Shooting a Maternity Session on a Cloudy, Foggy and Overcast Morning

Located in Houston TX & serving the surrounding areas, Sarah Borchgrevink Photography offers lovely outdoor pregnancy and family portraits in an outdoor atmosphere. Check out some effective tips for creating dynamic images on cloudy, dark, or foggy mornings.

Photography a Family or Maternity Session on a Cloudy, Foggy & Overcast Morning

Hi, friends! Good morning to you! Today's blog post is an overview on photographing a family or maternity session on a day in which the weather is cloudy, overcast or even foggy, such as the early mornings. While most of the time, the warm golden light look is what is most preferred, sometimes sessions are time sensitive, such as maternity or family photos. For example, maternity portraits typically take place between 32-35 weeks, however, you may be limited on time frames because of things like high risk pregnancies, baby arriving early, or perhaps Dad travels often and of course, Dad is a vital character in all things maternity or family. This in mind, these tips and tricks are helpful in ensuring you can move forward with your session and provide stunning outdoor images despite the weather being gloomy.

Before we delve into the three tips I am going to list, please allow me to introduce the R family to you! They're a sweet family of three. They'll be adding a new baby girl to their family in just a few short weeks! They'll be on my newborn calendar for a studio baby session so I am excited to see them soon. We photographed this session in Houston, TX and began right at sunrise. I typically spend about 25-30 minutes with my outdoor family sessions so we will hit many poses and have a lot of fun, but not tire the little one out and expect too much of them. 

Be Inspired By the Scenery and Surroundings

When working outdoors in an on location setting, look around and allow yourself to be inspired. How do the trees frame your images? Where are the clouds? Ask yourself how color of the grass will photograph and where your subjects will look best. By checking out your environment, you can see where the light is most soft, even and dispersed beautifully so that you may place your subjects there.

Open your aperture 

Since the light on a cloudy day is more soft and subdued since there is less sun, you can open your aperture, or use a wider f/stop, to allow more light to enter the image. You'll also want to compensate for subject movement, so make sure to keep your shutter speed fast enough to resist blurry movements, but also keep your ISO high enough to be properly exposed without too much noise. I use a Mark iii body and a Canon 135 mm f/2.0L lens when working outdoors so these settings are based on the equipment I use.

For these shots, my f/stop is at f/2.2, shutter speed is 1/500 and ISO is 800. My white balance is also set to around 7500 for the skin tones and I used spot metering so that their skin is illuminated properly. 

Be mindful of where the clouds and sky are

While a beautiful blue sky filled with brilliant golden light is lovely during a sunrise session, during a foggy or overcast morning, the sky can look flat and grey, which may not add interest to your images. For this session, I choice to avoid using the sky and focus on connections and love between this expecting mother and her family. 

Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer specializing in gorgeous posed newborn sessions. Her studio is located in Northwest Houston. In addition to breathtaking baby portraiture, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting mothers and couples. Sarah joyfully serves the entire Harris and Montgomery county areas including North Houston, Cypress, Tomball, Spring, Jersey Village, The Woodlands, Magnolia, Conroe, Willis, Montgomery, Humble, Kingwood, Porter, New Caney, Waller, Memorial & West Houston, Katy, Fulshear, Sugar Land, Pearland, Hempstead, Richmond, West University, Rice Village and Porter TX. Connect to chat with Sarah today! Please consider booking your session at your earliest convenience in order to secure your appointments on the calendar.

 

Everything You Need To Know About 6-12 Month Baby Milestone Sessions

Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn & Baby Photographer offering sweet, charming, and timeless baby studio milestone sessions for ages 6-12 months.

Dillon's Six Month Sitter Milestone Session with Sarah Borchgrevink

Greetings, friends! Howdy to you! Thanks for stopping by to read more information about baby milestone sessions! I'm happy you're here and hope you enjoy visiting! Let's get started! Dillon recently visited my newborn & baby studio and was a complete joy to photograph. His sweet smiles, infectious laughter, darling personality, and big blue eyes had me swooning! 

