Family Photography Checklist

Your family photo session is such a special experience. You may be wondering how to get ready for your session and where to start so here is a comprehensive checklist that will walk you through every step of the portrait process to help you feel prepared and confident and make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Before Your Session:

1. Review all the information I’ve sent out to you: Session Guide, Wardrobe Vision Boards or links to resources. All of these are important and useful to getting the most from your session!
2. Make any hair, nail, makeup appointments in plenty of time before your session. Don’t go for any drastic changes in hair style that you’re not used to. If you are wearing nail varnish make sure it’s not chipped, these small details make a big difference!
3. Plan your outfits at least several days in advance. Trust me when I say don’t leave this until the last minute! Outfits should compliment each other, more information is provided on booking and I have before now done virtual online shopping with a client so if you are having a hard time deciding you can send me photos of your clothes so I can offer my advice, I’m always happy to help!
4. Brainstorm the types of photographs you want captured. Some families have an idea of the images they’d like me to capture and others are happy to leave the variety of images to me either way have a think before your session just in case there are those important ones you’d specifically like me to capture.
5. Prepare the Kids. When I say this I don’t mean prepping them to ‘smile at the camera’! Don’t make a big fuss about it. You could tell them you’ll be ‘hanging out with Sarah and having a play’, this is particularly useful if you have a little one who is shy.
6. Room View. Don’t forget to send me your room view if you are looking for wall art for your home.

What To Wear:

1. Be yourself. There is nothing worse than dressing in a style which is nothing like you, do you like to dress casually, smart casual or maybe you’d like to be dressed up or a mixture of two different styles in one session, that’s no problem at all!
2. Avoid looking too matchy-matchy. Instead wear colours in a complimentary colour palette, we’ll go through photo style and clothing colour options in more detail at your consultation.
3. Less is more. Keep the outfits simple so that they don’t distract. Avoid logos, loud patterns, stripes and shirts with large graphics.
4. Fit your form. Fitted clothing that shows your shape works best for photographs. This applies to any body type. Outfits should hug your curves, especially along your top half, loose flowing skirts (long not sort) are fabulous as long as your top is snug. Skip that billowy, blouson top or anything with batwing sleeves, they won’t be slimming in camera.
5. Think Texture. Sumptuous textures like lace, chiffon, bead-work, or embroidery lend a rich tactile element to your photographs.

Posing:

1. No ‘Cheese’ please! I’m looking to capture authentic expressions and natural interactions, so don’t worry about coaching you child to say cheese to the camera, interact by playing with your children during the session so I can capture candid fun shots for you.
2. Cuddle, play, tickle and laugh. This is how we’ll capture the real emotion.
3. Not everyone has to be looking at the camera all the time. I like a mixture of looking at the camera and you talking and focusing on each other, don’t worry I’ll guide you through this.
4. Expect variety. The more variety we get the more great shots we’ll capture together, the session will flow really nicely from one image to the next so you have a wonderful gallery of images to choose from.

What to Expect After Your Photo Session:

1. Viewing 3-5 days after your session. I’ll be working hard behind the scenes to organise your gallery into your best photographs and get your slideshow and gallery ready for your cinema style viewing session here with me so you can select your favourite images and products to order.
2. Enjoy your photos! I am so passionate about photographs as printed art because you can see it and love it every single day, the products that I have curated are only of the highest quality, products that you’ll be proud to own and create a wow factor in your home.

That completes my checklist guide for your family photography session, I hope this helps you with your preparation. Don’t forget you can always reach me on 07957282406 if you have any questions, I’m always happy to help!