Tracy Raver

Move over, Anne Geddes: there's a couple more newborn photographers behind the lens! Nebraskan sisters Tracy Raver and Kelley Ryden have made a name for themselves snapping adorable snoozing shots of infants that everyone, including a mother, would love. The duo captures many of their priceless portraits of brand-new babies in their studio. Since infants are sleepy and Tracy and Kelley request that the wee ones arrive with full bellies, the women have a cuddly canvas to work with and use few props in favor of womblike poses. The resulting pictures make people melt. A collection of the sisters' work will be available in April when their book Sleeping Beauties: Newborns in Dreamland ($30) is released. A portion of the proceeds from the book sales will be donated to a world children's charity.

If you can't get enough of these sleeping beauties, just read more

Show me a new mama and I'll show you a woman with a brag book filled with precious photos of her newborn. There's no denying that parents love to show off their kids, be it via images on their phones, albums in their Facebook accounts or photo albums bursting out of their bags.

While snapshots on the ol' digital camera may work for some moms, others turn to the professionals for a portrait that can become the centerpiece of their rooms. For years, Anne Geddes' whimsical shots of babies incorporated into nature were the standard by which photographers shot their subjects, but following an appearance on The Today Show, a Nebraska shutterbug with a knack for photographing sleepy newborns in some adorable poses is creating a stir. Tracy Raver's calming photos of weeks-old babes are the result of warm studios and bellies full of milk, allowing the artist to carefully maneuver the tots into her signature poses. Raver told viewers her trick was to photograph babies before they turned one month old, because that's when they get a bit feistier and can throw off a session.

Did you turn to the professionals to photograph your newborn, or did you stick with family snapshots?

Photo courtesy of Tracy Raver and Kelley Ryden Photography