I’m a Newborn Photographer And This is How I Used AI to Surprise and Delight My Clients
This blog post was authored by Eleanor M., newborn photographer
As a professional newborn, maternity, and family photographer, capturing precious beautiful moments for new moms is my passion. However, the job doesn’t end with the click of the camera. A significant amount of time is spent coaching or editing photos to perfect the tiny details that make each image truly special.
The Editing Process
Newborns, while adorable, often come with various skin imperfections that need to be addressed in post-processing. Here are some common issues I tackle using Photoshop as my primary editor:
Baby Acne: Many newborns develop small bumps on their skin, which need to be carefully edited out.
Dry Skin: Newborns often have flaky or peeling skin, especially around the hands, feet, and face.
Redness and Blotches: Newborns’ sensitive skin can have red or blotchy areas that need to be evened out.
Stork Bites and Birthmarks: These can be prominent and moms often ask me to soften or remove these for the final image.
Scratches: Babies can scratch their faces with their tiny nails, and these need to be retouched.
Milk Spots and Cradle Cap: These small white spots or scaly patches require careful attention to remove without losing skin texture.
Editing these imperfections requires a meticulous hand and a lot of time. Each image can take hours to perfect, making the editing process lengthy and labor-intensive. Although moms want me to capture their newborn babies in their natural beauty, the truth is that the newborn glow-up is what new parents now expect in our era of social media standards of perfection.
Discovering Honeycomb AI
In search of a way to improve my workflow, I decided to try Honeycomb’s AI newborn photography service on a whim with some of my clients’ photos. The idea of reducing my editing time while still delivering high-quality images was very appealing. Note that Honeycomb is not an AI photo editor per se, but an entire end-to-end solution that takes photos you upload of a baby’s face, and turns them into professional-grade newborn photos. I still thought it was worth experimenting with, since a lot of the time the need to spend time editing photos is correlated with how fussy and uncooperative, naturally, my newborn baby clients are during their photoshoots.
The Results
The results were impressive. The AI did a fantastic job addressing the common skin issues I usually spend hours on, but what’s more, it created totally new photos of the newborn babies I’d photographed. What’s more, my clients were thrilled with the final images. While they already loved the photos that I had taken and edited as part of their regular photoshoot, the AI photos I shared with them as a bonus were an unexpected surprise.
This AI photo was shared with permission from my client who had a particularly difficult shoot. I used the AI to create a whole new set of photos using some of the photos of her daughter that we actually captured in the studio, and she loved the AI photos as much as her “real” photos.
Final Thoughts
As a professional newborn photographer, I’m always looking for ways to reduce time spent on editing and increase the time I get to spend doing what I actually love — taking the photos. Honeycomb’s AI photography service has been a game-changer in helping me create more photos of my clients’ newborns after tougher shoots where I’d struggled to get enough raw images in the time we had. And the outputs have surprised and delighted my clients who never asked or expected for them. A win-win!
For fellow photographers, I highly recommend giving AI a try. It’s an excellent tool that complements our skills and allows us to focus more on the creative aspects of our work. Let’s continue to elevate our craft together!
Honeycomb was built by moms to help busy parents get professional baby photos on a budget. Using AI, we transform everyday photos of your kid into stunning photoshoots for every milestone and holiday. Get your baby’s AI photos today!