Helpful Tips on How to Get the Best Family Portrait Taken by a Professional

Hiring a family photographer is an important step in wanting to have beautiful, professional photos taken of your family by a qualified photographer. People spend quite a bit of time researching who they would like to have as a baby photographer since it is something they want to proudly display in their homes as well as quite an investment financially too. The one thing that a lot of parents don't think about are how a photo session can go horribly and your kids can either misbehave or have a meltdown and what to do to avoid these common occurrences.

When having a baby or even a newborn photographed, it is important to schedule the appointment around when they baby is at their best each day. This means, it should be just following a good nap and a recent feeding. A tired and hungry baby is not one that will want to be photographed and you may be disappointed in the outcome of the pictures if you skip a nap or try to squeeze a picture session in before their mealtime. Also, with babies, it is important to bring several changes of clothes as they tend to spit up or have messes and never dress them up in a fancy outfit before you get to the studio. Wait until the last second to put it on.

The toddler age group is probably the hardest to take a photo of because their attention span is short, they have a lot of energy and do not like to be still for more than a couple of minutes and they have entered the stubborn phase of trying to be more independent. Because of these factors, it may be a good idea to schedule a location that is fun and exciting to the toddler and allows them to run around a bit. An outdoor park or even a playground is a good idea to capture great candid shots of toddlers while they are having fun playing.

A lot of families like to have a portrait done of the entire family at some point over the years. As many filmmakers can attest, the hardest subjects to work with are children and animals and many times both of these are included in family photo session. Even with older kids, it is important that the time in which the picture taking takes place is a good one, not too early in the morning for teenagers and not too late in the day for active school age children. If you have a dog that you wish to be in the picture, be sure to take it on a good long walk or run right before the session so they are less active and will be a better listener.

Because you are spending a lot of money for a sitting fee and then photographs, you want your family to look their best and to be captured the way you see them as well. If you follow some of these tips, hopefully it will result in a great final product.