This season is a meaningful time for your family as you make lasting memories together. However, getting everyone excited for your family photo session and preparing for it can be difficult. To help you and your family have a fun, stress-free, and memorable portrait experience, we want to share 15 tips on how to prepare for family photos!
Selecting and Scheduling Your Portrait Experience Based on Your Family’s Portrait Needs
Tip 1: Select a Family Portrait Experience that Meets Your Family’s Portrait Needs
We offer 1-Hour and 2-Hour Family Portrait Experiences and 20-Minute Mini-Session Portrait Experiences. With a 1-Hour or 2-Hour Family Portrait Experience, you’ll have more customization by inquiring about a date and portrait location. You’ll also be able to select a styling prop, and you’ll receive more images and portrait time than a 20-Minute Mini-Session!
We also offer limited 20-Minute Mini-Sessions throughout the year, which are swift, brief, and perfect for little ones! Each mini-session features a seasonal theme where we’ll capture timeless portraits to showcase the season’s beauty or a curated seasonal décor arrangement to highlight your family’s holiday cheer!
We announce our mini-sessions through email before making them available on our website, so you can sign up for Exclusive VIP Email Access to be the first to know when we release our mini-session dates and have first access to book your spot if you would like! With Exclusive VIP Email Access, we’ll also notify you first about our upcoming portrait experiences, giveaways, model calls, latest client education blog posts, newest styling options, and special JHP announcements!
Tip 2: Decide if You Would Like to Bring Your Friendly Pet
In your client questionnaire, you can select if you would like to capture a photo with your friendly pet (a puppy, dog, kitten, etc.) at the end of your session. If you decide to bring your friendly pet, we suggest bringing someone to hold and assist your pet and packing a collar, leash, and treats.
Feel free to style your pet with colors from your family’s outfits for a cute touch! You could dress them in a coordinating sweater or incorporate cute accessories (like a bandana, bow tie, hair bow, etc.) that have complementing colors into their look.
Have a Family Meeting to Prepare for Your Family Photo Session
To engage and excite your family and kiddos, we recommend you have a meeting with them so you can explain our JHP portrait experience and prepare for your session together. This meeting will help calm your little ones’ worries while helping your family feel comfortable and confident for your photo session! Below, we’ve listed several tips on how to plan your family meeting.
Tip 3: Tell Your Family About Us
We suggest sharing our “About” website page and “Our Hearts behind JHP | The Story and Purpose of Jennifer Hall Photography, LLC” blog post with your family so they’ll know more about us and feel comfortable during your session. If your little ones are shy and get nervous around strangers, learning a bit about us will help us feel more like friends on your session day.
Tip 4: Share Your Favorite Pictures with Your Family
Your family may have never seen our images before, so we recommend showing them some of your favorite photos, acquainting them with our work and photography style. Seeing some of our images will help them know what to expect in your final gallery while increasing their confidence and trust in us. For examples of our work, you can browse our “Home,” “Family,” “Couple’s,” and “Senior” website pages, and feel free to check out our “Family Portraits” and “Senior Portraits” blog category pages.
Tip 5: Brainstorm How You Would Like to Display Your Family Photos
There are several print and digital options for displaying your family photos, so we suggest selecting the one(s) that best meet your family’s portrait needs. If you would like to hang your pictures on your walls or place them in your home, we suggest sitting down with your family and planning how to print them and where to place them. For example, you could create a wall display of your family photos with Bible verses and encouraging notes or words! If your family enjoys crafting together, you could plan fun crafts that you could make with your pictures, or you can consider making a family album or scrapbook! If you would prefer, you could choose to use and display your images digitally, which is fun and convenient.
Feel free to check out our blog post, “The Value of Printing and Displaying Your Images,” for detailed information about how printing and displaying your images can impact your family. Also, if you would like ideas on how to display your pictures in a print or digital form, sign up for our free 5 Impactful Tips for Creating a Fun, Meaningful Family Portrait Experience Guide today! When you sign up for the guide, you’ll also receive Exclusive VIP Email Access and be the first to know about our upcoming portrait experiences, mini-sessions, giveaways, model calls, latest client education blog posts, newest styling options, and special JHP announcements!
Tip 6: Calm Your Little Ones’ Worries
Our “large cameras” may worry your little ones if this is their first time seeing a professional one. We recommend telling them our cameras are similar to your phone’s camera, but they’re bigger to take pictures of their big smiles.
If your little ones feel shy or worried about your session, we suggest telling them you’ll be with them and will help them through this new experience. You can also tell them they have so much fun to look forward to during your session because we’ll encourage them, play games with them, and make silly noises while taking their pictures! It may seem silly, but you’ll help them feel more comfortable for your session and excited for all the fun we’ll have together!
Tip 7: Tell Your Children Your Expectations for Your Family Photo Session
During your family meeting, we recommend telling your children how important the session is to you. Setting expectations for your kids and explaining how important it is to follow directions and smile during your session will enrich your family’s experience.
