My 5 Favourite Newborn Photography Props

(and how I use them)

My Salisbury newborn photography studio is full of beautiful props to use to style your fine art newborn session. With so many to choose from, I wanted to give you a peek at my top 5 favourite newborn photography props and how I use them to create beautiful, unique images for every baby I photograph.

1. My Buckets

Buckets are my favourite newborn photography prop of all time! I love to create these beautiful bucket images for my clients and they are a wonderful way to showing their baby's beautiful face perfectly. Most babies love this pose and settle comfortably into the bucket, well supported and cosy!

For safety reasons these kind of images should never be attempted at home or by a photographer without the relevant training and experience; please always choose a professional! I strongly advise any parents hoping for these kind of newborn images to check that their chosen photographer is comfortable and experienced in creating them. As you can see from the behind the scenes image below, I always have a parent or assistant right next to baby at all times and if necessary they can keep their hand on the baby for support and I will remove it when editing.

I have two buckets that I use in almost every session. My wooden water bucket shown above which I imported from the US and my metal bucket shown below. The metal bucket has a clever colour change system, so I can make it any colour or pattern to co-ordinate with your session!

2. Favourite rustic Bowl

This bowl is one of my more recent prop purchases and I love it already. It's really hard to get hold of in the UK (like many popular props) so I was delighted to find one last year. It's the perfect size and depth to curl newborns up into to show just how tiny they really are.

3. The Tiny Bed

My tiny beds are another prop which I use almost every session. They are really versatile and can be used for several different poses depending on whether baby is wrapped for wearing a romper. These are my most popular prop with parents too, who are always amazed by just how tiny these little beds are!

4. The Simple Trench

I love the simplicity of these oval trench bowls! Made of solid wood, I have both a natural stain and a whitewashed version in the studio to give two different looks. I style them with co-ordinated accessories and sometimes add flowers or foliage around the edge. These bowls are best for wrapped poses when baby is snuggly swaddled to help them feel secure.

5. The Wooden Heart

Finally my wooden heart bowl. I'm not sure why I have left this until last as it really is one of my favourite props! Made of beautiful natural wood, it can be used on its own with baby either wrapped or in a romper. Alternatively, I also love to us it under a fabric layer to create a heart shape in the fabric for baby to lie in. My clients love the sweet reference to the love they have for their baby!

So that's a whistle-stop tour of my 5 favourite newborn photography props for fine art sessions. It was so difficult to choose just 5 because I love all my props! If you would like to find out more about Fine Art Newborn Photography Sessions in my Wiltshire studio please get in touch via my contact page or email info@rachelburnside.co.uk.