9 Tips for Helping Your Portrait Session with Kids Go Smoothly | Pensacola Family Photographer

Family Portraits - Pensacola, FL

• Bribes. Maybe you're not a fan of bribing your kid. I get it. I have kids. But in my experience (both personally and professionally), the LEAST stressful way to ensure a cooperative, happy kid for pictures is to promise a bribe. And don't just mention the bribe when they start acting up. Mention the bribe the day before your session.
  Example: "Don't forget we're getting our pictures taken tomorrow. If you act really sweet and smile pretty and mind the nice photographer lady, mommy (and daddy) will get you a sucker when we're done, etc."
  Then keep mentioning it throughout photo shoot day. You want them to almost have a Pavlovian response by picture time. Also, shoot me a text and let me know what the bribe is. When your kiddos start getting fidgity, which they will, I can remind them too!
  Obviously you know your children best and you know what bribe will work, but the ones I hear the most are offers of a: sucker, chocolate milk, new book, or a trip to the local ice cream joint (if you're vacationing and don't know where to find one, I'll make sure you have directions). For my 2 year old, the offer of a new Clifford or Paw Patrol book is all it takes to get him on his best behavior. My older girls (10 & 12) respond best to sweets – their favorite candy bar or a stop at Dairy Queen in Orange Beach or Wild Honey in Pensacola.
  I do ask that you not bring out the bribe until after we're done with your portrait session. Sticky sucker faces and milk spills aren't that great to photograph.

• Comfortable clothes. It seems obvious, but as parents, we want our children to look their most adorable in family photos. But, some of those super cute, boutique or handmade outfits just aren't comfy. They are often itchy, too big, or too tight. Make sure you try everything on your child(ren) at least a couple of days before the session. Kids grow fast and last minute wardrobe changes just add stress to everyone. Also, consider cutting out tags on new items. No one likes an itchy tag.
• Full bellies. Please make sure everyone has at least had a good snack not long before you head my way. Full bellies make happy kids (and parents).

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• Don’t insist they smile - I’ll get them to smile. I have kids, I get it! You want the smiles. I've got you covered!
• Kids need breaks. LOTS of breaks. As a photographer, we're taught that rule of thumb is that a child’s attention span in minutes is equal to their age in number of years. That means I've got about 5 minutes to get as much from your 5 year old as I can. After that I need to give them a couple of minutes. Older siblings can be super helpful during both the attention span crunch AND during the "break time." I LOVE capturing pictures of your child(ren) exploring a new area. Often the moments I capture during break time are some of the parent's most loved.

• ​Focus more on interacting with your child and less on the actual pose. I’ll set you all in a pleasing pose, but the interaction is the story!
  
• For younger children, bring jammies for the ride home. The nicest time of day for portraits is the hour before sunset. This means that in the summer time, we're often not wrapping up a family session until 7:45 - 8 pm. That's another reason I strongly suggest arriving with full bellies. If you're traveling more than 10 minutes back to your home, condo, or hotel, putting the kids in their jammies before getting back in the car and having a snack on hand will save you!  And, I'm more than happy to help you dust off sand and wrangle kids into nightgowns, etc!
  
• To that same end, always bring a couple of bottles of water. From June - early September, even late in the evening, it’s HOT out there! I try to have a couple of bottles of water with me to share, but just in case, make sure you bring one or two also.

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• And lastly, try to remain calm. Maybe that sounds silly to point out, but more often than not, parents end up stressed out and short-tempered about mid-way through their session. Take it from me, I’m the world’s worst! The kids start getting a little wild, and a little less cooperative, and we start snapping at them. The problem is, a child who’s getting in trouble is even less likely to cooperate for either of us. Don’t get me wrong, we can’t let the kids go totally crazy, risk injury, or damage anything, but we also have to be willing to let them get used to what’s going on. Often times, it’s the first time your children (and sometimes you) have met me and we’re in a cool new place. Depending on your child, I may sit back for a minute and chat with them while they explore a bit. This gets the ants out of their pants and allows them to realize that I’m definitely not scary.  
  Full sessions include an up to one hour session. I say up to an hour because if everyone is super cooperative, I can knock out an entire family portrait session with plenty of pictures for you to choose from, in under 30 minutes. BUT, if your children need some time to get used to me and the beach, park, etc where we are, that hour gives us a buffer so neither of us feels rushed.

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