5 Tips for A Successful Family Photo Shoot!

A few weeks ago my family and I got our pictures taken for the first time since my daughter was born (she’ll be two in a month, shameful I know!). I was so nervous going into the shoot because I knew that it would be a while until we got them done again, and with three kids who knows what would happen! They could last 5 minutes, or last an hour!

Well they ended up doing awesome! Quite frankly I was shocked! They lasted 2 hours! Yes, they had their moments of melt downs but for the most part were total Rockstars. I figured since our family photo-shoot ended up being rather successful I would share a few secrets on what made it all come together:

1. A great (kid friendly) photographer! This to me was number one. Our photographer (Gavin Thomas from www.gavinthomasweddings.com)was very calm, and patient. And he took photos like crazy… He hardly ever stopped shooting and got some great candid shots on top of the posed ones. Plus my kids warmed up to him almost immediately which was huge because they wernt afraid of him or the camera being right in their face

2. Before we went to the shoot I gathered a bunch of styles of photos I liked (mainly on Pinterest, I made a bored for just Gavin and I to see so that he could see the type I photos I was looking for and had an idea of the poses I liked.) He told me this was a huge help for him because he was able to plan things before hand. He even pulled up my board at the shoot to remind me of what I had picked because I had gotten flustered and couldn’t remember which leads me to the next point

3. Make a physical list of the shots you want. I did not do this and regret it. By a list I mean make note of each shot you must have. Like if you want a group shot of just the kids. Or if you want one of yourself with each child separately. I know this may seem over board and that you will naturally know what pictures you want but trust me, it’s overwhelming in the moment. For instance, I don’t have one picture of just the 3 kids alone (not candid). I don’t know how I missed this, but I did. Don’t get me wrong, our photographer tried at one point but my daughter was have a mini melt down so we moved on to another shot and figured we would just come back to it… Well we forgot. And this wasn’t the photographers fault. It wasn’t really anyone’s fault, we all just got caught up in doing all the other pictures and left without realizing we never went back to get one of just the three kids. So now, I don’t have one. IF I had a list, I would have seen that wasn’t crossed off and would have remembered we needed to snap a few more of the three of them together… Oh well, now I will know for next time. But learn from my mistake!

4. Location! Find a setting that is not super sunny, has some pretty shady areas, and some structures (bridges, benches, swings, old buildings or a barn for example) that will give you dimension in your photos. Sitting in a plain wide open field may give you a few nice photos but it won’t give you a variety. We chose a local park that had a bunch of different options to choose from in one small area which was nice because we didn’t have to walk a ton to get a good photo but we had tons of options. Plus the kids were able to run around and burn some energy when it wasn’t their turn to get pictures done. They would never have lasted this long in a studio or an area where they had to stay still for still for too long.

5. Outfits! This was toughest for me. I had a really hard time deciding what I wanted us to wear, and I actually have some regrets about what I actually chose. But that’s because I over think everything. I tried to pick outfits that didn’t have a lot of patterns or busy logos or words on them. I also picked colors that would compliment each other, and looked good with all of our skin tones. For the boys I chose denim looking bottoms with white shirts (this is used often in photos because I think it photographs well on most people). I chose a bright pink dress for my daughter (this was one of my biggest regrets, love the color, but I didn’t end up loving the dress (how it fit her in pictures). For myself I had originally had a pink dress picked out but the day of pictures I made a last minute switch and am SO glad I did. I wouldn’t have been able to do half the pictures I wanted to do in that dress. So take that into account when picking your outfits.

Hope these tips help!! Oh and remember! Have fun with it!! Smile real smiles! Laugh! Enjoy it, and don’t worry about getting the “perfect picture”… Leave that to the photographer 😉

Need Picture ideas?! I added a bunch of our photos below to check out and hopefully inspire some of your own family photos!!

All photography was done by Gavin Thomas. Need a great photographer in the NYC area? Check out his website! www.gavinthomasweddings.com (For weddings/family/kid shoots) or you can check him out here: gavinthomasphoto.com (For celebrity portrait/fashion/ editorial)

X♥O Nicole