What is a baby milestone session?

Baby milestone sessions take place when your little cherub is anywhere from 6-12 months old. This age is when baby is sitting up, clapping, engaging with the camera, but is not yet walking. These are fun milestones to capture and are a wonderful add on to your newborn session or you're welcome to still visit my studio even if you did not do newborns with me. 

When do baby milestone sessions take place?

Baby milestone sessions take place Monday - Friday between the hours of 11 AM - 3 PM. 

What type of props or styling are included?

During baby milestone sessions, I use simple, classic and darling pieces to accent your baby such as bonnets, wraps, buckets, bowls, or crates. I also use my large 8'x12' custom wood wall to ensure the photos are timeless. If there is a special prop from home, you're welcome to bring a few personal items, however, I do strive for props to be kept to a minimum so that your baby shines. 

How to Book a Baby Milestone Portrait Session

To secure your baby's portraiture appointment on my calendar, you're sent a non-refundable retainer invoice for $100 as well as a portraiture contract. Your retainer is deducted from your overall balance. You're given 3-4 appointment dates to pick from. Sessions take place in my studio located near Barker Cypress & 290, located in Northwest Harris county in Houston, TX.

HOW YOU RECEIVE YOUR HIGH RESOLUTION, DIGITAL GALLERY

• 10 business days after your portraiture session, you're presented with a  digital gallery of edited baby images. You will see anywhere from 20- 35 images, depending on how your session goes. You pick your favorite 10 or have the option to add additional digital files, too. There is no pressure to upgrade. 

Option to add heirloom professional prints to your order

There is the option, however, to add lovely professional prints of heirloom quality for parents seeking top of the line ways to preserve their images. Read about which product is the perfect memory keeper for you.

Each collection also has the option to add the following, though there is no obligation to do so:

• An elegant, modern professional heirloom 8x8" hardcover photography book | $200
• Impressive, traditional wrapped canvas wall art groupings beginning at $300
• Memory saver prints package containing your favorite 10 4x6" prints in a lovely gift box for $60

Sarah Borchgrevink Photography is a Houston Newborn Photographer specializing in gorgeous posed newborn sessions. Her studio is located in Northwest Houston. In addition to breathtaking baby portraiture, Sarah also offers stylish natural light family photography as well as dynamic outdoor maternity sessions for expecting mothers and couples. Sarah joyfully serves the entire Harris and Montgomery county areas including North Houston, Cypress, Tomball, Spring, Jersey Village, The Woodlands, Magnolia, Conroe, Willis, Montgomery, Humble, Kingwood, Porter, New Caney, Waller, Memorial & West Houston, Katy, Fulshear, Sugar Land, Pearland, Hempstead, Richmond, West University, Rice Village and Porter TX. Connect to chat with Sarah today! Please consider booking your session at your earliest convenience in order to secure your appointments on the calendar.

 

Ways to Create Unique Newborn Baby Portraits through Texture | Levi

Houston Newborn Photographer, Sarah Borchgrevink, shares ways to create unique newborn portraits during studio baby sessions.

Texture, Textiles and Timeless Accents Props

Good morning, friends! Thanks for stopping by to view some tips on how texture, textiles and timeless props create unique newborn portraits. My name is Sarah and if this is your first time here, welcome! I specialize in posed newborn photography. Serving the entire Houston area, I delight in working with my most precious clients and cannot express how special these babies are to my heart. I hope you find these tips inspirational in your own sessions. If you're a parent and are looking for a newborn photographer, I'd love if you could consider my professional baby portrait services. Most mothers to be book in their second trimester to ensure availability, though I do my best to fit in all inquiries, however, sometimes there is just not enough of me to go around. However, let's get started!

