Tag: girls

How to rock your family portrait session

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Family of five Lifestyle portrait session in Spring Hill TN

Yesterday, I shared with you Emily’s First Communion Photos. We combined those photos with a family portrait session, just like we’ve done in previous years. That meant we had about an hour to do Emily’s pictures inside the church, change her, and do family photos outside the church.

I did not feel we needed extra time to do the session because I’ve been taking photos of these girls all their lives, and they are old enough to follow directions. But even still, after we finished the session, I felt like it was too easy. I wondered to myself, “Did I get enough photos?”

Well, it turns out that I have too many photos. So many that it’s hard to narrow them down to a reasonable level. A big part of why the session feels so effortless is that I’ve been taking photos of these kids literally since they were born, and they know what to expect.

So I thought I would list a few things that make them so easy to photograph in the hopes that it might help others better know what to expect from a family photo session.

  • Their wardrobe is perfection. The colors are gorgeous. They coordinate without being too matchy-matchy. Everyone seems comfortable in what they are wearing. I love the textures in the corduroy. The little details like Hannah’s belt and bracelet really add interest and bring it together. And Christy looks absolutely stunning in red.
  • They take direction from me but also understand that I’m not looking for super posed images. They know they are free to be silly. I love the photos below of the three girls hugging and falling to the ground. This is the kind of circumstance where parents who are less used to my style might have been fussing at the children to be serious and stand up straight. But Christy and Brian know my style, and they know that sometimes those photos where the kids are being silly are the best ones.
  • They weren’t in a hurry. Sometimes people (usually dad) have this idea that we will “get a few photos” and then be done. That mindset makes it really hard to capture candid, authentic images. Brian has been showing up for my family photo sessions for many years and absolutely does his part to be patient and fun.
  • They get that authenticity is the goal. Everyone was encouraged to be themselves, which shows through in the images.

Did I miss anything? What do you think is the key to a fantastic family portrait session?

Looking for a photographer in Spring Hill, Franklin, and Columbia in Middle Tennessee? I photograph families at all stages, from newborns to seniors. See my website for more information or book a session from my online calendar. I would love it if you considered following me on Facebook and/or Instagram.

My Memory Card Failed During this Family Portrait Session

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About 20 minutes into this outdoor family portrait session, my camera suddenly refused to take a photo. I looked down at my camera screen, and saw a warning that said I had a memory card error, and to remove the defective card. The card was somehow damaged, and could not be accessed at all. All of the photos I had taken of these beautiful girls so far, were not on the card.

That might have been a moment of panic. For an hour long session, 20 minutes of shooting is a significant number of photos. And the girls had done such an amazing job. We had sang and danced and giggled in the gorgeous light of the most beautiful yellow tree at Thompson Station Park.

But instead of panicking and mourning the loss of those pictures, I simply popped out that memory card and replaced it with another one. You see, I wasn’t worried about losing images, because my camera holds two memory cards. When I take photos, the images are copied to both cards, so that even during a session, I always have a backup. One card was damaged, but the other one was just fine, and had all the photos from the first part of the session. So I just continued shooting without issue, with a new card from my bag as a second backup.

In fact, I always have two copies of your portrait session images. Once I get home from a session, I immediately copy one of the memory cards onto my computer. The other memory card from the session is then stored in a case, not be erased until I have uploaded the session to my online gallery, at which point I’ll have a copy online and a copy on my hard drive.

