Lifestyle Photography Tips on How to Take Family Photos with Children
An appointment for a lifestyle photography session will usually have your professional photographers capture your family members’ genuine interactions with one another.
Before they can take those timeless shots, however, parents usually have to face the challenge of having their children cooperate with the lifestyle family photographer.
In my experience, kids require a different handling method compared to when I work with teenage clients for high school senior photography. I can ask what the teens want, and they simply let me play with the angles or guide them to make better poses.
However, for family lifestyle photography at home, both the parent-clients and I need to be patient with the kids if we want to achieve our goals for the day.
The difficulty here lies in how we can take pictures with children who are full of energy and who have a short attention span.
How can we grab their attention to the fullest and make them behave at their best during the photoshoot?
Well, as a photographer with various experiences in lifestyle photography, allow me to share my views on how I can help you capture genuine family interactions with your well-behaved kids.
4 tips to help you handle kids during lifestyle family photography shoots
1) Communicate using their language.
If you want the session to go smoothly and easily, you can start by talking to your kids, as if you’re a child yourself.
I also use this tip with teenagers when I do photography for high school seniors.
Talking with your children not as an adult but as someone they can relate to increases the success rate of your photoshoots since they are usually more open and receptive towards the idea of you.
You can start by asking them about the things they love and the activities that they want to do. This would help you get ideas on how to position them or what tricks to use to have a smooth lifestyle family photoshoot session.
You can cooperate with your lifestyle photographer to get your child to act accordingly.
2) Let them be themselves.
Since the goal of lifestyle photography is authenticity, I strongly recommend that you do not force your children to act according to how you believe they should behave.
Instead, let them be. It is always better to capture them the way they are.
Let your kids act like they always do while your photographers stand by and get their cameras ready at any moment. There have been plenty of instances where impromptu shots were found to be the best ones.
Children are always comfortable with themselves and are honest in front of the cameras. This is the beauty of taking their photos, and you will want them to stay like that, especially for your family photos.
3) Start and shoot right away, and don’t forget breaks.
Children quickly lose their interest, which means that their cooperation has a time limit. It is, therefore, important that you take advantage of those few minutes since there is a chance that your lifestyle family photographers will get your best shots in those instances.
You have to be sensitive to the various expressions and aura of your kids so that you will know if they have already reached their limit.
If you feel like they are slowly getting irritated or are already losing interest in the activity, then that’s probably your cue for a break.
4) Bring out your children’s different sides.
Do you need more poses but are out of ideas? You can just let your children take over while you inspire them on the sidelines.
There are several ways to trigger their creativity for potential poses. You can offer rewards or bribe them to capture that joy that lit on their faces when they hear words like “rewards” and “play”.
You can even give them something to do, like encourage them to draw in front of the camera or encourage them to sing, dance, or play their favorite musical instruments. This is also an ideal snapshot of your kids’ growth.
You can also let them play games. There is nothing more genuine than letting your children go wild. It may even end up being the best shot of your photo session.
Lastly, you can also invite a close friend who can make your kids forget the presence of the photographer.
Most children are afraid of strangers and sometimes even refuse to face them. With your friend’s presence, your child can be a bit more cooperative during the whole process.
All in all
It’s not particularly easy trying to take photos of children in a lifestyle photography photoshoot.
However, seeing your family smiling together, with your kids looking their best, feels rewarding and fun in the process.
If you have decided to try a session with your children, you can get in touch with me at 636.795.ARTS.
I can also help you with high school senior photography if you have graduating teens.
About Us
Based in Missouri, Bright Focus Photography is a name of excellence in providing excellent photography services. Our exuberant services, dipped with a punch of humor, will be everything you need for your big day. By adding a hint of honesty, kindness, hard work, and fairness to our work, we stand out among many others for the effort we put into our work.