You might be surprised to hear this, but I’m not always comfortable in front of the camera. My passion is taking your family photos for you to treasure forever; however, I may feel nervous when it’s my turn.
Believe it or now, it’s common to feel nervous before a portrait session. Unless you’re a celebrity, you might not have your portraits taken very often. You may need to get yourself in the right headspace and be excited to have your picture taken.
Here, I’ll share five tips to help you relax, feel comfortable, and confident so that you end up with photos that you LOVE.
5 Tips for Getting Comfortable in Front of the Camera
1.) Pamper Yourself – This is a wonderful opportunity to pamper yourself so that you feel beautiful and confident before your session. Book hair and makeup the day of the session, so you don’t have to stress. My only recommendation is not to try a completely different look that day. If you don’t have time that day, get your nails done a few days prior. Take some time for you!
2.) Plan Your Outfits – Feel prepared for your session by having everyone’s outfits ready to go. I have multiple articles on what to wear for spring, summer, or fall. If everyone has an amazing outfit ready to go, you’ll feel much better and more relaxed!
3.) Choose a Meaningful Location – I highly recommend choosing a session location that’s meaningful to you! You’ll feel comfortable and excited going to the location for your shoot. It’s totally normal to feel shy taking photos if there are other people around, but we’ll be having so much fun you won’t even notice.
4.) Make it Fun! – This is your time to look amazing and laugh with your family! There will be lots of giggling and laughing during the session. It’s okay to be goofy! In fact, it’s strongly encouraged. We’ll crack jokes or tell funny stories to get everyone smiling naturally. It should feel like you’re having the best time with your people!
5.) Find the Right Photographer – This is the most important tip, my friend. You need to find the right photographer for you! Someone whose work you like and you feel comfortable with. You need one who you can ask for help choosing your outfits and location, as well as someone who genuinely cares about your portraits!
Family Photographers Near Newburyport, MA
Find a photographer who makes you feel comfortable in front of the camera so you end up with portraits you will adore! I’m honored to work with my families again and again because we end up feeling like old friends after the session. I’m here to guide you through the entire portrait process so that you feel at ease and relaxed. If you’re interested in booking a session, book a quick phone call with me to see if we’re the right fit!
Think of a cherished moment with your children. Was it a day at the beach? A picnic in the park? Or maybe it was reading together before bed. If you close your eyes, can you remember the scene? Maybe if you open your phone, you can scroll through photos and find some fun recent memories.
The problem with this is that you have to stop and think about a cherished moment with your children and spend time digging through your phone to find the picture that correlates with the memory.
Professionally printing your children’s photos and displaying them throughout your home allows you and your family to enjoy those memories every single day as part of your life. You get to love on your family artwork each morning as you head into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.
Let me share why displaying your family’s portraits throughout your home is so important and how it creates your family legacy.
Displaying Family Portrait Artwork in Your Home
We’re in a world where we all have thousands of photos on our phones and computers, yet little to none hang on the walls. Having access to take and store so many photos is an incredible gift that many of us take for granted. While having thousands of photos in our pocket is amazing, it’s more important than ever to display your family photos on the walls of your home.
Why?
Displaying your children’s portraits on the wall creates an experience that everyone who enters your home will enjoy. You’ll have a daily reminder of your children at the age of their portraits, and you’ll be instantly transported back to fond memories with them.
Creating Your Family Legacy Through Printed Photos
Do you have any photos of your grandparents as children? Maybe you have one or two to cherish, but imagine your grandchildren being able to look at albums and printed artwork of their parents. Your family’s story is captured and shared through photographs that will last forever. Your printed family artwork becomes part of your legacy to pass on to future generations.
You hope your digital photos can be passed down, but there are downsides to this. Flash drives can get lost and passwords to cloud photo storage can get lost! Besides, how often are you firing up your old flash drive of photos to show someone? You want your most precious family portraits printed in artwork or in albums that you can actually hold in your hand.
Your Professional Family Photographer
It’s so important to partner with a trusted professional family photographer to capture, and print, your family portraits each year. Big box stores just don’t have the quality and expertise to help you create the printed family artwork that will stand the test of time. If you’re interested in working with me, let’s set up a time to chat! Not ready to chat, no worries! I invite you to join hundreds of other seacoast moms on my email list.
Summer is almost officially here! Summer family portraits are popular for a few reasons; the kids are off from school, the weather is gorgeous, and there’s nothing like a summer beach sunset! Once you have the session scheduled, it’s time to work on what everyone will wear. I want to offer a few of my best summer styling tips to help you plan your family’s outfits with ease.
If you’re looking for what to wear for your spring family portrait session, read my blog with tips here! Here are my five tips for styling your summer family portrait.
5 Tips for Styling Your Summer Family Portrait
These are my best five tips to help you find the perfect outfits for your shoot.
1. Neutrals are Your Friend – Lean on neutral summer tones like light pinks, blues, greens, and tan outfit colors. The location of your shoot could provide some inspiration. The classic black and white polo for men and khakis will look nice with almost any outfit!
2. Choose Complementary Colors – Avoid trying to color match outfits, and focus on choosing complementary colors that will blend nicely together! Imagine a bouquet of summer flowers and how the light pinks, blues, and greens look so gorgeous together. You don’t normally see a bouquet of flowers that are the same color.
