You charge that much just to take some baby pictures? I mean they are good, but I will just take my own

Yep,  newborn photographers hear this all the time, because people just do not understand that newborn pictures are expensive to create, and that custom photography is a luxury. Newborn Photography is more difficult than any other type of photography, except maybe weddings.  Portrait sessions are more than laying a baby on a blanket and snapping away. You have to know how to safely pose them, and what to use when posing them, how to light them, what camera settings to use, and how to edit the images. Newborns session generally take up to 2 hours. There is a lot of calming, soothing, feeding, and making baby comfortable in between all the beautiful images you see. Very rarely do newborns sleep through an entire session the process is time consuming. It’s true you can take your own pictures,  by laying them on a blanket. The pictures will be cute, because your baby is cute, but the end result will still look like you just laid them on a blanket and took a picture with your phone. I have never heard a parent say, I wish I would have not paid to have newborn pictures taken. I have heard loads of parents say, they regret not booking a newborn session. People book newborn sessions, because they want to capture the sweet dreaminess of their newborn, and to do that they pay for a photographer who specializes in newborns, one that has the equipment, props and training that it takes to produce those beautiful once in a lifetime images. For those who are still bulking at what newborn sessions cost and want to do it themselves I have attached the following picture of a basic newborn setup that breaks down what you will need in order to achieve similar results. Keep in mind, the cost of learning to use the camera and editing is not included, but generally you can expect it to take about 2 years to learn and you will need training for how to use the camera, posing, baby safety, lighting, and editing. Courses, workshops, and seminar prices vary from hundreds to thousands of dollars. If you decided to make a career of it, then you will need to also factor in the costs of doing business, taxes, insurance, marketing, and operational expenses.