for that to relax I am khun slide my hand out more fix those things in a second so you had a supported the back here give him a little bit of a lift and with this pose you know on the course page there's an image of this pose that baby one you know was really happy to lie like that not every baby is going to be to be pushed into that particular pose or to that extreme you've got some that just don't want to be like that say you are only going to teo to sort of raise them toe where they're comfortable not pushed them or force them any further because they won't stay like that so my hand again is in underneath the bottom underneath that back so the shin area here and I'm just gonna lift as I slide my nephews in underneath a little bit of height I can fold it over some more in a second if I need to and I might just sit down on the ground like I was saying before being up that high from where I want to shoot it but this pose I shoot from down here square on so I want to be in the position so I can see what needs to be done and what needs to be fixed lift my hand I'll slide my hand under his head to lift it gently while I slide the cloth nappy underhand there we go and we're starting to get that beautiful girl grabbing all of the blankets here so you can see as I push I'm kind of just folding the cloth napa in underneath to where I needed to bay and molding it and pushed the elbow back in towards the body so we've got no dark holes or gaps because they're going to become quite contrasting shadows if they're in there in the image we're almost ready to take a photo with just need these little fingers here nice and flat if you let me but I am keeping some pressure just on that wrist there with the weight of my son while I do that like any post you don't want to leave a baby in that position for extended periods of time and you never want to leave a baby unattended on the beanbag either so when I'm finished on the bag what I do is if I want to go and get something or change change the hat or anything like that I asked one of the parents to come and sit on my store and then showing them that you're taking that time and the safety of their baby is is your biggest concern um you know really adds to that confidence in you as a photographer and handing over their baby I'm just adjusting all my cloth nappies to get him into that beautiful curly pose and I am ready to take a shot we'll get a couple of little wrinkles there at the back I'm gonna run at a time if I keep it keep crossing I'm gonna focus on this side I'm not going to focus on this one because there's a few contrasting points down there and I don't want my camera to you know just think are well I've gotta focus on this part because it's higher contrast ing needed to focus on the eye line so I'm gonna go for the top I because they're at a similar focal length it's not the same depending on the angle that I'm at so I'm gonna go to bed a third of a stop over exposed I'm still shooting at two point eight and my shutter speed is always gonna change depending on the light depending on my eyes so but you know just lifting that exposure I can see now my history ram I can actually lift it even more because I've still got a lot of room here in my history room to move I'm not over exposing any off my um my highlights and I want to make sure he's got beautiful creamy skin here we go with this pose I would come in I would shoot it from back there I would come in and I would get a beautiful close up I would shoot it from above and then I would get like a beautiful eyelash shop or something like that I'm going to get for images from this set up so quickly grab them before I move on I will go into our last pose whenever you come in to get a detail shot you don't want to be blocking your life I can still see that there's enough like they're coming in on his face and again from above to get that side profile on some of those beautiful little um little wrinkles rolls when you're shooting a side profile you know it is a side profile I can't see his cheek on the other side of that if I wanted to see his cheek I would come around further but I would be careful not to break that check line with his nose I'm going to bring him around to the front into this pose you can leave the pants on you can take them off it's entirely up to you but for the sake of our camera back there we're gonna leave them on and they kind of cute anyway so I've got my hand underneath his head and I've taken my coffin appiah and I'm gonna raise it I'm gonna lower it slowly and just sort of keeping that pressure there because we want him to stay nice and sleepy now to bring him around into this pose he doesn't have to be he doesn't have to come around all the way to the front he decides to come towards the light that's all we want him to be because I can move as long as I've got backdrop in behind him that's all that matters so what I'll do is I'll separate his fate I've got fluff on my nose fingers under the shins again and what I'm gonna do it is just gently bring his bottom half around make sure you've got a nice little well there to move him into and flatten his feet and now they're not crossed over so much so they're a little bit more relaxed and they're not sort of like this at the back there like that so they're nice and comfortable if they like that they can push themselves forward so we want them nice and flatten relaxed and comfortable okay so we're gonna turn him towards the light towards you and then we want to bring those elbows up so behind the first elbow he's nice and sleeping hour to spring him over this way a little bit more and we've got that elbow up down and then I'm still got hold of the back of his head here and we're gonna put our fingers behind the other elbow and come in underneath that forearm and bring it forward like that now like we did before when he turned his head the other way we're just gonna rock it gently back towards this line and by doing this I'm doing it really gently but I'm feeling if he starts to tense up it all because if he starts to tense then I'm going to sort of pull back but if he does tense up they usually continue to move and then once they're moving and if they're not stiff you can guide them into that pose into that position and hey iss slapping so while he's up like that but just bring that hand forward a little bit more my fingers are very soft and gentle there so I'm not pushing down anywhere keeping a little bit of pressure at the back of the oboes stops them from drawing back down into that pose so he's got one hand up where we wanted to be and now the other hand the same as what we've been doing the whole time is putting your finger through I'm just got one finger there that's curled over here we go and pushing that come through and now as relieved we can place that hand in underneath so I haven't bought his face around to the front first it's still inside the reason I haven't done that is if you delay this is going a little bit of a curve to it so it's got a nice shelf at the front but it's not high enough but if you would lay flat on the floor like this you could stand like that for a little while but if you try to bring a chin all the way forward in a completely flat position you would it would become uncomfortable on the back of your neck and in front of your neck but when you give somebody a bit of a lift into it they can sit up on those hands so that's why