Preparing for your session...

A lot of people ask me how to prepare for their photo session. Questions like, What do I wear? How are we going to pose? Are the kids going to smile? All very good questions, so here are a few tips that will help you prepare and help me get you some awesome shots.

~ 1~ What do we wear?
The main key is to be comfortable. If you're not comfortable it will show in your photos, so relax and find clothes that you are comfy and show a little of your personal style.
It looks really great if your family matches in some way, but try to stay away from everyone wearing the same colors. You don't want to blend together to much. Patterns and like colors look great together.
Here are some color suggestions,

Check out these colors. Turned out great.

~ 2 ~ How are we going to pose?

It can be difficult to find poses that make everyone look natural. I hate doing the photo studio poses where the photographer tells you to tilt your head just so. That's not my style. I'm more of the "Family pile," kind of poser. I like everyone to pile on and act natural. 

I do suggest though, that you do your research. I had a client come to shoot recently totally prepared with a list of poses they wanted to try. We had so much fun getting this family what they wanted, that It felt really natural and the photos came out great. Here is one of them,

This was so much fun.

If you wish to bring some poses, feel free, I'm totally open to suggestions. A great place to find poses is magazines or one of my all time favorite places is Pinterest. That's where this awesome pose came from.

~ 3 ~ How do we get the kids to smile?

This has got to be one of the hardest things to do some times. Kids don't usually react well to strange people sticking a camera in their face. Not a lot of smiles happen that way.

Before the session, practice smiling with your kids. Find out what words make them laugh, or if they have a favorite toy that makes them smile.

Get them excited to have their picture taken, and I'm even going to say it, bribes sometimes work as well, lol :).

In closing, if you do have any questions for me about how your session is going to go or what you need to prepare for you can always email me at SHendersonPhoto@gmail.com, and remember, the main thing is to have fun!

Sara Henderson