CategoryStudio

2020 Sitter and First Birthday Giveaway Competition

I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year, cuddling your new babies or patiently waiting your your little one to arrive! I have an amazing model call competition to kick off the new year…  every newborn baby session held in 2020 will go into a draw to win a SITTER AND FIRST BIRTHDAY full session packages!!! At the end of every month starting January, I will randomly draw one of my newborn baby clients to come back when they are able to sit unaided and at 1 years old for a very special birthday session. I’m looking to giveaway 12 of these double sessions. Why am I doing this? It’s because I want to do more older babies with cheeky smiles wearing one of my outfits to add to my portfolio galleries. You don’t need to tag, like or share to be in the monthly competition but you do need to allow a few of your baby’s images to be shared on my website, marketing materials and social media pages. Book in your newborn sessions now for a chance to win 2 sessions with full galleries included. 

Terms and conditions:

Winners must allow their images to be shared online on any of my websites and marketing materials.

Photographs will be taken in my simplistic style. A few props and outfits may be included to add variety and interest. Styling will be done by me that is in line with my own style of photography.

Winners may also bring a special outfit of their own to the session.

First birthday sessions includes a bath prop, balloons, a bunting, and an outfit. A cake is not included but winners may bring one to include a cake smash in the session if desired. 

All sessions will be held in my home studio in Ellenbrook, weekday sessions only.

 

Baby girl 8 Days Old

How sweet is little Miss at just 8 days old. She was just perfect in every way with the most beautiful thick dark hair! She managed to give me sleepy shots and awake shots which is what I like to aim for in a newborn session. Her big brother wasn’t keen at all to be photographed with her so I had to perform a bit of photography magic and composite the two of them into one image. There was no way he was going to get a photo taken with his new little sister so we had to make it happen after the photo session 🙂

First Birthday Cake Smash

This little cutie took out the happiest baby ever award! He was non stop smiling for most of his first birthday cake smash session, although a little perplexed and hesitant towards the cake. He really was having the greatest time. I absolutely loved him! 

These cake smash sessions are soooo much fun! They fall under my General sessions and I can provide simple decorations such as a bunting and balloons in the colour scheme of your choice. A simple romper outfit can be provided too if you have nothing o coordinate with the chosen colours. 

Because of some allergy issues, I currently do not provide the cake but it is something I am looking into for the future. Parents bring in their own cake of choice along with any additional props they may wish to incorporate into the session. A couple of outfit changes as well, and parents end up with a wide variety of images.

Cake smash sessions are best booked at least 4 to 6 weeks in advance so colour schemes and outfits can be coordinated and sourced before the session date.

 

2 Month Old Sweet Baby Girl

Newborn photos can be done with older babies. While its easier to do them as tiny little 10 day olds, the older babies give me so much personality. This pretty, sweet baby girl was 2 months old and she was VERY awake and did not want to be touched, moved, or put down at all. We had to come up with some creative ways to settle this sweetie into a short nap so we could get a few sleepy shots, which involved my prop bowls, some rather strong arms and a bit of rocking action! 

I never say no to photographing an older baby. All babies are the sweetest subjects to photograph no matter what their age. My usual style is very relaxed anyway so I don’t often do complex poses so this means my style can often be achieved at any age. There does come a time though when baby just will not feel sleepy at all and we just have to work with that.

My suggestion, is if you were hoping to get a few newborn looking images for your older baby, to have a Simple or Classic newborn package. This gives me a little time to help settle baby for a range of shots, including (hopefully) a sleepy shot or two.

The short and sweet session is perfect for those not particularly looking to have newborn style images, but who are just wanting a few professional natural looking photos of their chunky cherub 🙂

Cake Smash 1st Birthday Session

First birthday cake smash sessions are so much fun. Theres so much to celebrate being one years old and why not do it with a bit of added colour, decorations and a studio photo session! This cutie was very hesitant when she first arrived. I was getting those typical blank stares and frozen moments 🙂 She wasn’t all that interested in the cake either, she wasn’t too keen on touching or tasting it, so I brought out a wooden spoon and then the fun began. Splattering cake pieces everywhere, I can truly say that she smashed the cake. And she did it well! 

We moved quickly to the bath setup and thats when those huge smiles started. She loved splashing around in the tub and by this time she was having a great time (there is something about water that makes a lot of babies very very happy!).