We also suggest practicing good listening with your kiddos by playing Simon Says and telling them, “Great job,” when they listen to your directions! (For example, you could say, “Simon says hold your brother/sister’s hand! Simon says look at me! Smile!”) After the game, you can explain the importance of listening to our directions during your session as they did while they were playing to freeze your family’s special memories together!
Tip 8: Create a Reward
Creating a reward for your kiddos is a great way to help keep them excited and engaged during your session!
For Your Little Ones (6 Months-5 Years):
To excite and encourage your little ones to follow directions and smile throughout your family photo session, we highly recommend packing surprises. Please avoid bringing messy treats (like colorful or chocolate candy) so their outfits stay clean for your photos. You can try surprising them with small treats (gummies, marshmallows, cereal puffs, raisins, etc.) and their stuffed animal or toy! We recommend bringing natural wooden toys (wooden trains, planes, blocks, etc.) for a timeless look in your photos! We’ll want to keep these surprises a secret and only give them to your kiddos when they need extra encouragement during your session!
We also suggest planning a fun family adventure after your session (like going to the park, doing a craft, getting a sweet treat, etc.) to help you cherish this meaningful time together!
For Your Older Kiddos (6-12 Years):
We suggest brainstorming a fun activity to do with your older kiddos after your session to reward them for following directions. It does not have to be extravagant or expensive; they will just love spending meaningful time with you and your family! You could take them to the park, the beach, or their favorite restaurant! During your family meeting, tell your kiddos they can earn this reward by listening well and smiling throughout your family photo session!
For Your Teenagers:
We know your teenagers are mature and can listen during your session, but they’ll still love a fun surprise! You and your family can schedule a fun activity to do with your teenager after your session so you can make meaningful memories together!
Tip 9: Practice Your Kiddos’ Smiles
It may seem silly, but we suggest practicing your kiddos’ smiles with them before your session so they’ll know how you would like them to smile in your photos! To help your kiddos have fun while they practice, you could tell them to smile and compliment them when they smile nicely, turning it into a game! That way, your kids will know how to smile in your photos!
To build your children’s confidence, please encourage them before your session by telling them that they look beautiful/handsome and that you can’t wait to see their precious smiles in your photos! This affirmation will help them feel more comfortable and confident for your session while showing them how much you love and cherish them!
Preparing for Your Family Photo Session
Tip 10: Involve Your Family with Styling and Coordinating Your Outfits
Once you’ve booked your family portrait experience, you’ll receive a booking confirmation email containing The JHP Portrait Experience & Style Guide! (We have a smaller version of this guide for our 20-Minute Mini-Session Portrait Experiences.) This guide contains our best tips, tricks, and insider secrets for meeting with your family, child, or senior, styling and coordinating your outfits, preparing and packing for your session, and enriching your portrait experience!
We suggest sharing our styling and coordinating tips with your family and selecting your outfits with them! This opportunity is your chance to have fun and get creative with one another; you could schedule a fun shopping trip together!
To help engage your kiddos, you could coordinate your family’s outfits based on some of your kids’ favorite colors that pair well together. If their favorite colors are bright, bold, or neon, we recommend choosing light, neutral, and jewel-toned versions of those colors so your outfit colors will complement your skin tones and create timeless images.
To coordinate your family’s outfits, we recommend selecting a cohesive color palette and mixing up the colors in your family’s members’ outfits. Each family member would have a dominant, more prominent color in their outfit while incorporating each other’s colors as accent colors with their accessories. Feel free to view our blog post, “Fall Picture Color Schemes,” for fall color palette inspiration and outfit coordination examples!
Blush, Cream, White, and Brown Family Photo Session Outfit Coordination
We recommend choosing a color palette that pairs well with your portrait location, as illustrated in how the blush, cream, white, and brown color palette in the outfits below coordinates with the snow and trees in the portrait location. If you are displaying your photos in your home, we suggest selecting colors that also complement your home décor and wall colors.
You could wear a white shirt with a blush sweater, blue jeans, a beige and tan scarf, and blush dress boots (making blush your dominant color). Your husband could then wear a solid brown, collared shirt with blue jeans and tan dress shoes (making brown his dominant color). Your older daughter could wear a tan shirt with a cream sweater, blue jeans, a tan and beige scarf, and light blush dress boots (making cream her dominant color). Your son could then wear a dark brown long-sleeved, henley shirt with blue jeans and white shoes (making dark brown his dominant color). Your younger daughter could wear a white shirt with a light blush jacket, blue jeans, and beige dress boots (making light blush her dominant color). You could create an editorial, connected look by incorporating complementing colors into each family member’s outfit!
More Family Photo Session Outfit Tips
We highly recommend avoiding tiny, busy, repetitive patterns because they are distracting and can cause overlapping, warped designs in your images that, in extreme cases, cannot be corrected!
