Tips to a Successful Photosession

A little bit ago a friend of mine (who is also a photographer) thought it would be fun to take our kids out and do a mini photoshoot. You would think that with both of us being professionals everything would have turned out perfectly, but I'm here to tell you that was far from what happened. It seemed like everything was destined to go wrong for us. And since I would never wish that to happen to any of you on our photoshoot I thought that this would be a good time to offer some tips on how to have a successful photosession.

#1 Even a photographer's child cries!

Not everyone is excited about the prospect of getting their photo taken. For children (and adults for that matter) make sure our session is not around their naptime and feed them before arriving at the photoshoot. Also, bribes never hurt (the prospect of getting ice cream after has made many a child happy!). Try to plan plenty of time to arrive at the shoot destination so that your stress levels aren't high.

#2 Smiles are a great thing but should not be forced.

While everyone loves to look at a photograph of someone smiling they shouldn't be forced. Some people will try everything to get another person to smile and often it has the counter effect.

The key that I want to try to do is to make each person feel comfortable and capture them in a natural light. I love capturing each person for who they are and their personality at that moment in time. Below is a picture of my son who really didn't want to smile much for the camera. But I love this shot because it shows his curiosity and determination. This image will help me remember what he was like at this age.

#3 Clothing choice is important.

Like you can see in the picture above, this vest may not have been the best idea. While it is cute for my son to wear on a day-to-day basis it seemed to swallow him up during our shoot. Not every article of clothing looks good in photographs. Don't let our photoshoot be the first time you have worn an outfit (because you may or may not like the way it looks on you). Take a picture of yourself in the outfit on your camera phone just to get an idea of what you will look like wearing the outfit of your choice beforehand. Also limit your color pallet and patterns. The best family/group photos have 3 or so different colors that are integrated into different aspects of each family members clothing. Textures and patterns can be mixed in sparingly (Too many will take the focus off of you-- and you should be the main focal point!). Click on these links to see previous blog postings of previous photoshoots for clothing ideas:

• This family chose the color scheme of grey, creme and pink and was able to mix in a few patterns and textures {click here}
• This family wanted to have everyone in blue, but managed to do it by mixing the types of clothing each person wore instead of everyone wearing the exact same thing {click here}
• This family stayed with browns. It was a color that looked good on everyone's skin tones {click here}

If you have any other questions on clothing do not hesitate to ask me.

#4 Sometimes the guy just wants to chase after the girl.

In the end I want the photos we capture together to be real. While some shots will be posed I love to capture spontaneous real moments of you and your family. In the photo above you see my son chasing after a girl and I love it.

So relax, and let's try to have some fun.