Last Friday I posted on Facebook, asking my followers about how long they thought it takes me to complete a newborn session, from start to finish. More specifically a full newborn session that didn’t include ordering products. To make it even more fun I added a PRIZE for the winner that guessed the correct number.

I was really surprised at the HUGE range of guesses I received, starting at 3 hours all the way up to 50 hours!!!! Wowzers!

I think, based on these results, that most of you don’t know what goes on behind the scenes of your newborn session. I am going to share with you ALL of the little things I am doing to create these incredible memories for you to treasure. Read all the way through to see the minimum total number of hours involved.

When you first send me an inquiry about booking a session, it starts the ball rolling. Often this includes conversations or emails back and forth answering any questions you have and how the process works to book. Once you decide to book I create and send contracts, invoices, questionnaires and prep guides. Everything is tracked and documented. My email inbox is probably my most vital necessity for my business (well besides a camera I suppose LOL). This phase takes at least 2 hours of work.

📷 booking | emails | forms | payment | questionnaires = 2 hrs

Next up is the really fun part, planning for your session. Based on our conversations and your answers in the questionnaire, I select all of the items I will need. I make sure everything is clean/sanitized and I set it all up. Having everything prepared and ready to go saves me lots of time during your session. This will be EVEN smoother in the new studio as I won’t have to overlap set ups and move things around as much as I do in my current studio space. This part takes me a minimum of 2 hours.

📷 planning | preparation | setup = 2 hrs

Then the best part, for you, is your visit to the studio for your session! These typically last up to 3 hours for a full newborn session. This is due to the length of time it takes to get baby settled in the various poses. It often includes one full feeding as well as parent, sibling and family photos. That adds 3 more hours.

📷 shooting = 3 hrs

After your session is the unglamorous cleanup lol. Laundry, wiping items down and putting away ALL THE THINGS! It can be quite a disaster when we are through but I love getting everything cleaned up and back in its place. About 1.5 hours for this step.

📷 clean up | laundry = 1.5 hr

After the clean up, I upload your images to my computer and begin sorting through them. When your gallery proofs are selected I upload them to my online client portal. These are password protected and emailed out to you within 48 hours of your session. YES, in less than 2 days after your shoot you get to see all the best images from your session! This is something I feel is SO important to me. My business is all about serving you, the client. I do everything in my power to ensure your experience is enjoyable and that you leave with the greatest memories to treasure, just as quickly as I can get them to you! Add another 1.5 hours.

📷 culling | proof gallery = 1.5 hrs

When you have chosen the images you want I start the editing process! This can vary so much depending on the extent of the edits involved. Images that are composites (2 images merged together) take quite a bit longer. Also when there are a lot of skin edits required it adds on time for each photo but my base editing time is around 5 hours for a gallery of 15 images. That makes 5 hours.

📷 editing | final gallery = 5 hrs

So after we add up ALL those numbers the minimum time I put into each full newborn session is fifteen hours! This doesn’t factor in prints and products which can add an extra 10+ hours if I’m designing and ordering an album.

Now I’m going to hop on over to Facebook and check to see who guessed the right number. Thanks for playing along! I hope this helped you see all that goes on behind the scenes of your newborn session. I just LOVE capturing your memories. It brings me such joy to hear you raving and sharing about Jen Isackson Photography with your friends <3

Thank you so much!!!