With that in mind, here are a few tips that will help anyone take a good picture. Some may be obvious, some may be weird, but all of them have proved helpful in the past.
- Have your own ideas. Obviously you hired a photographer to gain access to their ideas, but when you have your own ideas, then there are two sets of eyes on each photo seeing if things are turning out okay. When you have your own ideas, you and the photographer can team up to make all the pictures awesome. Some of your ideas may not work, but bring them anyway.
- Arrive on time. Outdoor pictures require light from the sun. Plan and simple. Guess what the sun does? It goes down. When it goes down, the light goes away. Arriving late to a photo session will usually mean less time to get the shots that you and the photographer want to get. Sometimes being late can't be helped, but try anyway.
- Listen to some music. On the car ride over to the location, listen to some music to put you into the mood. Nothing dampens the spirits of your happy family than a stoic, silent car ride to some place where they will be made to feel awkward. Put on some happy tunes, liven things up. Songs tend to stay with us even after they stop playing and so does the mood they create. So if you're headed to a couple's session, play some of your favorite love songs. If you on your way to a family session, play some songs the whole family enjoys and get everyone into a good mood.
- Babysitter. If you bring young children with you to a family shoot, at some point the photographer will be done with family shots and want to get some shots of just the parents. But if your little ones need at least one pair of eyes on them at all times, it's going to be rather difficult to get really good couple shots. Bring along a sitter. Have them sit and play with the kids so that you and the photographer can take time to get the couple shots done right.
- Bring snacks. This is another good one for family with small children. Small children like to sit and smile pretty as much as I like to have shards of glass in my eye. So bribes are something necessary. Will we remember that that gorgeous smile was only for a piece of candy? Maybe, maybe not, but who cares, the kid is smiling!
- Change outfits. This does not work for family shots as it's rather hard to have everyone change outfits. But for portraits of couples or individuals, having at least one outfit change is a good idea. It adds variety to the shoot. I recommend something casual yet nice, and then something a bit more dressy.
- Add interests. If you family is the biggest Bronco fans on the planet, then why not have one shots of the family where everyone is wearing a Bronco's jersey. If your senior plays the violin, it only makes sense to add that to her senior photos. Point is, if there is something special about you or your family, don't be afraid to show it off.
- Speak up. If a pose or something else that a photographer asks you to do makes you feel weird, just say so. My wedding photographer had me kiss my dad on his cheek for a picture. Sounds nice, right? The things is, me and my dad are pals, but I have never once kissed him on the cheek, well at least not since I was three. The result, the picture looked a bit forced. You want things to looks natural, so if it doesn't feel right to you, speak up.
- Newborns need to be sleepy. If you'd like pictures of your newborn baby, the window of time to get that done well is rather small. It's best to have newborn pictures done between 5-10 days after the baby is born. This way, they will mostly likely sleep through the entire shoot and you'll get all of those sweet, dreamy baby photos you've always wanted.
- Good light. Good outdoor light is about and hour after the sun rise and an hour before the sun sets. Most photographers realize that doing a family photo shoot at 5am probably won't gain them a lot of clients, so most outdoor photographers like to use the hour or so before sunset. Well, in the summer if the sun doesn't set until 10, guess when the session will start. It is possible to do pictures earlier in the day, but it's much harder. So don't be surprised if your photographer asks to meet up at like 830 or something. If you have young kids who would struggle that late, try and do a nap during the day. If that still doesn't work, let your photographer know and they'll find a more suitable time for your family.
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