Atlanta Maternity Photographer | In the Studio

It was a freezing cold day in Atlanta, but it didn't matter, because this studio maternity session was toasty warm for my pregnant mama. Look how gorgeous and happy she is! I can't wait to meet her little baby boy due at the beginning of January. 

Maternity sessions in the studio are perfect for expectant moms who want intimate images showcasing their pregnant belly. You will absolutely glow in your session, and will have so much fun! If you're worried about being awkward and self conscious, don't be. As a birth photographer in Atlanta, I have seen it all, so various stages of undress don't bother me. All of my clients warn me that they're going to be nervous and uncomfortable before their session, but by the end they tell me how much fun they had. I know it's difficult to embrace your changing pregnant body, especially as a first time mom. I have been there myself with my own two daughters. Some of the changes are fun, others not so much! I am a very warm personality, but not overbearing - and I know exactly how to guide you into flattering poses. Pregnancy is so beautiful - celebrate it! 

I have an exquisite studio wardrobe available to clients to use for their session if they desire. I also strongly recommend that clients take the time to work with a makeup artist, and have some amazing referrals here in the Atlanta area. 

Contact me today to begin planning your maternity session! I offer in studio and on location sessions. 

Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and birth photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.

Atlanta Baby Photographer | Mommy and Harry

I just loved capturing these two at Harry's 6 month session. We doubled it as a family session, and I will be able to share the rest of the images after Christmas! If you think that a winter session isn't a good idea: think again. Winter provides such a beautiful natural background and I love to use the golden sun. 

This image is perfection to me and makes me happy just to look at it. How many of us will do anything to make our children laugh and squeal with delight? We are the entire world to our children for such a very short time. There will come a day when they won't be small enough to lift to the sky. 

Family and baby sessions are so important because you need to remember these moments with your baby. You will blink, and they will be going to kindergarten. Being a parent is so bittersweet, because you want to hold on to their littleness forever but you're so proud of them as they grow and learn new things. 

Contact me today to begin planning your baby or family session! My session fee includes 3 appointments: pre-planning for your session, your actual session, and your gallery reveal/ordering session in my natural light studio. I can't wait to meet you and create images that will make you and your baby smile for a lifetime.  

Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and birth photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.

Atlanta Maternity Photographer | Intimate Studio Sessions

With the weather in Atlanta reaching extremes during winter and summer, I'm happy to offer pregnant mothers a reprieve for their maternity photos inside my gorgeous natural light studio. Many clients want to document their pregnancy wearing pretty intimates, and the images are absolutely lovely, tasteful, and stunning. My studio wardrobe also has quite a few options for clients to choose from!

This mama is expecting her baby boy in January, and she was so much fun to work with. She's a wedding photographer, and I love when other photographers trust me to craft images for them. She is so in love with her little boy, and can't wait to hold him and see his little face for the first time. I'm so excited for her!

I currently have limited openings for maternity clients in January and February, so if you'd like to reserve a maternity session, contact me today to begin planning! Newborn and birth clients have exclusive access to petite maternity studio session reservations. I can't wait to work with you and create stunning images of this incredibly beautiful time in your life. 

Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and birth photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.

Atlanta Baby Photographer | What do you most want to remember?

I'm a mother of two. I never cease to be amazed by how quickly my daughters change, especially in the first year of life. I swear, sometimes I put my baby down for a nap and when she awakens later I feel like she sprouted more hair. It's so important to capture the little details of my children. I know when they're all grown up, I won't be able to recall exactly what their features looked like. This is why I love photography so much... a photo remembers what you have forgotten.

What do you love most about your baby? I love little baby toes and baby feet. I absolutely love when my babies learn to grab their feet... and when they manage to stick their toes in their mouth. It's just about the most adorable thing I've ever seen. 

When my daughter gets married and has children of her own, I'll still be able to remember what she looked like when she chewed on her little toes like she's doing in this photo. Will you be able to say the same? Make sure you document the little details and moments in your own photos or have a photographer come to your home and capture that for you! You will never regret having those photographs to look back on. 

