Wendi Riggens Photography Blog – Burlington Iowa

Little Jarrett was SUCH a perfect little guy during his newborn session a couple of weeks ago! He slept so well and made my job so easy! Newborns make me smile, and he was no exception!

Look at all of these tiny little details! Those itty bitty fingers and toes are just so sweet!

This little guy already loves sucking his thumb!

Callie, Jarrett’s mom, is Australian, and brought this authentic didgeridoo to use during the session. I thought I would take a couple extra minutes to talk about newborn safety during sessions. Hanging infants from objects has become very popular in the last couple of years, and if not done properly, this can cause serious injury to these precious little ones. The safest way to create these images is by using Photoshop.

Now, everyone that knows me, knows I don’t like using Photoshop. My goal is to always get things as near perfect in camera, and if something needs fixed, I should be able to do it in Lightroom. However, when I have a hanging request, I always, ALWAYS use Photoshop.

When shooting these, I do two shots. One is of the item that we will be hanging from in the position I want it for the final image, with the hanging apparatus securely attached. The second is of the baby in the hanging apparatus. However, the baby is not several feet off the ground, but instead usually only an inch or two off a VERY padded surface with Mommy and Daddy just barely out of the frame.

For this shot, we had pillows and several layers of blankets on the floor, and I was laying almost completely flat on the ground to get the right angle. Callie’s hands were right beside baby boy, to provide support. We was off the ground for just a few very short seconds, and was very safe.

I couldn’t imagine hanging a baby feet off the ground, and will gladly spend an extra 10 minutes in Photoshop to get the image that the parents want, without putting their little one at risk.

Here’s the setup shots and the resulting image. If you look closely, you can see what components of each image went into the final one, but on its own, you might never notice!

I can’t wait to see Jarrett at 3 months old to see how he has grown!