One thing is for sure, children grow and change very quickly. This is especially true in their first year of life. The changes that take place throughout that first year are astounding. To watch an infant who is completely and totally helpless start to smile, roll over, crawl, walk and talk is nothing short of a miracle, which is why documenting that first year with baby milestone sessions is so special.
If you have a photo studio or are thinking about creating one in your home, milestone sessions can be a great additional source of income. Since I created my in-home studio and started photographing baby milestone sessions, I have doubled the number of total sessions I photograph each year.
I’m going to share how I structure my baby milestone sessions, how I price and marketing them and finally how I photograph baby’s first year. I’m also sharing the developmental milestones I like to photograph at each age.
How to structure your baby milestone sessions
The frequency with which you plan to photograph a baby throughout his or her first year is up to you. For me, the timing of each milestone session depends on when the baby has learned a new skill, such as sitting independently or standing unassisted. These new skills can happen at various ages for each baby. For example, some babies may not be able to sit independently until well after 6 months.
This is part of the reason I don’t bundle my baby milestone sessions. I schedule them as individual sessions, just as I would for a family session or a newborn session. I’ve found this is easier than locking clients in to specific time frames. This also helps my schedule from becoming overwhelmed with too many baby milestone sessions, as I still need to leave room in my schedule for my family and newborn sessions. Structuring my baby milestone sessions this way basically provides greater flexibility for both me and my clients.
Structure your baby milestone session offering in a way that makes sense for YOU, not based on how someone else does it. If you’re very busy already, you may not have the time to schedule every single baby at three-month intervals. Think about what you realistically are capable of taking on, and what you believe would best serve your clients.
On the flip side, if you really want to take on more business, structuring a package that includes everything from maternity the whole way through baby’s first year may be the way to go to secure more clients on your calendar.
Developmental milestones to photograph
All babies develop at differently, but here are some of the milestones I like to photograph at each age.
0-3 Month Milestones:
- Lifting head
- Making eye contact
- First smiles
- Grabbing their feet
4-6 Month Milestones:
- Rolling over
- Sitting up
- Reaching or grabbing for things
- First laughs
7-9 Month Milestones:
- Crawling
- Standing or cruising
- Waving and clapping
10-12 Month Milestones:
- First words
- Walking
- Playing simple games, like peekaboo
Pricing your baby milestone sessions
Pricing for profit can be overwhelming for many photographers (myself included). I learned this the hard way when I first started my photography business. There was no rhyme or reason behind my pricing. I simply based my session prices solely off of my experience level, as well as what other local photographers were charging. I was not charging enough to cover all of my expenses, let alone make any kind of profit.
Do not make this same mistake! Determine what YOU need to charge per session to make YOUR desired income. There are a number of factors that you must take into account when determining your pricing, such as the following:
- Your desired take-home salary
- The tax rate
- Your annual business expenses
- The number of sessions you plan to take per year
Pricing example
Let’s consider a real example. Assume your desired monthly take-home amount is $3,000 per month. Your tax rate is 20% and your annual expenses are $4,000. You plan to photograph 110 baby milestone sessions during the course of one year. Let’s calculate the amount that you should charge per baby milestone session:
First, you have to account for taxes. Calculate your monthly tax burden by multiplying the tax rate by your desired monthly take-home pay. Now add your monthly desired take home pay and then multiply by 12 months to get your annual take home pay plus taxes.
(($3,000 * 0.20) + $3,000) * 12 = $43,200 per year
Next, add your annual expenses to the take home pay including taxes you just calculated. This number is your total annual required revenue to meet your income goal.
$43,200 + $4,000 = $47,200
Lastly, divide the total annual required revenue by the number of sessions you will do each year to get the amount you need to charge per session:
$47,200 / 110 = $429 per baby milestone session
Keep in mind that this is an example, but it’s not exactly all there is to it. Your baby milestone session pricing may change if you have other session offerings, such as families, weddings, etc. My family and newborn sessions are priced much higher than my baby milestone sessions for a number of reasons. This is because my family and newborn sessions take significantly more time (shooting, traveling, and editing), they include a larger number of digital images, and my newborn sessions include a complimentary album.
Your hourly rate
You must also account for your time spent per session and adjust your pricing as necessary. This includes all of your time spent on client communication, session prep, traveling, shooting, culling/editing, gallery delivery, etc. If you do in-person sales, you must also account for the cost and time of ordering prints and products.
Going back to the example above, divide your desired yearly income by 12. Then divide that number by the number of hours you’ll work per month (hours per week multiplied by 4.3 weeks in a month). If your desired monthly take-home is $3,000, but you’re working 70 hours per week, you would only be making $9.97 per hour ($3,000 / (70*4.3)). If you’re working 20 hours per week, you would be making $34.88 per hour ($3,000 / (20*4.3)).
As you can see, it’s also important to take into consideration your desired hourly rate. You may find that you need to increase your session prices or reduce the time you spend on each session.
There is truly a lot that goes into pricing yourself for profit, so do not rush through this part of the process. Price yourself right so you don’t burn out.