And I am so glad there are, because I wouldn’t have wanted to miss one photo of these amazing girls. This is the third year now that I’ve been blessed to photograph this wonderful family. Last year, I wrote about how much I love to see repeat clients each year, and that’s still true today. Seeing how these young ladies grow and change each year is one of the best parts of my job. ❤️

Let’s talk about aspect ratio and cropping photos

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You all know that I pretty often get excited about beautiful light or a gorgeous sunset, but I have to say that this is the first time that a rainbow has shown up for a photo session, and it couldn’t have happened to a more beautiful family. My friend Christy and I had planned a combination family session with Hannah’s First Communion Photos, which I blogged yesterday. We had just finished up inside the church and let Hannah change out of her Communion dress when it started to sprinkle. I was a bit concerned at first, afraid it would start to rain hard and ruin our family portraits.  But it only rained for a few minutes and then suddenly the girls noticed a rainbow nearby.  How lucky can we get?  It was only there for about 45 seconds, but that was enough time to get a few pictures.  🌈

I thought I would take Christy’s session preview as a chance to talk about a slight change I think I’m making in my photography, and why I’m making it.  

Christy has been one of my closest friends for like eight or nine years now, and I’m in her house fairly often. Her home (which is gorgeous, btw) is filled with many photos I’ve taken. One thing I really love about her is that she appreciates photos and she does a fantastic job of getting them printed.  However, my one complaint (and I can say this cause she already knows it and loves me anyway) is that in several of the photos she’s printed there are feet cut off in the print.  And it’s not just her.  Most of my friends have sad, chopped off limbs in their printed photos that I’ve taken.  *cue sad music here*

Many of you are probably thinking ‘so what?’.  Well, as a photographer, one of the cardinal sins is to chop off limbs in a weird way. Photographers put a lot of thought into composing photos in a pleasing way, and none of those ways includes people floating on stumps without feet.   

But I don’t blame Christy or my other friends for the floating people. I blame whoever decided that standard print sizes would be a different aspect ratio than most camera’s shoot in. 

You see, my camera (and most others) takes photos in a 2 x 3-inch ratio (same as a 4 x 6 ratio).  That means if you take the image as it was shot, and print it as a 4×6 inch print, you get the entire picture as it was taken in the camera. But 4×6 prints are where it ends as far as getting exactly what you see in a print. 

It seems that the most common size photo that people print and frame is an 8×10 (4×5 ratio).  That is significantly more square than a 4 x 6.  So if you can imagine trying to make a very rectangular image into more of a square, you definitely end up chopping off a decent portion of the image on each end. And that’s how the prints end up missing feet…because it did not crop well as an 8×10.

So I’ve been thinking, perhaps it’s just easier on clients (and on myself since I’m admittedly a bit of a control freak) if I just go ahead and make them 8x10s myself before delivering the gallery to you.  That way, you don’t have to worry about having to crop the images for the sizes you print most often. This means that if you print an 8×10, a 16 x 20 or a 20 x 24, there will be no cropping required.  5×7’s and 11×14’s will still need to be cropped a bit, but much less so and I believe you are less likely to destroy feet in the process.  

If you wanted 4×6 prints, that will require more cropping, which it did not originally. But you know what?   You can get 4 x 5 prints that I think are really cute and won’t require cropping from this new aspect ratio.  

So what do you think? Will this be helpful to you or do you prefer the original aspect ratio of 4×6 in your galleries? I’d love to hear your feedback.

Repeat Portrait clients are my favorite

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One of my favorite things about my job as a family portrait photographer is getting to know families, especially when they come back for repeat sessions.  I photographed this beautiful family around this time last year and just loved getting to know these three beautiful sisters, so I was so excited to see them again this year. 

Last year I wrote: “They are totally my happy place. So much energy, and wonder and joy.  They were just perfect.”  I would say exactly the same thing about our session this year.  Only one thing was different…

Last year for their session, I wrote about how important it is to tell me if one of your children is particularly shy before the session. That lets me know that I need to maybe approach that child a little differently and give her time to warm up to me.  

But you know what’s great about being able to see client again and again?  This time, the children remembered me, and they knew that the session wouldn’t be scary or boring.  They came into it knowing we’d play and have fun.  This makes it especially easier for kids who may be a little shy.  Knowing me coming it to it, they feel more at ease and have an easier time getting into the session.

And I got the chance to see how much they’d grown over the year, and hear about their new interests and what brings them joy.  (New Harry Potter fans are the BEST.)  

