One of my favorite things to shop for every year is Christmas jammies! In years past, I have ended up with several different brands but the patterns that always catch my eye the most year after year are the Burt's Bees brand. They are beautiful yet subtle and the quality is amazing! This particular set I saw last year and just had to have them. I was so sad that they did not bring this pattern back again this year. I have rounded up a couple similar options for you though below! The one thing I will say about this particular brand however is they run slim and tall so in my opinion, size up 1 size for your kiddos if you're not sure or in between sizes.
Anyways, once I bought these jammies I knew I wanted some sweet pictures of these two rocking them! As much as I love having professional pictures taken any chance I get of our family- they are priceless memories after all- I can't swallow the price tag of them for every holiday and event. With Porter turning one next month and a session already scheduled for that I couldn't justify a Christmas session this year; so I did my own!
It really is simple but here are a couple tips to capture the best images in my opinion.
1. Make sure you have lots of indirect natural light. You want natural light but no sunshine glaring in on your where you are shooting.
2. If you have an iPhone, use the portrait mode. I feel like this made such a difference for me with these images. I believe other phones have a similar shooting mode but unfortunately I don't have any insights for you there.
3. Let your kiddos be themselves and capture the moments as they happen. Of course I started them sitting on the edge of the bed (as seen in the first image) because duh I wanted at least one of them looking at me together, but the rest of them happened pretty naturally. It was so sweet to see them rolling around together playing and talking (babbling) to each other as I captured the moments. Of course if I saw something I liked and didn't capture it right away I made them do it again 😉.
4. Keep your bed linens for this purpose clean, light and simple. This is my everyday bedding but in case you have a heavily patterned or dark colored bedding set, I suggest you use something simple and light in color. You could easily just have your sheet on your bed, or throw a blanket you may already have lying around elsewhere on your bed for this. You do not have to go out and purchase a whole new bedding set for your shoot but try to see if you can change it up with what you may already have.
5. If you plan to use decor to accent your image, also keep it pretty simple. I took this small wreath that hangs on our fireplace usually during the holidays and brought it upstairs for this shoot. Find things you already have in the house- again this is all about saving money.
6. Don't be scared to edit your photos a bit to lighten them up when you are done if you don't love the lighting. Play with them a bit to get them how you like it!
7. Don't focus too much on what each image looks like as you are taking the pictures. Just keep snapping the pictures until your kiddos aren't having it anymore and give you the look like "are we done yet". Let's not forget to mention the billions of shots I deleted that just didn't make the cut. They can't all be good! HA
Boom! It's that easy. Have fun with it and let your kiddos shine!
Outfit Details
Jammies- Burt's Bees (old)
You could always check Poshmark, Ebay or Mercari for these exact sets too if you are okay with used!
Leona's bow- Little Poppy Co. (2019 December Set)
Wreath- Hobby Lobby
I would love to see your shots if you tackle this DIY mini session photo shoot yourself!
xoxo
Maria Elizabeth
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