How to Prepare for Your Child's Professional Photo Shoot

Hello Parents!

Having a professional photo shoot for your child is the sure fire way to capture the essence of who your child is during this stage in their life! Are they just taking their first steps, just learning to dress themselves, just learning to ride a bike, or preparing for their first day of school? There are endless precious moments to capture, you can easily pull out your camera and photograph those moments, but by hiring a professional photographer, you are guaranteed to have photos that are frame worthy!

Hire an educated, trained, and experienced to photographer. After taking the lighting, the background, and the subject into account, they will a finished product idea of what and how the shot should look like when they're finished. They will adjust the shutter, the aperture, the ISO, redirect movement and placement to ensure the background wont distract from the shot, and the list goes on!

There is a drastic difference between a snapshot and a portrait. As a mother, I am aware of how fast many of these moments flee. I have countless cell phone snap shots and point and shoot shots of my daughter's firsts. BUT, those pictures stay in an album and on the computer. Those images are cherished because they are the actual pictures of her accomplishments, but I would recreate those moments with my professional camera. Those are the images that are artistic, and frame worthy.

Parents, snap away! Photograph every moment you see, but for particularly special milestones, hire a newborn or children"s photographer who can provide you images that are tangible treasures!

Here are some ideas to prepare you for your child's photo shoot:

- Make sure the photo shoot is scheduled around your child's schedule! We should shoot when they are rested and full!

- Have a goody bag of mini surprises that they can pull from throughout the photo shoot.

- Have an ending reward: either ice cream after the shoot, or a bigger surprise at the bottom of the goody bag.

- Try not to direct them! Stand to the side or behind the photographer. Your presence will be incredibly comforting to them. Just stand there and smile! If you direct them, they will be focusing to hard on trying to do what has been asked of them. We wont be able to capture genuine facial expressions! We have plenty of time to get "off track" for a few shots. It's better to click a few toss away shots then to make them nervous or uncomfortable by saying, "no, don't smile like that", "don't wiggle that way", etc! They will find a nice flow, and we"ll be sure to get some silly shots, but mostly we get shots that capture your child's personality at this stage in their life!

- Be prepared for your photographer! By that I mean, we will be very silly!! We will say some ridiculous things to get a genuine smile on your child's face! Our cameras are very large and intimidating. To counteract that, we have to make them feel comfortable by being on their level! No, we don't need medication! We just have some tried and true methods, but we look ridiculous in the process!

- Come early if you can! This will give the photographer a chance to let your child get comfortable with us and the camera!

- Lastly, have fun! We know that the shoot can go many ways! We know that your children aren't robots, and can not be expected to "perform'! We are flexible and are very good at going with the flow!