A quick bath and towel dry, surprisingly, this little sweetheart was still in a reasonably good mood so we finished off with a few backlit shots. Here are just a few of my favourites I quickly chose from her gallery. Happy first birthday little one! <3

12 Day Old Newborn Baby Girl

This sweet little one came with her own blanket and special hat that Mum and Dad brought with them. I love including babys own items in some shots as they make the photos that much more meaningful to the families. She was a dream and very sleepy during her short and sweet session, only waking up at the very end as she was getting dressed to go home. 

8 Day Old Baby Boy

At just only 8 days old, this little fellow was utterly perfect. We managed to get a nice range of sleeping shots because he was just so chilled and relaxed. As the session was near the end, I realised that we had not had any baby awake shots, so thought we would try for some. This little cutie was a little hard to wake up, he was so sleepy, but after a bit of coaxing from Mum and Dad, we were able to convince baby to open his eyes for us, resulting in a few last minute natural style images at the end, including him in his going home clothes. Simple Newborn session taken in my home studio in Ellenbrook 🙂

12 week Old Baby Boy Short & Sweet Session

I was so in love with this little baby boy. Can you believe he was 12 weeks old on the day of his session! Just a tad bigger in size than a newborn but so smiley and happy. He gave me all the newborn feels but with the charming personality of a 3 month old <3. Isn’t he just gorgeous. I first met Mum and Dad for their maternity session a few months ago, and I am so glad they brought their little man to me. He was so well behaved during his short and sweet session, we had time to include a blanket change. 

Studio Family Maternity

This is the second time I have seen this lovely young couple, the first time was when Miss 2 was still inside Mums tum! This cutie ran the show for a good chunk of this maternity session, jumping in and out whenever she felt like it and it was just perfect. Sessions sure are a bit different when a toddler is involved, and while they can make it that little more challenging, they also can help make the most gorgeous images. We took our time and got some key family poses first while Miss 2 was in the mood which allowed us to then focus on some beautiful solo Mum shots.

12 Day old newborn Miss A

Meet tiny Miss A, just 12 days old and so so lovely. She gave me lots of of the cutest little faces before drifting off into a short nap. She was such a sweetie, I loved her session very much. She was way too interested in me to fall asleep at the start of the session, which is great as we got some gorgeous awake shots. She eventually gave in and settled into snooze land for the remainder of the session, waking up for a little yawn here and there ( and to check that Mum and Dad were still there ) 🙂 xx

19 Day old newborn Miss F

I was excited for this session, I had not long photographed Mums maternity session along with her very adorable toddler, who didn’t really want anything to do with me at all (It’s okay, I didn’t take it personally) :). Well they came back along with the newest member of the family, gorgeous little Miss F, and this time, she loved me! She did not however, have any desire to be in any photos with her little sister and unfortunately no matter what we tried she just didn’t want to do it and sometimes these things happen. They have many more years to be in the same photo together. 

Check out how sweet these two are from this Short & Sweet session! For more pricing info such as this one and more visit https://lindahewellphotography.com.au/session-pricing-2019/

4 Weeks Studio Newborn Mister K

What a sweet chubby big baby boy at 4 weeks old and his equally lovely, sassy sister who I met and photographed when she was just a newborn too!  

Mum wanted to have him wear the bear hat as Miss 2 had the same one for her session. I couldn’t resist digging up her session to find the hat to compare. She was such a tiny dainty little thing <3 🙂

Newborn Photography studio

Studio Newborn 9 Days old Mister P

I must say this was one of the easiest families to photograph. Photographing a newborn can be a little difficult as is at times but it all becomes that much more complex when you add siblings into the mix. It wasn’t that way with this young family though. These two girls were 3.5 and 2 years old and were absolutely brilliant and totally adored their new little brother. and so did I! x

Studio Maternity with Toddler

This cute little Miss 2 didn’t really want anything to do with Mums maternity session. Or me :), and I didn’t think we would be able to get her into any of the shots. After a little bit of play (and trickery) she came around a little more and we managed to get some great natural unposed images. I just love these photos of Mum and Daughter together. Sometimes the best shots are the unplanned ones. 

Working with toddlers can be really difficult at times, this particular age group is one of the hardest to work with (you should see my family photography images involving toddlers! :))) The trick is to firstly stay calm (parents and photographers) and just work with their mood and personality. Some come in all eager and ready to go, then drop without any notice leaving you with a toddler giving you nothing more than red faced tantrum images. While others start off shy, then towards the end of the session are really getting quite into it and are not ready to go home. I never force a toddler to get into pictures, and quite often if you ignore them and continue taking photos of the rest of the family, they naturally feel a little left out and end up wanting to join in anyway.

