Maternity, newborn and kids photographer Rhonda Shores says she often has moms and dads request specific themes and backgrounds for their newborn sessions and that for this particular little guy, his mother requested a fishing theme, which Shores captured in several images using the same backdrop. “However,” she says, “I also had a vision of the baby sleeping on the pier, just relaxing. We got Dad to help with the support of the little boy for safety reasons, and this was the end result.”

Actually, this is a composite. Baby’s safety is always priority one, Shores reiterates, and so she posed the baby on the pier prop while the dad held onto his legs as Shores captured an image. “Then I had him hold onto the baby’s head and back to capture his legs without his hands in the way, and the two images were merged together to create the look of the little one sleeping on the pier by himself. You have to ensure that the images you take are the same composition in order to merge the two together seamlessly.”

The backdrop is a fabric material that includes the entire set purchased from Baby Dream Backdrops. “I included a homemade pier that a friend of mine made for me as a prop for my session,” explains Shores, who also added the water using Flaming Pear software in Photoshop.

“I have spent the last few years working hard and investing in newborns, all the way from training, workshops, safety, props, sets, outfits, posing, etc. The list could go on and on. I found my passion and strive to do the best I can with every image.”

(Shot with a Canon 5D Mark IV and Sigma 35mm lens at f/5, 1/100 sec. and ISO 125. For the lighting, Shores used Paul C Bluff 86-inch umbrellas with an Alien Bee 400 strobe.)

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