The Life in Lifestyle Photography

One of the simplest and (in my humble opinion) mot beautiful ways to capture life after a newborn is through lifestyle photography. Back in the day, lifestyle photography was seen almost exclusively through the eyes of photo journalists. Today lifestyle photography is happening everywhere in real time by pros and amatuers alike. 

So here are a few tips to help make your next lifestyle composition just a bit better. 

1. Tell a story

The life in lifestyle photography is important. You need to represent life- which is much more complex than a single shot. Look around, take a step back. What is the story? What is happening? How can you use a single or a few images to really get the essence of life into a shot?

2. Focus on a detail

Things in life are busy, complex, and confusing. Clarify things for your audience by focusing in on a detail. With newborn shoots, you can focus on many different aspects of one focal point: the new baby. By making this single person the focus of the shots, you can compose pictures that help highlight that decided aspect of your lifestyle shot. 

3. Don't over-edit. 

I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram. I love it! I hate it! I can't make up my mind. I think that all the hate (well most of it anyway) comes from the over-edited, kind-of-fake images I see all over the place (note, this isn't unique to Instagram). 

If you want a photo to convey that photo-journalist, real-life message that comes across in lifestyle photography, keep edits simple and to-the-point. Real people don't glow like light sticks. Real people, real shadows and highlights, real beauty. 

If in doubt, I like to say less is more, especially when shooting a lifestyle session. 

Want to try out some of these tips? Share your favorite lifestyle shots with us!

Till next time,