16 Day Old Studio Session

This gorgeous little newborn baby was just 16 days old and was a dream! This session was held in my home studio in Ellenbrook. I offer studio sessions both at my studio, or in your own home at no additional cost. I do understand those first few weeks can be a bit of a blur after bringing baby home. Lack of sleep and routine can really tire out new parents so many of my newborn clients welcome the fact they do not have to pack up baby and all their belongings for their babys first professional photo session.

Studio Look Newborn – click for gallery…

 

My Editing Processes

Here are 3 different degrees of editing I do for all my newborn photography. I get asked for little to no post processing to the full works and am happy to edit to my clients desires. Theres no right or wrong as far as editing goes. Some clients like all the flakes, spots, redness and bumps that often go with newborn skin and ask for them to stay while others prefer a more polished, airbrushed look. Or some would like a little bit of in between. I discuss editing preferences during the session so I make sure I can deliver a gallery full of images that YOU prefer. A little more info on each edit process can be found under each photo below

Baby Newborn Photography Perth 003

These images are more or less straight from the camera with only minor tweaks done to correct exposure and density within Lightroom. My camera loves to pick up the magenta colours so this is usually toned down, resulting in an image quite close to this one. I give the option during a session to have all gallery images “as is” like this one for those that prefer a complete natural and authentic style of newborn photography.

Baby Photography Perth 001

Edited images are usually tweaked further in photoshop with some added colour tones to minimise babys red skin tones which is so common in newborns. Almost all babies have some additional flakes, spots or scratches which clients may request to have removed if they wish from their face. Small flaky skin on hands, feet and body are generally left alone. For babies with severe hormonal acne, I do what I can to minimise the appearance of the acne but babies with this type of skin may benefit from a more polished look to further even and smooth out the skin. 

Baby Photography Perth 002

Polished images are edited images with the removal of all noticeable flakes and spots plus airbrushing and smoothing of babies skin. Eyelids, lips and cheeks are subtly enhanced and removal of any body flakes can also be edited out. These images do take a lot more time to edit and are therefore limited to a certain amount of images that can be edited in this way set by each package. (Short and sweet = 5, Simple = 10, Classic = 20). You still receive the full gallery of images edited to your liking as per the above “edited” image. 

My goal is to capture as close to perfect as can be, in the camera  during the session. I have spent close to 13 or so years perfecting my photography skills so when it comes to editing galleries, I do not need to spend a large amount of time processing them in post. This saves me a considerable amount of time editing each gallery, which further benefits my clients as I am able to deliver images very quickly. Studio session turnaround can take from 1 to 3 days on average while outdoor location sessions and babies with exceptionally spotty skin may take a few days longer. During my busy times, this timeframe may be extended by a short while but on average, I am able to deliver high quality edited images within 1 to 7 days.

37 Weeks Studio Maternity

Stunning Mum to be in the studio at 37 weeks wearing a couple of new dresses I provide from my studio wardrobe. I love to be able to provide my clients something new to wear when they come visit me for a maternity session.

Within an hour session, we can usually manage 4 outfit changes which provides plenty of variety in a full photo gallery. A 30 minute short and sweet session can fit in 2 clothing changes.

Both sessions can be photographed on the white backgrounds for my bright and airy  look and we will then usually finish off a few shots on the black background for a more dark and moody feel.  

Whichever look you prefer, let me know ahead of time so I can best plan your session to your liking.

This beautiful Mumma chose to have professional hair and makeup done before her session. If this is something you would like to consider for yourself, let me know before you book your session and I can organise this for you.

Studio Newborn and Family Session

I was really looking forward to meeting this beautiful baby girl for this studio session. Having photographed her big brother when he was just a tiny newborn, I was excited to see him again as a toddler. I just love it when they come back with oodles of personality! Babies really do grow up so fast!

Miss M was a darling baby to photograph. With her beautiful smooth skin and minimal hair, she was an absolute doll.

Heres a little secret:

Big brother did not want to be near his new little sister. I was warned by her parents I may not be able to get one of them both together as they have tried themselves since her birth. They were right! On this day, he refused to have a photo taken with her but I could see it was really important to my clients so I just made it happen in post processing. I photographed him on his own with his parents tempting him with food on the beanbag and then composited an image of the two of them together taking one of Miss M’s solo bean bag shots. The sibling image in the galley below were two separate images 🙂

This is such a common scenario with toddlers and their new baby brothers or sisters that even if I cannot get them together during the actual photo session, I will still be able to give the parents that much wanted image of their two (or more) children together 🙂