Marketing your baby milestone sessions
Ok, let’s talk about the fun part — marketing your baby milestone sessions! I was a marketing major in college and have always enjoyed this part of business. To me, it’s like solving a puzzle. And in this day and age of social media, marketing is easier and more fun than ever before.
First, you need a portfolio of baby milestone session images, so you have something to show your potential clients. If you don’t already have one, I recommend doing a model call for babies of various ages within that one-year age range. If you have friends with babies, reach out and offer them a free session. There is no shame in the model call game. If you are entering a new genre, you need to build a solid portfolio. Clients need to SEE what it is that you offer. We are photographers after all, so showing our work is very important.
Once you have a solid portfolio in place, along with your pricing and session details, you are ready to market your sessions and start bringing in clients. There are so many ways to do this. Here are a few ways to market your baby milestone sessions:
1. Talk about baby milestone sessions often.
Post consistently to social media and write about baby milestone sessions. You can write about how special these sessions are, how often babies should be photographed in their first year, what your offer is, how your sessions are structured, how to prepare for the session, etc. People need to see and hear about it numerous times before they actually remember it. The more you talk about it to your audience, the better chance you have to be on the top of their mind when the time comes that they need a baby photographer.
2. Get involved in your local community.
Get out of your house and interact with people face-to-face. Consider joining a local networking group or your local chamber of commerce. Even if your ideal client is not directly a part of these groups, getting your name out there and letting others know what you do is imperative. Don’t forget that the people in these groups have friends and family members. Every connection that you make is an important one and can lead to an opportunity, even when you least expect it.
3. Partner with local groups or businesses.
Think about your ideal client and where you can find them. Most likely, for baby milestone sessions, you will want to target women who are currently pregnant or have very young babies. Are there local groups that you can somehow partner with? When I first started offering baby milestone sessions, I partnered up with a local exercise group for moms with very young babies/children. I reached out to the owner and asked if she’d be interested in collaborating. I went to a few events and took photos at no charge for her to use for social media, and in exchange, she let me promote to her clients.
Above all, remember to be patient with this process of building up your clientele. It takes time, but the consistency and hard work will pay off. You know the saying, “nothing worth having comes easy”. This couldn’t be more accurate.
Photographing baby milestones
Let’s talk about workflow and actually photographing baby milestone sessions. I keep these sessions short and sweet, as most babies don’t last much longer than about 30 minutes before they start to get fussy and disinterested. For this reason, it’s important to prepare your space and workflow in advance so you can move quickly.
I schedule baby milestone sessions to take place on weekday mornings for two reasons. Number one, my kids are all in school so my home is empty and quiet. Number two, the vast majority of babies are happy first thing in the morning and tend to become more irritable by later afternoon/evening.
Before each session, I will plan out four different set-ups that I would like work through, assuming that we’ll most likely get through three of them. The fourth set-up is a bonus if the baby is still doing well. I am a very minimal prop user. That is just my style as I prefer very simple, classic portraits with the focus entirely on the baby. The items I use for my baby milestone sessions are as follows:
- Newborn posing beanbags
- Solid vinyl backdrops
- Blankets and wraps
- Organic, natural headbands for baby girls
- Baby outfits just in case the parents would like to use them
I get most of these items on Etsy, but my backdrops are from Ink and Elm.
My equipment and set-up
All of my baby milestone sessions are photographed in my home studio, which is a 10-foot x 11-foot spare room. I use studio lighting for every session in my home studio. I prefer the ease of studio lighting for baby photos, as it is consistent and makes editing a breeze. Here is a list of the studio and camera equipment I use:
- DigiBee400
- Cybersync transmitter/transceiver
- 64” White PLM umbrella
- 64” White diffusion fabric
- Light stand
- Backdrop stand
- Camera: Canon EOS 1D X Mark III
- Lens: Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 II USM
After the session
Once the session is over, I download and cull through the images, selecting the best ones to edit. My baby milestone sessions include 20 digital images, which are delivered to the client in a private online gallery through Pixieset within 3 weeks of their session date. When I email the final digital gallery, I remind clients that they have the option to purchase professional a la carte prints/products directly through their gallery.
I am so glad you are considering adding baby milestone sessions to your list of offerings. These sessions are truly incredible, as you are capturing the beauty of every parent’s beloved child during that precious first year. There will always be a market for baby milestone sessions.
Photos by Carrie Pfister
More tips for photographing baby’s first year:
5 Video clips you need to capture during baby’s first year
7 No-stress newborn photography tips to keep baby and parents relaxed
What to wear for newborn photo sessions: 16 tips for families
The first 15 months: Your photo guide to developmental milestones
I’ve seen your photographs and am very impressed with your work. You have done some really amazing shots.
I’m not a photographer, but if I were this would be extremely helpful. I think you have covered every angle with great information and advice.
Wow! This is full of helpful info, thank you! I’m saving this to reference later.
Great advice to get involved in community. I never thought about organizations giving me connections.
This is awesome! I’ve always wanted to add on something like this to my business and I LOVE how you’ve broken it down.