Three times the fun.

I wanted to start by saying that photographing one newborn is often a challenge, so photographing triplets has three times the unpredictability. This can be exciting to an experienced newborn photographer or intimidating to a new one.

Before accepting the challenge I recommend gaining experience in only one newborn before attempting three at once.

My goal last year was to photograph triplets. After photographing over 300 newborns I wanted that “unicorn” to photograph. For me, triplets is what I wanted to find. This came to me when one of my favourite clients surprised me with what she was growing — not just one baby for me to photograph but three! I’ve done many twin newborn sessions so I knew I had to be prepared for whatever these three tiny personalities shot my way.

Photographing newborns in a style called “baby-led posing” allows me to be flexible with my final images and offer the family a more relaxed session. If you want to learn more about my style of baby-led posing read this.

This post is primarily for photographers and is about my personal tips for photographing triplets.

Top Ten Triplet Photography Tips

1) Flexibility in scheduling

Triplets will most likely be born before their due date. Aim to book around their 40 weeks due date mark. Babies will still be sleepy and sessions often go more smoothly during this time frame. Most posed newborn photographers require babies in under 14 days old and often refuse to attempt an older more awake newborn. With my style of baby-led posing, there is more flexibility with the time frame of booking newborns up to two months of age. What is baby-led posing? Read my post about it here.

This extended time frame helps out the family. Mom often needs more time to adjust at home before venturing out. Newborns can sense a stressed parent, so a happy and relaxed mom makes for a smoother session. NICU babies are often sensitive to touch (because of hospital blood draws, procedures, etc.) so be extra aware of their comfort and how much handling they can tolerate.

2) Plan more, not less.

I sketched out images I wanted for this session but kept in mind that not all would happen. It’s always good to have an initial plan but when baby … in this case babies are the boss you go with the flow. I started off with all babies swaddled and lined up in a row. This was my easiest shot to get as everyone’s arms were contained and they weren’t hitting one another and startling each other awake.  Take advantage of sleeping babies!! Shoot from various angles, zoom in to show details, shoot wide to show just how tiny they are, shoot from the shadows and let that beautiful light light up all your subjects’ unique features.  Do all this before thinking about moving one.  Don’t cause a domino effect!

3) Keep it warm

4) Who’s the wild card?

Figure out which little personality is the wild card of the bunch. Pose this baby first. There’s nothing worse than having two perfectly sleeping babies for the third wild card to come in and startle the rest awake. No one wants to start over from the beginning.

5) A little extra help goes a long way

6) Patience and flexibility is a virtue

7) Time is precious!

8) Quality, not quantity

9) Individual portraits

10) Have fun! Stay calm.

Jessica of Vintage Duck Photography is a studio photographer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her simplistic approach to all things baby, showcases fresh and relaxed studio sessions for young families. With over eight years of experience photographing babies, she also films and creates videos for her clients that capture movement, emotion and brings her clients experiences with her to a whole other level.