I thought I would write a post on my 5 least favorite newborn poses. You may be surprised why I don’t like them, but I also want to share why I think they are beautiful…when I get my act together and executed them well. Haha!

1. Taco (Womb) Pose

You won’t see a lot of taco posing in my galleries. I honestly feel like I’ve only properly done it a few times. Lol! I absolutely love when I execute this pose well. It just shows off a baby’s flexibility and all the little parts in one image. This pose is difficult for me…unless babies are breech. (Breech babies are awesome in this pose!) I feel it is one of the positions that every baby won’t go into easily. Then comes the photography mumbo jumbo of proper lighting, positioning of the limbs and fingers. Although gorgeous, it takes so much time, sweat, and energy to get it correctly. Then of course you know what will happen…baby poops. Why? Because it’s the second best position to do it. (The best position behind tooshie pose.)

For years I have done modified taco where the feet don’t go under the wrists. It’s the same feel, easier position for those babies who just aren’t having it. Lol!

2. Front Laying…( I don’t know if there’s a proper photography term…so I’m winging it.)

This pose, it is my nemesis!! To be so simple, so easy, it laughs in my face nearly every time I try it. It is definitely NOT my favorite pose. I don’t really like anything about the pose…except it is challenging for me. So I try to practice it in every session…to generally epic failure. Lol! I want to get this awesome Cinderella carriage from Mr & Mrs. Smith company because it would be a cute addition to my props. But I swear it looks best when baby is in this position. So there is no way I’m spending $300 for a prop I can’t use because of the posing. Lol! (you can see the prop I’m eyeing here.

3. Head in Hands

So this one is bittersweet for me. I actually love it deep, deep down. I know how to composite it really well. (Composite meaning it takes 2 photos merged in Photoshop to make it happen.)

For awhile, I couldn’t figure out how to do it. It literally scared the heck out of me! Then I forced myself to do it as the first pose in every session for months until I could get it. Now I actually have a love/hate relationship with it based on 3 reasons.

1. Sensitive babies do not work well in this pose because generally they are jumpy. This means their little fingers will ball up into fists when trying to set them in this position.
2. It seems cray cray, but super sleepy babies are so tired, they have no tension in their fingers to even hold them up.
3. Really, reason #1…ME! I am SOOOOOO particular about getting every finger just right. In my opinion, it’s not worth my time if I can’t get the fingers out and right. I’m way too much of a perfectionist to let it slide. It would just be unnerving. Haha!

 

4. Side Lay

I probably overshoot this pose the most. The angle is so specific to make sure that the feet are trailing off into the distance. Often babies look too feet forward, or gangly, or long in the frame in this position. I laugh at myself during a session because I feel like I have to perform acrobatics to get the angle right. So I love the look when I do it, but to get to that point frustrates me to no end. See the positioning from newest to oldest over the past 3 years.

 

5. Potato Sack

I’m betwix and between with this pose. There are so many photographers that do this so amazingly well. And for me…it’s meh. From an editing standpoint…it’s a dream. The fastest way to edit a gallery is to have a baby wrapped up. It’s magic! What bugs me is that I feel constrained by the layers of wrapping. I often find myself wanting to see the toes, or put on an outfit, or something else. I just started doing the potato sack this year. I’ll probably work on it more to get better. But I don’t have many clients request it. But you know what they say…you sell what you show!

     

So hopefully you found my top 5 least favorite newborn poses interesting. The point I hope you take away is that, I love to please my clients. All of the images shown I absolutely love! And from most of the descriptions, you can tell that the reason why I don’t like them is ME, because I need to practice them more. Being a perfectionist is my problem. I definitely am my biggest critique. But it helps me get better, which makes me a better photographer for you! So if you book a session…ask me for one of my least favorite poses. I won’t take it as a dare, haha, I’ll take it as you are supporting my growth as a photographer…maybe! 😉

 

Stay tuned for my post on my favorite poses!