we create that shelf at the at the front so I'm gonna grab all the blankets really time all of them like this I'm gonna lift gently to slide that underneath his hands underneath the oboe there and then decide underneath this elbow you could still come up a little bit higher but before I do that you can see that you know I'm gonna be shooting it from here that his tale ended kind of going off to that side I wanted to curl around this way pushing the beans down wait and now we start to see more if you've got a ridiculously sleepy baby like this you start to sort of fold those feed it back so you could see the toes and all of those little details but I'm going to get a shot of the head first because if I start to move his feet now you know when he wakes up I'm going to miss that shot all together so I'm going to get a shot of his face and then I would come in and fix the feet so at least I got something what we're just add one more layer you can see that it's not thick I'm just gonna fold it over the top of the coffin happy that's already there grabbing all the blankets and I've got it kind of like that so I can fold it over the top sorry little man there's a lot of blankets just lifting taking the weight off and folding it over you can see now it's stunning to bring his little face off the bag making sure that elbows and nice and supported I will eventually bring some more support here under the hands toe hold his chin up but I want to fix his fingers first so they're nice and flattened comfortable he's got a good fist there sheesh justin thing on the show you know the white of the head is like twenty five percent of their body weight so when they're resting on their fingers you've got to be careful that their fingers you know I'm starting to turn that purple color a little bit of red is fine and fingers that's normal babies have rid hands and red fate but you can really start to see when you are placing too much weight on there so you've got to make sure that you continually move and reposition to make sure they're comfortable and none of their little fingers getting squished squished under there either bringing that here back around towards that elbow and onto that hand so he's he's just laying there and I just got my hands on top of his head to stop his head from falling forward thumb is through middle finger is not here we go and they don't have to be directly on top of one another they could sit side by side the hands as long as they look comfortable and flat may being a perfectionist I want to make sure that they look nice and soft and straight he's got you can see that hold my finger okay now we're in a good place what I've done is it's probably had to say on that side but I stuck my finger in there at the back of the risk because he's just started to pull it down so what I'm gonna do is take the wait up and just pull that hand wrist forward just a little bit so that it's not sinking in under his chin because that's when it's under the chin the hit goes forward when it's up in the jaw line that's what raises that head off the bag I'm gonna get a shot with his little hand clasped like that because it looks really cute it's gonna push mine cross nappy there underneath that elbow to give it a bit more support still shooting at seventy mill and it's because that longer focal you know the longer zone that longer focal length is going to flatten all the features and he's hit his closest to the camera so I don't want you know to make his head distorted by shooting at a wide angle um if I'm shooting this thirty five mil I'm going to actually do it and show you I'm going to fill the frame at seventy mill with his face I love it two thirds of the stop over exposed now I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna zoom out to thirty five mil difference watch that and as it changes you're starting to make parts of the face look larger than other parts of the face the nose check all of those things we want to zoom in then we're going to get that beautiful depth of field and we're going to make everything look in perspective the way it should I'm just raising my body up a little bit I'm looking directly where his face is pointing for where I want a position my camera and I'm turning it on a little angle and I am focusing on this eye here also notice when I came into that thirty five I was in so far I didn't change my exposure my shutter speed but I blocked so much light so much beautiful life coming in here being able to come back you're just letting all that beautiful lighting and I didn't have to go back far to shoot seventy mill so we'll do a little bit of adjustment here and then we have finished outflow posing gonna fix his feet and then I'm gonna fix his little hands pushed down here that doesn't look like his feet going up the back I'm gonna bring this food out now I'm going to start to tuck this nay on this side just under his body she asked a little bit and bring that foot over the same way I would in the bum oppose but this time we're not necessarily keeping his leg his knees shoulder with the part you can push some beans back into this area so he doesn't feel like it's gonna fall it backwards spring this little foot around wherever it's comfortable that knee out so you can see the chos before I fix those fingers I'm actually going to get a quick shot just in case he doesn't want me to move your hands does touche the difference that adding a little bit of detail into that back back area before and after just refining that pose now it's bringing up a roll fall and a j peg fall that's why you're going to see the difference in those two images I'm nearly done can I promise take your time so straightening those fingers now that he's in this beautiful sleepy state it's not squishing his little face but you don't want to make sure that that hand is taking up too much room in the front there and your eyes drawn to it first it looks gorgeous like that but let's just see what happens when I put my thumb there I'm gonna take the weight of his head off and I'm just going to push it under slightly now bring this fingers back out again so just increased my so was shooting that two thirds of the stopover exposed it's very one one third of a stop and I just lifted a little bit more and that is it I would come in and get a close up which it will zoom right in at seventy mill beautiful what do you see this o all right hel e I just I want to say first of all thank you so much to mama I'm over here and baby quincy who we got through all of of the flow poses with that was amazing can I just say please that's the beauty of doing flow posing you know I stayed on the blanket so I didn't actually pick him up or put him down but even if I had changed my blanket you know I would have only picked him up an inch off the bag and then placed him back down in that same position but when you are gradually transitioning a baby and you know where to put your hands and you're not tossing them and turning your moving them you know in a flow you're going to get more out of musicians than you know finishing oppose going what am I going to do next what pope what you know bucket or proper what am I gonna do next so getting maximize maximizing your gallery with simple beautiful images it's it's really easy to do and it's gonna make your clients you know so comfortable and so it is because you're just taking the utmost care with their babies

