My Christmas Mini Sessions were so fun last month! I got to serve 3 amazing families and we had such an amazing time! The three families I photographed had kids ranging from 5 months to a teenager with a few in between. Now usually with family sessions I don’t have to worry too much about the parents and I focus most of my energy on the kids, getting them to laugh, look at the camera, smile, etc. It was definitely stretching to have such a wide variety of kids this year. I even got the privilege of photographing a family whose little boy was non verbal. He was so sweet and taught me so much. Here are a few tips for photographing kids during mini sessions.
When working with kids of any age you have to be flexible. There isn’t really another option especially when it comes to teenagers and younger. To give you some examples of reasons to be flexible, here are some things we worked through with the different ages of kids. With the infant we had to work around the spitting up. With the teenagers and elementary kids we had to work through not wanting to smile. With the non-verbal boy we had to work through him wanting to run free (heading right towards the pond because he loves water). Being flexible and able to go with the flow is an essential tool to have in your tool belt as you work hard to capture each family and deliver beautiful images.
With young kids, especially ages 1-5, I often follow their lead throughout the session. Following a child's lead looks like giving them a break when they have clearly had enough. At this point I usually photograph just the parents or we move spots and reset a bit. When the children want to explore we let them explore and take candid photos during that time. I also do my best at the beginning of each session to talk to the children and try to get to know them a little. Giving them some special attention at the beginning allows them to be more open with me during our session and they usually love to show me things as they explore and I love it!
My last piece of advice when working with kids especially in mini sessions is to not be afraid to take a lot of photos. I always say with kids only 1 in 10 photos are good, whereas with adults it's more like 1 in 3-4 photos are good. That means I take more pictures when photographing kids so that I have a much higher chance of having more beautiful images to deliver! It also helps to take a lot of pictures of the same pose so that if you happen to get a good photo of each kid smiling but it’s not the same photo you can do a little face swap to put all the smiling faces on the same picture :)
Each stage of childhood has its own set of obstacles, as does each child and as a Family Photographer you get to serve them all! I hope these tips help for all of my fellow family photographers out there trying to photograph kids well. If you are a family photographer and you have a few tricks up your sleeve I would love to hear them! I am always looking for new tips and tricks to add to my tool box!
Merry Christmas!
Morgan
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