On last thought, in my 10+ years of taking family pictures, I always see how the parents stress and mood mirrors onto the children. My number one piece of advice is that parent’s set the tone for a session. If you are stressed, worried about getting good photos or that your children will behave, they will pick up on that.
As moms, we have the task to get everyone ready and prepared for a session. My number one rule is to prepare the dad. Yes, the dad, not the kids! Getting dad prepared is key to preparing for your entire family session.
Don’t ask your children to look at the camera or the photographer. Depending on the age, they won’t be able to take instruction and they will wear out!
Don’t expect your children to “behave” all the time, they will loose interest. We will take small breaks to allow for that and will continue the shoot when they are ready.
Don’t expect to be done in a few minutes. You spent money on the session and we want to ensure we capture images you like.
Don’t try to pose for the camera, posing leads in stiff and award compositions. I will guide you.
Expect that I will ask you to engage with one another instead of looking at me. At least in the beginning while we’re warming up.
Expect that some poses won’t work for you or the kids, don’t worry, we will move on to the next setup.
Do prepare a few things you can say to your children to help them relax, think of a story that made them laugh ahead of the photo session and be ready to tell them the story during the photo session.
If you haven’t already, please read the following blogs