I'd love to capture these memories for you and create beautiful artwork for your home! Contact me to schedule a session. Can't wait to meet you!

Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and birth photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.

Atlanta Maternity Photography | Amie & Daniel

As a maternity photographer in Atlanta, I want my sessions to reflect my clients' personalities and tastes. Every shoot needs to show who they are as both a couple and as individuals. Since Amie expressed her love for the outdoors, we scheduled their shoot at a local park that they enjoy spending time at. 

Amie & Daniel are expecting a little girl at the end of March, and they were just so sweet together! I love when I have a couple that isn't afraid to be affectionate and goof around. A session should be FUN! 

I know not everyone is comfortable in front of a camera. I set aside some time at the beginning of every session to chat and get to know my clients. Getting comfortable with me first helps them relax, and it shows in my photos! As I tell my clients in my complimentary consultations: as long as everyone is willing to have fun and try new things with my direction, I can produce beautiful images to treasure for a lifetime.

I can't wait to meet Amie and Daniel's sweet baby girl for their lifestyle newborn session after she arrives!

Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and birth photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.

Atlanta Birth Photographer | Is flash bad for baby eyes?

One of the most common questions that I am asked about my birth photography in Atlanta is whether or not I use a flash. The answer: only if I absolutely have to, and NEVER once baby has been born. I do not use a direct flash. If you don't know what that is, it's basically what you have on your camera that pops up from the top and flashes directly at the subject. As you probably already know, direct flash is blinding and often washes out the photo completely. 

However, during birth I do sometimes use a bounced flash. For example, during a waterbirth in a dark room, I might need to bounce my flash off the ceiling or wall with a diffuser to capture the baby crowning and coming out. It all depends on the lighting conditions of the labor room and the photos that the parents want to have. Some parents don't want crowning shots, some do. A lot of factors come into play when making decisions about how to best capture images in the different stages. Regardless of the lighting conditions, I never have my flash pointed directly at the mother. I can't think of anything worse than trying to concentrate during a contraction and having a bright light flashing in my face randomly with no warning. Part of my job as a birth photographer is to respect the birthing space and be as unobtrusive as possible so the mother can progress well and not feel interrupted or annoyed.

There's no way to predict what the lighting situation will be at a birth since some mothers prefer to labor with the lights turned low, while others want lights. My job as a birth photographer is to work with the existing environment and be flexible. Sometimes the lighting situation will change multiple times during a labor. If I had a dollar for every time a nurse or midwife flipped a light switch on or off during the time I cover a birth... well, I'd be rich!

When the baby is born, my flash is tabled completely. The research states that flash isn't actually harmful to the eyes of newborns, but I just don't think it's necessary to put them through that. I have the experience and the training to photograph the moments after birth without needing to use my flash. Besides, your baby just came from a safe, warm, and dark place. A flash would just be invasive and disturb them. I'd much rather use the other continuous lighting options that I carry with me! 

As you can see from the photo above, I don't need to use flash to get beautiful photos of a minutes old baby! It was actually quite dark in this room, but since I shoot with a full frame camera and am experienced with the best settings for low light environments, I simply made a few quick adjustments and captured baby's measurements in a non invasive way for all present. 

Most babies spend time on their mom's chest after their birth and open their eyes to look around. There are so many sweet moments that can be captured, and the last thing I want to do is upset a brand new baby (or mother!) with a harsh flash that disturbs them or makes them cry. They've already had a tough journey to earth side! 

Another major reason that I don't use flash after the baby is born is illustrated in my image below. 

This little one opened their eyes and spent time looking around and taking in their environment. I wouldn't have been able to get photos of this baby with their eyes open without causing them to squint or just refuse to open their eyes to avoid the flash entirely. 

I hope this has answered any questions you may have had regarding my use of flash in birth photography! If you live in the Atlanta area and are looking for a birth photographer, I would love to chat more with you about my services. 

