Trust me, nobody chooses to have a newborn photography workflow that is 4 hours long! But because there are so many variables when newborns are involved, it could totally happen.

In this video, I offer 6 ways that you can set yourself up to have the fastest possible workflow in your newborn photography business. You may not be able to control your little newborn client’s reactions, but these are some practical tips that will give you the best chance at a fast(er) session.

How to speed up your newborn photography workflow

1. Pre-plan your poses

Pick only a few poses and pre-plan the sequence of poses that you’re going to be wanting to do. That’s not to say that you’ll get to do every pose, especially if the session or workflow you’ve created goes sideways. And it’s okay – it often happens. But knowing a plan of the direction that you want to go will definitely help you in your workflow.

2. Pre-plan your props

Consider the headbands, the hats, the whole color scheme that you’re going to be doing, because once you have a plan, you’re able to work so much quicker. What I love to do is to actually organize everything that I’m going to be using in a session. I have my blankets picked out, I have my headbands and my hats, and I’ve got everything color-coordinated, so I know it will all go together. Typically if you are getting started, you’re not going to have a whole lot of props and blankets and headbands. That’s actually great, because you just have to figure out different ways of how you can use them to make them unique every time.

3. Be flexible

These tiny little humans have opinions! They know what they like, they know how they like to be touched, they know how they like to move. Just because you specifically love a certain pose, doesn’t mean that the baby’s going to go into it. That means you have to be flexible. You need to make sure that you can adjust your game plan if the baby doesn’t like a certain position. Maybe they’ve got tummy trouble and they don’t like being on their belly – then you adjust your game plan according to that and come up with some different poses that you know the baby will be comfortable in.

4. Listen to baby

Babies are going to give you so many cues when they know that they’re done! You can usually start to feel the frustration in the baby and you can take some cues from the parents as well that they’ve had enough. Knowing when to quit and when you’ve got enough pictures is something that you’re going to have to learn over time, but really try to clue into that baby. Listen to them – they’re going to start fussing and start wiggling around, they’re going to start crying when they’ve had enough, and they are going to get louder and louder until you listen!

5. Send a client prep guide

It is a good idea to send your client some information before the session on how your sessions work, how long they are, and what to expect. If your clients’ expectations and what you actually offer are two totally different things, that’s going to lead to some awkward conversations and some frustration.

Be upfront with your clients about what’s going to happen in your sessions so they know what to expect and you know what to deliver.

6. Use an assistant

When I started using an assistant in my newborn sessions, I literally cut off an hour of my session time. Now in the beginning, when you’re not making a huge amount of money, I know that this can feel a little overwhelming and a little daunting, paying someone else to come and help you.

There are many different ways to not make this a super expensive venture. Think of some good friends who might be willing to help, then get in touch with them and see if they’ll come along for your newborn sessions, maybe trading pictures by you for some assistance from them. If you haven’t already make sure that you check out my safety video on spotters where we deep dive into the importance of having them.