3. Limit Patterns – I actually do think some patterns will look really nice in a portrait, but there are limits! For example, in this family portrait, the lovely daughter is wearing a floral print dress, and as you can see, it pops without being too much. If both mother and daughter were wearing floral dresses, it might be too much!
4. Look To Your Home Decor for Inspiration – This might sound weird, but hear me out. Remember, we always take family portraits with the end goal in mind of where these will hang in your home. Look around the space you plan on hanging these portraits. If it’s the living room wall, look around your living room for style inspiration. You carefully designed your living room and it reflects your style, plus, this will give you color ideas for your portrait!
5. Prep Outfits – Always, always, make sure everyone’s outfits are planned and ready to go before the session. Make sure everything fits, is clean and ready for photos. This will save you time and stress, so you can head into your session feeling prepared.
Finding the Right Seacoast Family Photographer
The right family photographer will help you choose the right outfits for your portrait! I love helping clients choose their outfits and can offer suggestions to help. Dressing your family for your annual portrait shouldn’t be stressful! I have some session availability this summer, so please reach out soon if you’re interested in booking to secure your spot.
Your family portrait session is a big day! This portrait will hang on the walls and appear in photo albums for years to come. There is a lot of pressure on families (okay, moms!) to make sure this photo is perfect. You need to schedule the session, coordinate outfits, and make sure everyone is in a good mood the day of the portraits. It can be a lot!
I recently shared a blog post with tips on how to Make Your Family Photography Session FUN for the Kids. Today, I want to share a couple of tips to make the session less stressful for you and the whole fam. Your family portrait session should be a blast, and there are a few tips to help make sure that it is!
How to Make Your Family Portrait Session Easy
Here are my 4 top tips for making your family photo session less stressful and more enjoyable for everyone.
Make it Your Only Priority That Day – If your schedule allows you to, try to make the portrait session the only scheduled activity that day for your family. This will enable you to have plenty of time to get ready and make sure that your family is relaxed before the shoot. If you have other commitments that day, just try to give yourself ample time before the session.
Eat Before… And After – Try to make sure your family is fed before the shoot. We don’t want anyone hungry and asking for snacks. Even though you might have a kiddo that will definitely ask for snacks anyway. Packing snacks for after the session is a good idea if someone is hungry, but do not plan on giving out any snacks during the session.
Prepare All Outfits in Advance – Have everyone’s outfits ready to go the weekend before the family portrait session. And, I mean, ready to GO! Make sure everything fits, is washed and ironed. Nothing is more stressful than having to track down a shirt or realizing someone’s outfit needs ironing the day of the shoot. If your session is in spring, check out my blog post with what to wear.
Celebrate After – Another way to make the session a fun experience is if you can plan a fun activity after. This could be a fun dinner out afterward or plan on a family game night back at home. Whatever your family likes to do! This is a nice reason to celebrate and could be considered a nice reward for any family members who are nervous about the session.
Choose the Right Family Photographer
I truly hope no one in your family is nervous before the family portrait session. My best advice is to find a photographer that clicks with your family. One that can make sure everyone feels relaxed and ready to have some fun. I think your family portraits should be a fun experience for everyone and be one to remember! If you think I might be a good fit for your family, let’s chat!
You are excited about your family portraits and looking forward to seeing your family artwork displayed throughout your home. The best tip for ensuring you have a successful family photography session? Make sure it’s FUN!
As an experienced family photographer, I’ve truly seen it all! You can trust a professional, like me, to get the best shot of your family no matter what. However, following these tips will help make sure your whole family has fun during the session AND helps us get great smiles.
7 Tips for a Great Family Photo Session
Choose a Fun Location
Choosing a fun location is key! If your family loves the beach, let’s go to the beach! Have a favorite park? We can go there. If you’re dreaming of a studio family portrait, we can definitely make my studio fun!
I can do wonders with photoshop, but if there’s a spill or crease on someone’s outfit it’s really tough to make that look nice in the portrait! My best tip is to dress right before as best as you can. If we’re at my studio, you can dress or put on the final touches there. If we’re meeting at a park, we’ll do the best we can! Planning a spring session? Check out the latest BLOG post on What to Wear for Spring Family Photography Sessions.
Leave Phones in the Car
Or at least silenced and put away! We don’t want your phone or tablet to become a distraction in any way during the session. Put them away and let’s have some fun!
Play Music
Speaking of fun, let’s have some fun with music! If there’s a song or playlist that your family loves, let’s play it for some happy vibes. Spontaneous dancing is welcome during the session and makes for fun photos.
Play Games
Bonus, if you can bring a ball or frisbee. Playful shots of the family playing are sometimes the best ones. We’ll make sure to take family portraits, but so many of my clients end up loving the candid shots the most!
Let Your Kids PLAY
Yes, let them play! The old way of standing completely still for portraits is long gone. Those types of portraits are totally fine but don’t show off everyone’s personality and joy. Letting your kiddos romp around allows me to capture them as their true, playful selves!
Bring Snacks for AFTER
Trust me, I know how hungry these sessions can make kiddos. Please do bring snacks, BUT I recommend that you wait until after the session is over. A bonus tip would be to bring a fun snack or picnic to celebrate the photos.
Schedule Your Family Portrait Session
I would love to be your family photographer! I’m honored that so many of my clients’ come back to me again and again so I can watch them grow! Interested in scheduling your family portrait session? Click here to chat!
Mommy & Me Mini Sessions will be announced later this month so be sure to get on our VIP list to get first dibs!