If you are considering reserving The Birth Session, contact me right away. I meet with all interested couples in my studio for a no obligation consultation for about an hour. Fill out this form here to get started. Birth photography is a personal experience and an investment: be confident in your choice! 

Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and birth photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.

Atlanta Birth Photographer | Why I hired a birth photographer

I had my first daughter, Lily, in a waterbirth in 2011. It was a wonderful experience, but there are hardly any pictures. Birth photography wasn't really a "thing" here in Atlanta so I didn't know of any photographers offering the service. Plus, I didn't have any photographer friends who could just drop everything and come to my labor and delivery whenever it actually happened. So I decided that I would just set my camera to automatic and have our doula take photos when she could.

Doulas provide support to moms in labor, so I don't have very many good photos of my labor process. I so wish that I did, but my doula supporting me was the priority. I needed my doula to do the job I had hired her to do. If she had been taking photos, she wouldn't have been able to do that. Once our daughter was born, our doula grabbed our camera and did the best she could. We knew she wasn't a professional photographer and didn't have high expectations at all. We have some very sweet photos from the day, and since I'm a professional photographer with editing software I was able to edit the photos. 

When I saw the photos that my doula took for us with my camera, I thought to myself "I'm so happy that I at least have something to look back on and show my daughter someday." I also thought, "Gosh, I wish a professional birth photographer had been an option, because there are so many things and small details about Lily and that day that will fade in my memory." Make no mistake, I am not criticizing our doula! She never presented herself as being a professional photographer of any sort and I didn't have high expectations. Even if she HAD been a professional photographer and doula, she wouldn't have been able to get any more photos since I needed her support so much. 

What your baby looks like minutes after being born is hard to freeze in your mind. They change so quickly, even in the first couple of hours! Since I was recovering from labor and delivery and enjoying my sweet new baby, getting up and taking all of those small detail shots wasn't an option for me. A birth photographer would have been able to capture all of that for me.

I attended my first birth in 2012 as a birth photographer for a dear friend, and I absolutely loved it. I realized that this was something that I wanted to offer, but I just wasn't at a place in my life where I could offer birth photography here in Atlanta due to having a one year old and another on the way. 

Between the births of my daughters, birth photographers became available in Atlanta. I decided to hire one for the birth of our second child, and I'm so, so, so glad I did! Our doula returned for round two and was glad to have the weight of photographing our birth off of her shoulders so she could solely focus on supporting us. Having a separate person dedicated to each role was important to me, because I did not want to risk any precious photo opportunities being missed. Birth cannot be reshot!

I look at the images from Violet's birth and they take me back to those first moments with her. I look at her features frozen in the photographs and can remember exactly how cute her little nose was, her little fingers, her little toes. Even better, I was able to share those photos with my grandmother, my mother, my sister, and my best friends. Looking at them allows them to feel like they were there when Violet entered our lives. I also love the photos of me holding my daughter. A professional knows how to shoot the post birth bonding photos from flattering angles. :) 

Birth photography is my passion! I love nothing more than grabbing my gear bag in the middle of the night to get to a mom in labor. If you're considering birth photography for your birth in the Atlanta area, I would love nothing more than to talk with you more about being your birth photographer!! I've given birth to two children and know exactly what you'll be going through. I know how to respect your space while you're in labor while still getting beautiful images. I know the moments that you're going to want to remember years from now when your baby heads off to college or walks down the aisle, or welcomes their own baby into their arms. I consider it such an honor and privilege to be invited to document birth stories.  Watch this 3 minute film and get an idea of what the experience is like with me as your photographer. 

If you are considering reserving The Birth Session, contact me right away. I meet with all interested couples in my studio for a no obligation consultation for about an hour. Fill out this form here to get started. Birth photography is a personal experience and an investment: be confident in your choice! 

Lily Sophia Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, and birth photography in Atlanta, Georgia and surrounding areas.