Newborn · Burlington, VT · Book while pregnant; we hold a fortnight, not a date.

Every pose you have seen is a composite.

Name: Halló Studio
Price range: $$

The hands are edited out, not removed.

A newborn studio in Burlington. The poses you have seen online are composites — a second pair of hands is in every frame and edited out afterwards — and this page explains exactly how each one is done, because a parent booking anyone should know.

How each pose is made The room

The poses

3 of these are composites. One is not attempted at all.

Every one of the composites above is standard practice in a careful studio and is not a trick played on you — it is the only way those pictures can exist without putting a newborn in a position they cannot hold. What is unusual is saying so.

Chin on hands — the "froggy"

Composite 2 frames

What it looks like: The baby appears to be propping their own head up on both hands, elbows on the blanket.
What actually happens: Two frames. In each one an adult holds the head and a wrist; the frames are blended so both pairs of hands disappear. A newborn cannot support their own head and never will in this position.

Hanging hammock

Composite 3 frames

What it looks like: The baby appears suspended in a cloth sling between two branches or hooks.
What actually happens: The baby is on a beanbag, at floor level, held throughout. The sling, the branch and the height are photographed separately and composited. Nothing is ever suspended.

In a bucket or crate

Composite 2 frames

What it looks like: The baby sits upright inside a bucket, head above the rim.
What actually happens: The bucket is weighted, padded and never more than a few centimetres off the floor, and a hand is inside it supporting the back and neck in every frame. The empty-bucket frame is shot afterwards and blended.

Curled on a beanbag

Supported 1 frame

What it looks like: The baby is curled on their side or front on a soft surface, wrapped.
What actually happens: A single frame, no compositing needed — but a spotter is still within arm’s reach for every one, and the baby is wrapped so the position is theirs rather than arranged.

In a parent’s hands

Supported 1 frame

What it looks like: The baby held in cupped hands or against a shoulder.
What actually happens: Exactly what it looks like, and the easiest safe frame in the book. The hands in this one stay in the picture, which is the point of it.

Balanced or unsupported anything

Not attempted

What it looks like: Propped on a ledge, on a scale, in a hanging basket, on a parent’s outstretched palm.
What actually happens: Not attempted, not composited, not offered. If a studio shows you one of these and cannot describe how the frames were built, that is the question to ask before you book.

3 composite · 2 supported · 1 not attempted.

The room

Warm enough to be uncomfortable.

A newborn out of a blanket cannot regulate their own temperature, so the studio runs warm enough to be uncomfortable for everybody else in it. These are the conditions on every session, and none of them are negotiable.

26–28°C Room temperature Warm enough that adults notice. A cold baby will not settle and should not be unwrapped.

3 hours Session length It follows the baby. Feeding, settling and changing are the session, not interruptions to it.

Always Spotter Within arm’s reach for every frame that is not flat on a beanbag. Usually a parent, which is also the best way to see how it is done.

Sanitised Hands and props Between every setup. Wraps are washed between families, not between sessions on the same day.

Rebooked Illness Ours or yours. A cold is a reschedule, free, no conversation about it.

Whenever Feeding There is a chair and a screen. A fed baby is the entire job.

Timing

Five to fourteen days, and what happens after.

Newborns keep the curled-up position for roughly the first fortnight. That window is why studios press you to book early — but a session after it is not a worse session, it is a different one, and it costs the same here.

What a session looks like at different ages
When	What you get	Note
Day 5 – 14	Curled, sleepy, wrapped	The classic session. Book while pregnant; we hold a fortnight rather than a date.
Day 15 – 28	Less curl, more awake	Still lovely and noticeably more alert. Fewer wrapped poses, more held ones.
4 – 12 weeks	Awake, held, eye contact	A genuinely different set of pictures and often the ones families print.
Any time	Whatever the baby is doing	Nobody has missed anything. The idea that you have is a marketing device.

Open the Safety Protocol →

Sessions

Captioned with how each was made.

A sleeping newborn swaddled in cream knit wearing a bonnet with small ears, a knitted bear beside them — Wrapped, beanbag · supported · 1 frame

A sleeping newborn in a cream knitted romper and eared bonnet, curled with hands beneath the chin — Curled, hands under chin · composite · 2 frames

A sleeping newborn wrapped in white lace with both arms free, on a pale blue surface — Lace wrap, arms free · supported · 1 frame

A sleeping newborn swaddled in deep red cloth on cream fur, with pale roses behind — Colour wrap on fur · supported · 1 frame

Rates

One price, and rescheduling is free.

Session rates and what is included
What	Price	Note
Newborn session	$495	Three hours, one a day, 25–35 finished images.
Sibling or parents in	Included	Not an upsell. They are usually the pictures that get framed.
Session after 4 weeks	$495	Same price. A later session is different, not lesser.
Print licence	Included	Perpetual, any size, anywhere. You will not be charged per print.
Album, 20 sides	$340	Optional, and genuinely optional — say no and nothing changes.
Reschedule	$0	For illness, early arrival, late arrival, or a bad week. Babies do not read calendars.

Common questions

Ask these of anyone.

Is the froggy pose safe?

As a composite, yes — two frames, an adult holding the head and a wrist in each, blended afterwards. Attempted in a single frame it is not safe at all. If a studio shows you that pose and cannot tell you how it was built, ask again before you book.

Why is the studio so warm?

Because a newborn out of a blanket cannot regulate their own temperature. 26 to 28 degrees is uncomfortable for adults and correct for the baby. Wear a t-shirt.

Can I stay in the room?

Please do — you are usually the spotter. It is also the easiest way to see exactly how each frame is made, which is worth more than anything on this page.

We are past two weeks. Have we missed it?

No. The curled-up window is real and it is roughly a fortnight, but a four-week session is a different set of pictures rather than a worse one, and it costs the same. The urgency you have been reading is largely a marketing device.

What if the baby will not settle?

Then the session is three hours of feeding and settling and we book another morning at no charge. That happens perhaps twice a year and it has never once been a problem.

Do you retouch the babies?

Dry skin, a scratch, and the colour of newborn skin, which photographs redder than it looks. Never the shape of a face, never a birthmark. They will want to see that later.

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