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Home Studio Checklist
What To Expect At Home
What To Expect In Studio
Preshoot Prep for Mothers
Marketing Plan
Pricing Guide
Posing Guide
Prop Guide
Resource Guide
Adorama Gear Guide
Syllabus

Ratings and Reviews

user-b7116e
 

What an awesome class! I actually started watching this, not because I was interested in newborn photography, but because I thought I could pick up some good ideas for photography in general. Kelly is such an inspiring person and so professional and such a good communicator that she has a lot to offer any photographer. I actually have been inspired to try newborn photography and can't wait to implement the multiple ideas Kelly has so generously given. I think it is wonderful for the profession of photography that she has the spirit to freely share what she knows to help those who are seeking advice and knowledge. Thank you!

Jennifer Traylor
 

I cannot say enough to relay the feeling of gratitude and appreciation for this class. I was very fortunate to be chosen as a studio audience member for this course and what I have taken away from this class will never be forgotten. Kelly pours herself into this class both on the head knowledge of photography and the heart knowledge of building a business and making it work in your life. She is such an amazing soul and I will treasure this experience always. This class is so thorough and works amazingly both all on its own or as a supplement to her other classes. You will not be disappointed. Her knowledge, her demeanor, her care, is brilliant. She pulls you right in, and even as an online viewer/purchaser for the previous two classes, I was able to feel her connection with the audience. She is an amazing teacher!!!! Kelly rocks, Kelly amazes, Kelly loves! Buy it today!!!! You will not regret it!!!!!! And don't forget, purchases get TONS of amazing bonus materials including extra videos and PDF's and manuals. This class is a bargain!!!!!

user-a1ed27
 

I really have been so happy & blessed Kelly to learn from you! You are gentle and I love your spirit in which you share your "Art". I am a Nurse and worked Hospice for many years. Many of my co-workers and I recently lost our nursing positions due to department integration and have decided that my passion and love for taking photos of children and babies is something I would like to pursue. I am learning so much Kelly from the way you take the time to gently get the baby in position, follow the baby's lead and enjoy the parents and each moment of the creative process. I am not at all a professional and am just really learning, but am enjoying practicing on my friends children and babies and of course my 4 month and 4 year old grandchildren. Thank you for providing free classes as I would not be able to afford any classes at this time in my life. You have a beautiful gift. Thank you for sharing so eloquently! You have made a difference in my life. Patty from AZ

Student Work

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