10 moments I want to capture for you

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I feel like I was super lucky at yesterday’s marathon sessions.  I had three sessions scheduled with a 15 minute break between each session.  Between my first and second session, it rained fairly hard.  But then stopped in time for my second session. It caused some humidity and so vengeful mosquitoes, but we made it through. 
I warned this family ahead of time that I was going to struggle with their names.  These girls are Kaylie and Morgan.  My own girls are Megan and Kayla. The similarities helped me to remember their names, but I did, as I knew I would keep mixing them up because Megan is my oldest, but for these two sisters, Morgan is the younger sister. 

I finally managed to retrain my brain by the end of the session, and I hope they forgave me.  What a fun family to work with! I so enjoyed getting to know these girls and their parents. They were so fun to work with and naturals in front of the camera. We had a fantastic time. 
Before a session, I have a survey that asks clients what their most important shots are.  That helps me to balance the priorities of the session, but I always have in my head a list of shots I want to be able to include in a clients gallery. These girls made it easy to capture those shots.

  1. A family shot with everyone looking at the camera. (Not my favorite, but I feel like I need to include it.)
  2. A candid family shot, that shows emotion. (My favorite)
  3. Individual close-ups of each of your children.
  4. Full body & candids of each of your children.
  5. A more posed sibling shot, if possible. (May be difficult if they are super young.)
  6. Mom & Dad together. (It’s important to capture where the family began.)
  7. Details (feet, hair, lovey, hands, etc)
  8. Mom with the kids
  9. Dad with the kids
  10. Fun, create shots of everyone having fun.

Did I miss anything? What would be on your shot list?

Mom was there too

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Lisa said something in her questionnaire when she booked me that really struck a cord with me. 

“I have almost no pictures of myself with my children that aren’t selfies since I am always the one behind the camera. That’s usually how it works though, right?” 

Yes, that is how it usually works, and it sucks. I’m so glad that we were able to get Lisa on the other side of the camera with her beautiful family. It’s hard, and as moms we have SOOOO many reasons why we don’t have enough photos of ourselves, but it is so important to our children that we get in the pictures too. In the years to come, the photos we give to our children are such a gift, but they don’t just want to see photos of themselves…they want to see mom (and dad!) in the pictures too.  

I just love taking photos of mothers with their babies, and this session was no exception. This group was such a joy to capture and made my job so easy. 

And can we just talk about the clothing choices for a minute?  I love the color tones so much. The burgundy and the blues against the backdrop of the green trees was just perfection.

So moms, what’s keeping you from getting in front of the camera?

Of all the families I photograph, mine is the hardest

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I wish that I could say that this was a lovely, easy experience, but that would be a lie.

Last weekend, I was quite surprised when my husband suggested that we do a family photo session of our own. It seems like every year I forget to Schedule time for our photos and end up scrambling to get them done. But he is usually the last one who wants his picture talken, so I was pleasantly surprised when he reminded me. So I set off to find outfits for everyone that two tweenage girls wouldn’t whine about.

I was lucky and found things that everyone was happy with, except my husband who complained that it was still too hot for long sleeves. Oh well … you can’t please everyone.

So I was all set, and then it rained.

And rained.

And rained some more.

And finally, yesterday, the sun came out. So we all got dressed and drove out to the new park that I had never been to but wanted the check out. And as soon as we got there, my oldest started complaining that her head hurt. Because I knew that meant she’d never cooperate, we went home. Of course as soon as we got home, she felt better.

But that is how it goes. So no problem, because guess what??? There are TWO magic hours inthe day! So we got up bright and early this morning and headed out.

The bad part was that it was super wet from the dew and the kids didnt want to walk too far in it to explore the farm. And I got soaked from kneeling in it. And we got there later than I I wanted and the sun was brighter than I would have liked causing horid grass colors.

