Timing.

If you have an indoor session, the best lighting is midday (10am-2pm). The best lighting comes from BIG windows. Pay attention to which rooms have the most light and at what time, it's the brightest. Rooms with white walls photograph really well.

If you feel your home is dark, no worries. I will bring my off camera flash to provide additional lighting.

With outdoor sessions, the best lighting is the last few hours before sunset.

Prep those outfits.

Know what everyone is going to wear AND try it on at least one week ahead of time. That way, if something feels scratchy, you have time to get Amazon to deliver it to you.

Tidy what you can.

Your house may be a mess and that's OK!!! If there are specific rooms (ex: bedroom, nursery) you'd like photos in, tidy what you can in that room. I am happy to move items during our session as well. I really don't want you to stress out as life is already so busy for you!

Prepping your room.

Turn up the heat in your house so baby is warm (I'm thinking 75F). If you want photos on your bed, neutral sheets like white, cream or gray photograph nicely.

Feeding your newborn.

Try feeding your newborn before our session. Full feedings = sleepy baby and lots of good cuddles.

If your baby needs to feed during the session, that's great too! I'm happy to capture bottle or breast feeding photos (these won't go public) if you'd like.

We will take breaks anytime baby needs to be fed or changed.

Keeping it fun for siblings.

Tell your older kids that "Ling Ling will come take photos of us and it will be a lot of fun. We will snuggle a lot!"

Our session will be sibling led. If they are happy, everyone will be happy. It's hard for siblings to see all the attention on baby so I will give extra attention to siblings to build rapport with them.

We will play games.

I will ask the older siblings to smell baby. "Does baby smell like chocolate?" They will count baby's fingers and toes. Please prepare some yogurt melts, puffs or whatever small snack they like. We can hide them in baby's swaddle for the siblings to find.

Siblings will also have lots of breaks! We will take family photos but also build in time to take one-on-one photos.

Relax and enjoy the moments!

If you relax, your older kids will too. Life is not perfect. But there is so much beauty in the chaos! Our session will not go exactly as planned; no session ever does. But if you go in with a flexible and laid back attitude, we will get magical images.