Tips for a Photo Happy Day \\ Family Sessions

With an increase in enquiries regarding family portrait sessions and many questions about how best to prepare for them, I’ve put together a this blog post with some helpful tips to make the most of your time with me so when we have our session you feel well prepared and we can have some fun together!

When you book me for a family photo session one of my first questions for you will be ‘Is there anywhere in particular you would like to do the shoot?’ I work on location ONLY. This is important to know as some people expect a studio portrait session and I don’t offer these! Personally I hate studio portraits and spending hours in front of a backdrop trying to get your children to smile is not only quite difficult, but also very unnatural! No stuffy studio portraits available here! I work on location because this gives the children the freedom to run around and be themselves. It makes it possible to capture who they are and they will also have a great time in the process.

ONE
When planning a time for the shoot always take into consideration when would be best for your children. Everyone has different habits and depending on their age, some might have specific nap times or eating times. So make sure they are well rested and fed before the shoot so we are less likely to have grumpy children!! I think this is one of the most important tips because the mood of your children will really set the tone for the session and will have an effect on the photos too. We want them to be happy and energetic.

TWO
Have you thought about what to wear? It’s important to plan ahead as you don’t want to all end up with totally clashing outfits! It’s nice to get the kids involved in this part if you can. Tell them to pick something nice to wear for each other and help them out with some ideas. Maybe even let them help pick your outfit! This process might get help get them bit more excited for the shoot and that will in turn get us some great photographs. This can go two ways of course and they could pick some crazy outfits! As long as you gently help persuade them you should all be happy. There are no specific Do’s and Don’ts for the clothes you wear, it’s entirely up to you and how you want to look in the photographs. Just make sure not to make the kids wear something that they really don’t want to wear because this could affect their mood and make sure you are all comfortable in what you wear as there might be a bit of running around!

THREE
Be prepared to act silly for smiles. If you have young children it can be a bit harder to get the smiles from them, so I may need to you get them laughing! If we are doing you are a whole family we might play some games to get you all smiling and its best just to embrace your inner child and get involved! If the kids aren’t being swayed by this it’s also important not to get frustrated with them and be patient. We will get there eventually and everything will be great!

FOUR
Let me take charge. I want to make this as simple as possible for your children and sometimes it can be a daunting for them to be photographed by someone they haven’t met before. So you can imagine it could be overwhelming for them to have both me and you giving them directions. Give us a bit of time to get to know each other so they can trust me a bit and learn that I am super fun too! I’ve been completely breathless after a shoot from playing tig for an hour and even been invited to a sleepover (the cutest thing ever!) after a couple of sessions because the kids have had so much fun with me! This mostly applies when I am shooting the kids on their own and we will get much better photos if we keep things as simple as possible for them.

So that’s it! Four simple tips that will hopefully help make your family portrait session just that little bit easier! If you would like to book a shoot or would like some more information about when I will be in your area, drop me an email and I’ll let you know my dates for summer 2015.