We also suggest selecting outfits that each family member feels comfortable and confident wearing so you can all focus on enjoying this precious time together! Dresses and skirts look flattering and elegant on women and girls. Long dress pants and long-sleeved, solid, collared shirts look editorial on men and boys. For detailed tips on how to style your family’s outfits and flatter your features, feel free to read these blog posts:
- Styling Her | What to Wear for a Family Portrait Session
- Styling Him | What to Wear for Family Photos
- Family Photo Outfit Ideas for Styling Girls
- Family Portrait Session Outfit Ideas for Styling Boys
Tip 11: Choose or Make Your Family’s Accessories
Certain accessories fit best with the different seasons, so we suggest choosing your family’s accessories based on the season during which your session is scheduled. Fresh flowers and floral crowns create an elegant touch in spring or summer family portraits. Hats, mittens, scarves, shawls, sweaters, and boot cuffs add visual interest to your photos while helping you keep warm during fall and winter photos. Ties, suspenders, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and belts have an editorial look year-round.
If you and your family enjoy crafting, you could make accessories together! Feel free to crotchet hats, scarves, mittens, and/or boot cuffs with yarn that coordinates with your family’s outfits, adding an extra personal touch. My aunt is extremely talented with crocheting; feel free to view some cold-weather accessories she has crotched in our “What to Wear for Christmas Family Photos” blog post. You could even plan a fun family adventure where you and your family pick flowers outside and make flower crowns and bouquets together.
Tip 12: Pack Water Bottles and Surprise Snacks for Your Kids
Please ensure your kids have full bellies and have had enough rest before your session so they can enjoy this special time! They may still get hungry or thirsty during your session, so we suggest packing water bottles, surprise snacks, and face and hand wipes.
Tip 13: Prepare and Pack the Night Before Your Family Photo Session
We suggest preparing your family’s outfits and packing all your items the night before to help alleviate stress on your session day since getting ready can be a little unpredictable with little ones 🙂 We also recommend packing all your kiddos’ surprises, toys, surprise snacks, and water bottles the night before your session.
For your 1-Hour or 2-Hour Family Portrait Experience, feel free to pack meaningful details (like your family’s Bible, kid’s special blanket or toy, keepsake, fresh flowers, etc.), and we can photograph them if the time permits.
Tip 14: Plan Your Time
Please ensure you schedule adequate time to get ready and prepare for your session, and please be ready a few minutes early to maximize each moment.
If your photo session is outdoors, it is scheduled during the best time of day, when the light is the dreamiest and most flattering outdoors! Please be ready to begin your session on time to maximize each minute together before the sun sets!
Tip 15: Help Your Kids Look and Smile at the Camera during Your Family Photo Session
We suggest standing behind us while calling your kiddos’ names and encouraging them to look and smile at the camera. Your calls and encouragement will instruct your kiddos on where to look and help your photos look more joyful. Please bring small stuffed animals or toys to help draw your little ones’ attention toward our cameras. Small toys with lights or sounds, finger puppets, or their favorite teddy bear will help them know where to look while exciting them! If you would like, feel free to bring a helper to hold and assist your little one throughout your session.
One Final Note
To make your family photos and portrait experience more meaningful, we suggest sitting down with your family and scrolling through your gallery and mobile app for the first time together! That way, your family can see your love and connection in your photos and remember God’s priceless blessings of each other, helping build your family stronger one memory at a time! As you and your family look back on your photos one day, you can reminisce about your memories and cherish this special time in your lives!
We hope these 15 tips on how to prepare for family photos will help make your photo session as fun, meaningful, and stress-free as possible!
It’s completely normal if your little ones aren’t excited about pictures; no session is perfect. To engage and excite your children, we’ll make silly noises, use toys to draw their focus to our cameras, and play games while photographing them! No matter what happens, always remember to stay flexible, cherish these unique, tiny, and giggly blessings, and enjoy your precious moments together!
Checklist on How to Prepare for Family Photos:
- Tip 1: Select a Family Portrait Experience that Meets Your Family’s Portrait Needs
- Tip 2: Decide if You Would Like to Bring Your Friendly Pet
- Tip 3: Tell Your Family About Us
- Tip 4: Share Your Favorite Pictures with Your Family
- Tip 5: Brainstorm How You Would Like to Display Your Family Photos
- Tip 6: Calm Your Little Ones’ Worries
- Tip 7: Tell Your Children Your Expectations for Your Family Photo Session
- Tip 8: Create a Reward
- Tip 9: Practice Your Kiddos’ Smiles
- Tip 10: Involve Your Family with Styling and Coordinating Your Outfits
- Tip 11: Choose or Make Your Family’s Accessories
- Tip 12: Pack Water Bottles and Surprise Snacks for Your Kids
- Tip 13: Prepare and Pack the Night Before Your Family Photo Session
- Tip 14: Plan Your Time
- Tip 15: Help Your Kids Look and Smile at the Camera during Your Family Photo Session
