Such a beautiful spring day at Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville, Tennessee to capture some sweet moments with these sisters. It was so cute that they dressed in the same shirt just different colors. What a fun way to match without being exactly the same 🙌🏻 These photos where taken in early spring when the blooming cherry trees were just starting to bloom and when the light is clean and the colors are bright.
A Few Quick Tips for Family Photographers
These sweet girls were so shy when we started but quickly warmed up as I cheered them on and we had some fun together. For family photographers looking for a few quick tips for working with kiddos who are extra shy when you start, here are my favorite go-to strategies to get them to warm up quickly:
Don't pull your camera out right away. Get down on their level, ask their name, introduce yourself, notice things about them that you can tell are probably special for their photo shoot ("wow your outfit looks great!" "I love your beautiful hair! I can tell you are ready to take some great pictures today!" "You look so handsome in ___")
Get to know them. Ask how old they are, what grade they are in school, their hobbies, what kind of characters they like. For toddlers, I like to ask mom what their favorite songs are so we can sing and play before I even start taking pictures.
Show them your camera and talk about what you are going to do. I take a quick picture of them or mom and show them the back of my camera and explain what I will be doing and what their job is and that we are mostly there to have fun. I reassure them that I will tell them exactly what to do so they don't have to worry about figuring out what to do in this new place.
I ask them what reward they will be earning after their session (something that is part of my client education in the Style Guide I send them before their session). This gives us something fun to talk about and usually gets some good smiles out of them. I often sneak in some pictures while they are talking about their reward so I can capture a few of those smiles. I also remind them how short mini sessions are so we will be done so fast and I tell them they don't have to wait very long to get that reward they are looking forward to!
After we get going, I ask little ones if they are ticklish and for older ones I use fun prompts like "who has the stinkiest feet in your family?" Those usually get them giggling where I can capture some genuine smiles. When I get a good smile on camera, I always show them how awesome they look and compliment their beautiful smiles, which makes them want to show me even more awesome smiles. I give LOTS of compliments ("Oh my goodness! You are doing so good! Can you just come with me to every session and show all the other kids how it's done?!") because the more you compliment them, the more they enjoy being around you and the better they will do during your session.
I always finish with lots of huge compliments (no matter how it went!) and talk about how I can't wait to work with them again and that I hope they enjoy whatever their planned reward is. I finish by directly addressing the kids asking "You did so good! Would you like to come back another time to take fun pictures with me?" Almost always their answer is yes because we had fun together and this helps me build rapport with the kids and their families so they will want to work with me again.
Working with kiddos, especially shy ones, can be tricky at a family session and even trickier on a mini session because your time together is so brief, but with these tricks up your sleeve, you will win them over and capture beautiful family photos!
As a family photographer, it's your job to set the tone for fun, joyful session to create genuine smiles from the kids and families you are serving.
Keep scrolling to see the fun spring photos we were able to capture with these girls who showed up not sure about taking pictures and ended up rocking their mini session before it was over!
Learn more about Spring Minis here!
Be the first to hear about mini session dates all year round by signing up for my VIP mailing list here!
Book your own Spring Mini here!
I'M JANET!
Photographer
I'm a wife, mama, former preschool teacher, and family & newborn photographer based out of Nashville, Tennessee. I have a passion for serving mamas and helping them capture beautiful snapshots of life with their littles to treasure for a lifetime.
Comments