It’s finally here, folks! Call it Autumn, Fall, Spooky season – whatever your name for it, we’re ready to welcome in the shift in seasons here at Hello Photography. Many of you readers with young ones might be wondering what ways you can have some fun photographing your little ones this autumn. I’ve got lots of fall newborn photography ideas, but sometimes keeping it simple is best. Here are some ways to pumpkin spice-up your newborn photos this season, as well as some things to keep in mind when you photograph them.
Foliage, Foliage, Foliage!
The obvious choice for fall photo fun is to include fall foliage. In the photos with this little cutie, I used artificial leaves. My choice to go artificial was for a few reasons: I like the way that artificial leaves look texturally in photos, and it can sometimes be hard to capture that from natural leaves. They also are just easier for me, personally, to store and use.
I paired these multi-colored leaves with a burnt orange background and put the brighter leaves in the highlights and the darker leaves in the shadows, almost creating a gradient. To make baby stand out against this background, we dressed this little one in a light, neutral onesie.
Play With Lighting In Fall Newborn Photos
Another way to capture the essence of fall is to capture the feeling of fall lighting. We’re used to the quintessential fall lighting because of the way the earth tilts at the end of the year. Earth’s tilt combined with the height of the sun in the sky (it’s lower during this part of the year) makes a unique lighting situation. It makes things look like they are golden, glowing, and the shadows are incredible.
I try to capture that sort of lighting in fall-themed photos. Not only does it look precious, it really makes the picture interesting.
Subtle Fall Newborn Photography Colors
Fall doesn’t always have to be about bright oranges, reds, and yellows. There are ways to incorporate more subtle colors into fall, like golds and orange-browns.
In the photoshoot for this tiny human pictured above, we went with subtle fall florals and golds. It not only got across the theme of “fall”, but it also matched the studio’s prop bed so well!
For this newborn’s photoshoot, we paired her cute, brown swaddle with different shades and textures of brown. She wore a fall-themed headband, which brought a pop of color to the photoshoot.
Uncommon Fall Photo Colors
In sticking with the idea of not needing oranges, reds, and yellows, it can be nice to step outside of the comfort zone when it comes to a color palette. In these photos, there’s a clear fall theme with the pumpkins. But we didn’t do any overtly autumnal colors. Instead, we opted for sage green, golden yellows, a light orange and white.
Overall, you still get the feeling that this photo is supposed to be fall themed, but it’s unique!
The Texture Of Fall
I know, you might be thinking “what do you mean, the texture of fall?”
Autumn is a time of year that really gets us thinking about woods, trees, and nature. So, I’m looking for a mixture of rough natural texture (bark, twigs, etc.) and soft natural texture (moss, grasses, knits/wool) rather than a smooth or matte texture.
This newborn photo we combine several elements for a lovely combo of fall textures. We’ve got the woolen knits, the moss-like flora in the headband, the soft wool in the bowl in which she’s posed. Then we’ve got rougher textures, like the headband, the wood grain, and the pillow. All of the textures together make for an interesting photo, especially when combined with a good color palette.
Interested in setting up your own seasonally themed newborn shoot? Winter is just around the corner! Let’s chat.
