Dress to Impress
The way that you dress can lend a great deal of character to the pictures that you take of your family. Are you seeking a shoot that exudes sophistication? If this is the case, you should dress in muted tones and fabrics that flow easily. Do you want a lively vibe to your photos? If this is the case, using vibrant colors can give your design the edge you’re searching for. Do you want to make sure that your children have matching outfits? If that’s the case, you should prepare for it in advance.
When selecting items for your wardrobe, make sure to keep the following things in mind at all times:
- Bring a second costume with you that you can change into in the middle of the picture shoot. Not only will this offer your photographs a more diverse appearance, but it will also protect your children’s clothing in the event that they get something on it during the photo shoot.
- Put on some clothing that is comfortable. Wearing garments that are too tight or too loose will cause you to feel self-conscious. This won’t produce the best situation for taking photographs, unfortunately. If you have everyone in your family wear comfortable attire, they will feel more at ease, they will have more fun, and they will get more into the fun mood of the photo shoot.
- Bring along some additional layers! This tip is especially crucial to keep in mind if you have scheduled your family photo session for the fall. In many places, the weather can radically change from day to day. It’s possible that by the time the shoot is over, the temperature will have dropped significantly, or an unexpected storm might sweep in in the middle of the action. You want to ensure that your family is comfortable at all times, so you need to be ready for any kind of weather.
The perfect accessory can completely transform a look, and adding whimsical items like hats and scarves to your portraits is one way to do just that. Altering the composition of your photographs by utilizing a variety of accessories throughout the shoot is another option.
Someone Else You Should Consider
Something else you should take into consideration is if you are going to bring your furry friend to your family photoshoot. Your dog is just as much a part of your family as you are, and your family photos often reflect that. When getting your pup dressed up, consider having them match the family with a dog bandana from Persunly, a small customizable shop in Virginia. Since 2013, Persunly has been offering quality products to customers across the country, taking ride in their work and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Get Excited!
During the week leading up to your appointment, make an effort to get your family excited about what’s to come. You may collaborate with them to organize certain components of the session, or you could inform them about the exciting activity that you have planned. You may make them enthusiastic about where you’ll be going, whether it’s your front porch, the park down the street from you, or somewhere you’ve never visited before. All of these places are possibilities.
Your children need to be aware beforehand that there will be a photographer taking pictures, but the manner in which you break the news to them is up to your particular family. Some households find the prospect of having their photographs taken to be a source of great amusement and welcome the opportunity to stretch their creative muscles in front of the camera by pretending that they are putting on a performance for an audience. It’s possible that other families could benefit from concentrating more on the activities they’ll be sharing with one another in order to generate a more natural and relaxed vibe—one in which they forget the photographer is even present. Adjust the story accordingly, taking into account the kind of family you come from.
One more suggestion that had proven to be successful for some of the families that we know is to take some time before the photo shoot to look at old family photos and share tales about when everyone was younger.
Have Fun!
Your primary objective for the picture shoot should be to have a good time, as this is the element that will determine how successful the session is. This final piece of advice builds on everything that came before it. Do not worry about striking the right postures, knowing what to do with your hands, or ensuring that your children have the ideal smile for a Hallmark card. Also, keep in mind that one of the most essential aspects of our job as your photographers is to make you feel comfortable and create a joyful atmosphere for the photos we take of you.
Be sure to have a calm and upbeat demeanor whenever you are discussing the session with your children. It can be very tempting to over-prepare them for exactly what you want in terms of smiles and looking at the camera for pictures, but this can result in anxious children with highly strained grins and irritable attitudes! The greatest method to ensure that the children will give you real smiles is to genuinely have a lot of fun together with them on the day in question. Get everyone as excited as possible to discover a new location and spend time with one another before your photographer arrives. If you make it the focus of your attention rather than setting expectations for your children to have beautiful smiles, they will naturally be the adorable little people that they are.
Every Family Is Unique
One more thing we’d like to add is that, although every family is different, one thing we’ve seen is that it doesn’t work very often when parents try to bribe their children during the session. You are probably not in the space you want to be in if you are attempting to encourage your child to smile by waving a cookie in front of them. This is not to suggest that we have not done this with our own children. You can make it a package deal, a pleasant day that encompasses many different phases, by including a reward in the form of fun or special activities that you’ll do after the session. For example, you could go to your favorite ice cream parlor as a reward for completing the session.
Any way you swing it, customizing and creating your own session is important for a successful session. For tricks and ideas for customization, head to www.persunly.com to learn more!