But the dew in the grass and all the spider webs were absolutely stunning. And it wasn’t hot at all. We also finished in time to go to a pancake breakfast for a friend’s gymnastics team, so score!

How to Choose a Photographer

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I just love photographing this family so much.  They are friends, but also one of my oldest clients. I am always excited to photograph them.  When I think about my perfect clients, this is one of the families on my list.  

When I first started photographing people professionally, I thought that I was supposed to accept every client who inquired about a session.  I’ve come to learn over the past few years that not everyone who comes to me about a session is a good fit, and that is perfectly OK.  Part of my job is to help people to decide whether or not I’m the right choice for them.  I’ve realized that people don’t always know how to go about finding the right photographer for them.

Often, people find a photographer in one of two ways:  Google, or a friend’s referral.  Both of these are great resources, but they should really only be step one. You should also look through the website of the photographer you are considering and evaluate whether or not they are a really a good fit for you based upon a few things:

Specialization:

You generally want a photographer who specializes in the type of photography you are looking for.  Now, there is definitely some crossover here.  I consider myself a children & family photographer, but for me that also includes seniors, and newborns.  Toddlers are my passion, but I enjoy all types of families. 

But you would be surprised at the number of inquiries I get about wedding photography (also applies: head shots).  I always wonder where these come from…. my website is full of pictures of young children and families.  Could I do a better job than your Uncle Bob who just bought his first fancy camera?  I should hope so.  But do you know who would do the best job? A wedding photographer.  Think of it this way….would you go to an OBGYN for a problem with your broken foot?  I mean, she went to medical school and probably knows some, but it’s not really her thing. 

Style:

This is probably the most important thing, in my opinion.  

There are a couple different things I mean when I talk about style, and there are many, many things that go into making up a photographer’s style, from shooting to editing.  

Do you prefer perfectly posed photos or more candid, natural images?  Studio or outdoors? Natural light or studio lighting / flash?  Do you expect your photographer to give you lots of specific posing direction? How do you want the images to make you feel?  

Editing is another aspect of style… do you like light and airy photos, or dark and moody? What color tones draw you?  Each individual photographer has a very specific style.  You don’t really need to understand this, you just need to know it exists and decide whether you like the look of that photographer. (And don’t ask them to do something else….It’s like asking Monet to paint like Picasso.)

Consistency:

This is kind of related to style, but basically, just make sure that you are seeing enough consistency in what you see on a photographer’s website so that you know what to expect from your photos.  Every session is unique and different, but you also just want to see enough consistency in style to know what to expect. 

Price:

Yes, I put this last on purpose.  I understand that budget is important, and is definitely a consideration.  However, I just want to say that good photography takes a lot of time (a lot more than just what you see when you are in front of the camera), and education and money (equipment, taxes, insurance, website fees, etc).  So when you hire someone out there charging $50 for a session, just know that that person is working for WAAYYYY less than minimum wage. But of course, there is a wide range of pricing for photography in general, so just start with understanding what that includes, and what you are getting for your money.  

So that may all seem like a lot of work to choose a photographer, but it really comes down to one thing: does the photographer’s work embody what you want from your photos, or are you expecting something completely different?  If you are wanting something completely different, then you need to find a different artist. 

What a difference a year makes

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You might remember this gorgeous family from one of my most popular blog posts last year. Jenn had the adorable idea to announce her pregnancy to their daughters, Ella & Sol at our photo session.  It was such a fun and special moment to be able to capture as these girls found out that they were going to have a little brother or sister.  

So here they are one year later, and their secret gift from our last session has grown into the most beautiful baby boy imaginable.  It is so obvious how much the family is head over heels for baby Santi.  And who wouldn’t be…isn’t he just perfect?  

