Tips for a successful photo session

The first time you have professional photos taken there are so many questions running through your head. Even if you’re a seasoned pro and get family photos done regularly, it’s still a unique experience every time. I’ve put this post together as a guide to help you have the most successful session possible (engagement, family, or otherwise) while looking and feeling like you.

What should we wear?
This is one of the most asked questions! Some photographers have different responses. Here are my top tips:

• Look like you. This should be a no-brainer, but for some people it’s not. I don’t suggest that women get their hair or makeup done especially for their session unless they get dolled up and wear makeup on a fairly regular basis. You want to look like YOU in your professional photos. Don’t wear a mini-skirt and stilettos if that’s not your style. It might look cute when the photos hit the blog, but this isn’t for the blog, this is for you and your fiancé (or you and your family) to look back on this time in your life decades from now and remember this moment. If you feel most comfortable in jeans and TOMS, wear your favorite jeans and TOMs. You want to look like you!

• Coordinate, don’t match. When picking your outfits for your session, it’s best to pick a color palette that includes complimentary colors. You don’t want to show up wearing exact matching outfits. (I’d like to keep my photography off of awkwardfamilyphotos.com) If one of you is going to wear a top or dress with a multiple colors, pull a solid color from there for the other person to wear. If each of you will end up with entirely different colors in your outfits, make sure there aren’t competing bright colors (one person wearing bright orange, another wearing bright pink). Sticking to neutrals and clothes with texture with one color that pops is always a great tactic.

In this family session, mom and dad dressed their son in a plaid shirt and then both wore tops that pulled from the colors of his shirt. Since one of them chose a neutral color and the other had a bright color, no matter who was in the image (any combination of two or all three) they looked lovely and coordinated!

For Ryan and Sameeha’s engagement session, Sameeha wore a skirt and a scarf that had multiple colors, including the color of her skirt. Ryan chose a light neutral for his shirt that coordinates well and also is one of the colors in Sameeha’s scarf.

•Bring options! If we are shooting somewhere that you can do a full wardrobe change, then feel free to bring multiple outfits. If we aren’t, you can always wear multiple layers and vary the outfits that way! This is especially helpful if you’re indecisive like me and can’t decide which outfit you like best.

Where should we do our session?
I have slightly different advice for engagement sessions vs. family sessions.

Engagement sessions: This is entirely up to you. I am happy to make suggestions and pick a place that I’ve shot before but I think this session can be even more meaningful if it takes place at a location that has special meaning for you and your
relationship.

When Steve and I did our engagement session we had our photos done in Mt. Vernon in Baltimore city and also at an abandoned rail car off of Falls Road. They’re nice photos of us, but they aren’t us at all. We are nature people, we are homebodies. We are more at home at the top of a mountain with our feet strapped onto a snowboard, or on a bike on our favorite trail than in the city. The session would have been more us if we had chosen a park or even our own home as the location. But instead I went for what I thought would be more “cool” at the time. I still love them because they capture our happiness at the time but I do wish we had done them elsewhere.

Jackie and Andrew did their engagement session in Hampden. They got married in Mexico and they wanted to incorporate their town into their wedding experience. We started the session at the restaurant where Andrew proposed, and explored the city and got photos at some of their favorite places. Brianna and Paul did their engagement session partially at their home and partially at the Howard County Conservancy, a location they had considered for their wedding but ultimately decided against. Andrea and Chad did the same thing, having their engagement session at the Cylburn Arboretum, a place they had originally looked into as their wedding venue. Chelsea and Josh did their engagement session at her family’s farm, since their wedding reception was going to be at his family’s farm.

If there isn’t a particular place that has a special meaning to you, I’m happy to suggest a location, just let me know what kind of atmosphere you like best: city, small town, park, beach, etc.

Family sessions: Although I still agree that it’s important that you choose a location that reflects your style, we have a little more flexibility with a family session as well as some extra tips.

Chances are, you won’t just have one session done in the life of your child(ren), so you have the luxury of mixing it up each time to get a different style. Josh and Jamie did Ethan’s 3 month session in my home studio as we needed a more controlled environment. In fall, before his first birthday we did a woodsy outdoor session, and then a little over a year later, we did a beach session. It’s a fun evolution as we watch this cutie grow.

As much as I love fun locations that provide a lot of variety, depending on the age of your child, you may prefer to choose a location with little distractions. Sometimes all you need is a big open field and a loving family.

When should I do my session?

Time of day:
The best time of day for beautiful even lighting is shortly after sunrise or shortly before sunset. This “golden hour” provides a warmth that can’t be replicated any other time of day. It’s magical and I strongly urge my clients to choose a session at one of these two times.

For children I am happy to work around nap schedules and find another time if these options don’t work. It’ll mean that we will need to find open shade but we can still have a successful session!

Time in a child’s life:
There are some ages where a photo session will be infinitely more successful than others. A newborn session is best in the first two weeks of life. During this time, your baby will be most likely to sleep through the session and allow us to mold them into the adorable poses you are likely to see. I also like to do a mix of these shots with shots of mom and dad as well, but the baby only portion of the session is much more successful at that age. It’s like magic, as soon as they pass 14 days it’s nearly impossible to get them to sleep through being moved.

After the newborn stage it’s best to wait until about 6 months to do your next session. At this point your baby can sit up, smile, and will likely give us her undivided attention when we call her name. Sessions at this age are absolutely adorable and loads of fun for me as a photographer.

One year is the next awesome milestone: standing and most of the time, walking! This is when you want to choose a location with few distractions since your little one will be testing out his newfound mobility and will likely be running away from the camera the entire time.

Once you hit the one year mark, there are any additional “best” times. It’s completely up to you how often you want to have professional photos done to capture your family’s growth.

Time in the engagement:
Your engagement session gives you the opportunity to get comfortable interacting with your partner in front of your photographer. It can be a little strange at first to open up and be affectionate in front of a stranger, so that’s why it’s so important to me to do an engagement session with ALL of my couples. It gives us time to get to know each other so I am no longer a stranger, and I can get to learn more about how you work as a couple and tell your story in a way only someone who knows you can. By opening up and being natural together you get more beautiful, authentic images, vs. posed, cookie cutter images that would look the same no matter who was plugged in your place.

So when’s the best time? There are a few options! My first tip is to wait until you find your wedding photographer. I know it’s exciting once you get engaged and you want to get pictures to capture that excitement, but there are SO many benefits to having the session with the photographer that you choose to have cover your wedding day.

Next, do you want to use these photos for your save the dates? If so, you will likely want to do them as soon as possible. Depending on your wedding’s location and the amount of guests traveling for it, save the dates should go out 6-9 months in advance. If that’s not important to you, then I suggest waiting until 4-6 months out from the wedding. That way, you get all of the benefits of hanging out with your photographer and getting comfortable in front of the camera closer to the wedding, making the photo portion of your wedding day more relaxed. There’s no right or wrong answer, just by doing the engagement session you are going to benefit greatly!

More Family Session Tips:
For young children with limited attention spans I recommend bringing another family member or friend along who they absolutely love to help get their attention.

Bringing a favorite toy can also be very helpful for getting smiles and eye contact. But be careful, you don’t want to bring it out too soon or it will probably end up in every shot. I’ve seen it happen all too often when a toy is brought out and as soon as we try to take it away it becomes meltdown city.

Wrap up
I hope you found these tips helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions that weren’t answered! I would love to put out more of these guides over time.