Hand Knit Bonnets, Hats or Caps

Hand knitted bonnets, hats, or caps are a second way to create gorgeous newborn portraits through texture because the bonnets are always created with different material. Each pattern is unique and each method of stitching is lovely. I like to use these adorable hats during all parts of your session, except for parent posing, since I like these to have as few props as possible. You may be interested in reading the following about parent posing while you're here:

• Outfit inspiration for parent posing

• Sweet and simple family photos during newborn session

• Flattering ways to pose new parents

• Why family photos are important during your posed newborn session

I have these sweet bonnets in every single color so there is always one that looks great on whichever backdrop color you choose to use. For instance, when working with Levi, he looks absolutely breathtaking in a soft, muted heather grey. I pulled a slightly darker grey hat so that there is a little bit of contrast, but not anything too distracting. After all, your session will be timeless and classic through the use of texture and textiles. This bonnet helps to create unique baby portraits because the texture of the stings look lovely as they cascade down his shoulders and also add a bit of interest to the images since the bonnet adorns his sweet little face. My favorite aspect of a hand knitted bonnet is that it frames their cheeks perfectly and makes their face the star.

Gorgeous Organic Wraps

Without a doubt, cozy and unique wrapping is my favorite way to implement texture into your images when creating unique baby photos. This is a cornerstone to all of my newborn work and I cannot begin to tell you how much babies love this! The wrapping keeps baby feeling safe, secure, and also peaceful. After all, as a new mother, you're going to want to remember these sweet fleeting newborn moments in which your baby is fresh and just beginning to be part of this world. The texture of the wraps adds a unique dynamic to your newborn session because each wrap is made with a different material and can be layered in a variety of methods, from chunky knit sweater fabric, to cheese cloth, to any color you can imagine. When paired with a vintage floor props, classic bowl, or adorable knitted bonnet the results are breathtaking! Newborn portraiture is essentially my life and as a Houston newborn photographer and Mom, I cannot tell you how important these sessions are to me. 

Another tip for creating unique baby photographs through texture is to pull props from an earlier part of your session, such as this sage green bonnet and wrap against the light green and muted backdrop. This helps tie the session together, keep things looking cohesive, and ensure there is a lovely theme throughout the images. Also, don't forget to switch up your angles when taking photos of your newborn clients. The texture of the backdrop adds interest to your images because, in this case, the drop is completely seamless and allows baby to shine. The viewer is not looking at anything but baby.

Custom Curated Wood Floors

 Another top for creating gorgeous and breathtaking newborn portraits through texture is having curated wood floors. You may be curious what that means. It's simple: in your studio, you'll have backdrops. For me, I personally chose to have a huge wood wall built by my husband. It was a wedding anniversary gift and he spent about 50 hours working on it. The wood was custom stained by him and he spent hours mixing stains and asking my approval. There is no other wood wall exactly like it, and part of what makes it unique is each board has a different texture added to it. He used a bag of bricks to hit the floors making nicks and grooves; he also used a blow torch to add more character to these floors and even sanded the floors to different depths so that each board has its own look. 

Wooden walls add texture to your photos because each board is different. You can do a variety of things with wood walls from floor props, flokati rugs, using different wraps, etc. For instance, in this set up with baby boy Levi, I pulled a hand knitted bonnet, chunky textured wrap, and a metal pail with a wooden handle so that everything looks like there is contrast. Paired with his handsome little face, I was swooning and bucket shots are always included in each newborn session.

Make sure to move around when photographing this set up so that there's many different angles for parents to select from.

Classic and Vintage Inspired Props 

The last tip I have for you is to select classic props so your baby sessions truly are unique. In this case, texture is a creative element because I pulled a grey classic flokati rug, 2 different hand-dyed cheese cloth wraps, and a chunky knit bump blanket with the white bowl so that all the different textures are harmonious in showing off the softness of Levi's brand new nature. The wrapping allows him to look very curly, just like when he was in the womb. 

Don't forget to do a shot on  the wood floors, too! This is a quick way to achieve two different looks without disturbing baby. 

And of course, this classic green backdrop is a great way to create texture because the softness against baby is classic, timeless and does not distract.