So lets talk for a minute about nursing at a photo session, in case you are curious about how that works.  If your baby needs to stop and take a break at a session to nurse, that is absolutely 100% fine, and what happens during that break is totally up to you.  If you prefer privacy, I can spend the time photographing your other children, or just relaxing. But if you’d like me to capture that special time with you and your little one, I would love to do that too. And it is your choice as to whether you would like those shared or if you’d like them to remain private, but I am so happy Jenn decided to share these gorgeous images of her with Santi, because that bond between mother and baby is just beautiful.  

It sure looks like they had fun!

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“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

As I was editing some of these photos this morning on the couch while enjoying my morning coffee, my nine-year-old was snuggled up next to me watching TV.  She was looking at the photos as I scrolled through them picking my favorite ones. As she looked, she commented, “It sure looks like they had fun!”  I took it as the ultimate compliment because above all, I want kids to have fun at my family portrait sessions, and I want the photos to show that they had fun. 

For me, giving clients an enjoyable experience is as important as the photos themselves.  My reason for that is, if you get beautiful photos, but the experience in getting those photos was miserable, then what kind of memories are you going to have associated with those pictures?  And isn’t that what family photography should be about….capturing beautiful memories?  

Maddie & Reagan can certainly teach us all about having fun.  They were so full of joy at this session. It’s so fun to watch because it wasn’t too many years ago that Reagan was an extremely shy little girl who would barely look at me.  Now she’s dancing like nobody’s watching.  And how completely beautiful is that?  I mean, can you even look at these photos without smiling?  When I grow up, I want to be just like these little girls. 

Through the Years – Getting to Know my Clients and their Needs

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One of the things I absolutely love about my job is having the ability to experience my little clients growth each year through my photos.  This is one of the families that I’ve had the honor of photographing a couple times each year, for quite a few years.  In fact, I was there for the birth of two of these beautiful children.  Their most recent session was this past Fall, and I always enjoy seeing their beautiful smiling faces.

One thing that can be beneficial in keeping the same photographer from year to year, is that it can be helpful for the photographer to get to know your kids in order to get the most out of each photo session.  This can be especially true with a special needs child.  My buddy Zafer is autistic, and I’ve been photographing him for many years.  Having known him since birth, I’m able to understand how to make him most comfortable at each session.  I’m really pleased with the photos I captured of him this week that show his beautiful personality.  We do fist bumps a lot because I’ve found that helps to get him to look at me and he enjoys it.  I also have no issue with letting him to play on his IPAD during a session.  It brings him joy and I just love the photos below of him smiling from ear to ear while he watches it.  And if he needs a break, that is no problem and I can spend some time photographing his sweet sisters while he rests. 

It’s important to let your photographer know if you have any special concerns or needs during a photo session so that those needs can be met, no matter what those needs may be.

I believe strongly that EVERY family can have beautiful family portraits. The biggest concern I hear is that parents are concerned that their child, for whatever reason, won’t stand still and pose at a photo session.  I promise you…it will be fine.  There are ways to make it work.  I expect very little in the way of standing still and posing at a photo session anyway. The only real goal is to capture photographs of your family as they are now, and nothing is more beautiful than that. 

The best thing you can do to help me at a Family Portrait Session

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You might be surprised when I tell you how you can best help me at your family portrait session….

Do Nothing. 

Yep, that’s right.  Most of the time, it would be best if you just didn’t do anything.

  • No yelling at the kids to smile. (Especially when you are standing 10 feet away from me. If you really want to help get a baby or toddler’s attention, be sure you are standing right behind me.)
  • No telling the kids that their smile looks fake. (Even if it does…it almost always does when their between the ages of like 5 and 99…at least at first. Just let me deal with that.)
  • No yelling at the kids to behave. (Behaving is over rated anyway…I’d rather have real.) 
  • No yelling at the kids to put the stick down. (It’s just a stick.)
  • No yelling at the kids to act like they love each other.  (They do love each other, they just don’t always like each other.  Both emotions are fun to photograph.)

You know rationally that none of these things will help.  But it’s so hard not to…I get it.  I do the same thing when trying to photograph my kids.  But they will just get annoyed with you and frustrated at the photo session and if they aren’t having fun, it will show.  

Michelle did an amazing job at this session with her two beautiful daughters.  You know what she did?  Absolutely nothing. I barely saw her, as she was on a bench chilling a ways from us during the session and that was 100% the best thing she could have done. (Sometimes it can be a great idea just to walk away and give the kids some space.)  If she had gotten too involved, she may have become frustrated when I took the first picture below.  But if she’d have said something, I may not have gotten the second photo. Both are genuine photos of her girls..taken only seconds a part.   

So when you have the overwhelming urge to direct your kids at a photo session, just try to give me a little time and little patience, and above all…remember that I take hundreds of photos.  Some may come out like the one on the left below, but some will most definitely come out like the one on the right.  It’s all good, and they are both beautiful.

What to wear to a family portrait session

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Confession time – I’m not very good at picking clothing for family photos.  I’ve never felt like I was very good at fashion, but I know what I like and what I don’t like to see in family portrait sessions.  And I know that several of my friends are REALLY good at picking family session clothing.  One of those friends is Christy – I am always so impressed with her wardrobe choices for her family photos, so I asked her how she goes about choosing photos for a session for herself, her husband, and their three adorable little girls.  She had some great advice to share:

“I typically start with one outfit I love.  One year I loved this purple sweater that Hannah had, it looked great on her.  That year purple was our color and everyone else’s outfit was picked to match.  Last year I had a floral dress I loved, so I pulled colors out of the dress for each of the girls to wear.  I try not to pick more than one or two patterns, or any pattern that is too small or busy.  Most of the time we have what we need in our closets already.  I usually only buy one or two outfits for a shoot.  Old Navy is a great place to get coordinated outfits. They sell lots of solids which always look great in photos!  Little touches like matching bows or denim jackets helps tie everything together.”

Here are a few more do’s and don’ts I have for choosing clothing for your family photos:

DO:

  • Do pick 2-3 colors & find outfits for those colors. 
  • Do shop your own closet first.  What do you love to wear that is your signature style?  
  • Do be yourself.  If you are a blue jeans kind of mom, then wear blue jeans.  Don’t feel like you have to be fancy.  Be you.
  • Do make sure everyone feels comfortable in what they are wearing.  
  • Do make sure everything fits appropriately….this is not the time for squeezing into something, or for buying clothes big so the kids can grow into them. 
  • Do consider scarves, jackets, accessories and other things that add texture & interest to the outfits.
  • Do avoid graphics and distracting logos.  That “Big Brother” shirt is cute, but unless he’s standing perfectly still, you won’t be able to read it well in photos. 
  • Do expect you child to run, jump and play at the session.

DON’T

  • Don’t force your kids (or husband) to wear something they hate.  We want them to be comfortable at the session. 
  • Don’t wear florescent colors.  They can reflect onto skin tones. (My favorite colors for sessions are jewel tones…blue, plum, teal, burgandy, mustard yellow, etc)
  • Don’t use giant bows…it distracts from your daughter’s beautiful face.  Smaller ones are great, BUT only if she wants to wear it. Let’s not spend the entire session trying to force her to put her bow back on.
  • Don’t be afraid to incorporate patterns, just don’t go overboard.
  • Don’t try to be too matched.  Coordinated (but not matched) looks best. 
  • Don’t wear a shirt that wrinkles super easily (I see this a lot on men’s dress shirts…it’s pretty impossible to photo shop out.)
  • Don’t forget about your nails. (I often see chipped nail polish on little girls.)
  • Don’t forget about shoes…especially for the little ones.  If the weather is appropriate, barefoot is a good option for the kids.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask me if you are unsure about something. 

And didn’t Christy do a fabulous job?  They look like they belong on the cover of a magazine. 

Bonus before and after editing shot below. Can you find it?  I kinda love the before.  😂

Have you booked your family portrait session yet?  There are only a few spots left for spring, so don’t wait to book your session.