The First Thing to Consider When Photographing Your Family
The outfits and location are all important. But it can fall apart in a minute if you don’t consider this one important factor: the ages of your kids! Every stage of life offers something special. Our tips below will help you decide which type of session is best for your family and will make your child’s story come through.
Babies to age two
With very young children, consider locations that are soft and comfortable.
STUDIO: A beautifully lit and spacious studio with a bed, couch, and soft blankets can create a warm and cozy session, will keep little ones comfy, and feel like home. Options to make this session pop:
Keep clothes soft, stylish, and comfortable. Avoid grown-up clothes on young children. Instead, choose stylish pajamas, onesies, and bare rompers. Children under 2 look adorable in just knitted pants or a simple, yet beautiful diaper cover. Bonus to studio shoots is bare feet, so one less thing to think about.
Photograph babies & young children in the morning, always! Even if your baby or young child does well at home in the afternoon, a photoshoot is a lot to ask and we’ve seen many afternoon tears from this age group.
OUTDOORS: While outdoor locations are incredibly appealing, here’s a shortlist of things to consider:
Young children can be sensitive to hot and/or cold weather, wind, and a bright sun resulting in squinty eyes and sour faces. Children at this age won’t pretend the weather is less than great! So aim for a spring session or late summer photos from September to early October for the best weather.
If the location is not conducive to crawling (or even toppling on knees), you could end up holding your child or holding their hand for the majority of the session. Make sure baby’s outfit fits well and won’t need adjusting when in your arms. (i.e. skip the dresses and grown-up boy clothes…instead opt for cute rompers and onesies.)
Plan to bring a blanket that matches your styling just in case you need it for sitting on the ground.
When photographing babies around 1 month or less, we wrap them in soft blankets in lieu of clothes. The end result feels like home.
Preschoolers
Whether in a studio or outside, consider a session that encourages exploration, fun and engagement.
STUDIO: The preschool years are all about exploring! We love to capture kids in their natural element jumping on a bed, playing with balloons, cooking with Santa, or anything else engaging and fun. When selecting a studio photographer to work with, make sure the studio has access to stylish stools, chairs, blankets, pillows, or a bed for cozy ways to capture your child at this age naturally.
OUTDOORS: Outdoors is also a great option at this age. Here are some tips for success…
If your child gets sensory overload or is shy in new places, then choose a location that will feel familiar. If you don’t spend much time in fields, then choose the familiarity of being in a park, like Wash Park. If you haven’t been to a lake yet but have hiked plenty, then skip Chatfield and consider Cherry Creek Reservoir trails.
Avoid photographing young kids in the cold. If your session lands on a day under 38 degrees or so, seriously consider rescheduling or moving indoors. Red, runny noses, watery eyes, and impatient faces are quite hard to hide! Here are some tips just in case you can’t avoid it:
Try to book a session in warmer weather from June to very early October.
If you’re planning an October or later session, make sure to include layers in your styling just in case the weather turns cold. Find an adorable jacket, hat, and mittens and embrace your Colorado weather.
Snow sessions can be amazing as long as temps stay above freezing. Just dress appropriately and bundle up! Plan to be in the photos with your child to encourage play.
Elementary
Elementary-aged kids keep us on our toes as we aim to get natural, real smiles and moments. So we come prepared with lots of games and fun to keep them engaged.
This age group does great in a studio and outdoor locations.
With both, we encourage lots of play such as jumping competitions, running (outdoors!), and big laughs (we’ve got tricks!).
Let siblings roughhouse a bit.
We know you want your kids to behave, but we want to capture their youthful playfulness before they’re too cool for it. Photographers are skilled at resetting the stage when kids get out of hand. So don’t worry when it does, that’s when the magic happens.
Parents should come ready to get in on the fun.
Leave discipline at the door, especially for this age. Beautiful images happen when everyone is relaxed and having fun. You’ll want to model that by having fun yourself.
Tweens & Teens
A casual environment, whether in studio or outdoors, will help teens relax and encourage natural interactions with the camera.
Around age 11, kids start to plaster on the “smile-for-grandma-face”. Exactly what we try to avoid. With this self-aware age group, getting to natural can be a bit challenging. So here’s what you can do to help them (and your photographer) have fun!
Obviously, at this age, you can shoot in a studio or on location easily. There’s really no downside to either. Both will provide you with a full set of relaxed, cool images your teen will love. Not sure which to choose? Find out what your kids think! Requesting their input will help engage them in the process, resulting in better images.
Pockets! Seriously, pockets help. We all need something to do with our hands. And putting them in pockets help us relax and happens to look cool in photos.
Make sure they dress from head to toe, including nice shoes.
Take your daughter for a blowout to boost her confidence in front of the camera.
Dealing with skin breakouts? Tell them not to worry. Photographers are really good at removing those pesky blemishes.
Most important: avoid adding pressure to these photos. Your photographer knows how to pose and engage to get the best images. Tween & teen photos are less about the crazy, goofy, big laughter images of their elementary years. They are growing up and want to reflect their maturity in the photos. We meet teens where they’re at rather than try to pull out something different.
A final word on expectations for any shoot!
Prioritize what you want from a single session. It takes time for a photographer to connect with your family. If you’re looking to capture every scenario possible (mom & kids, kids alone, sibling portrait, dad and kids, a family portrait, add the dog, remove the dog, casual lifestyle images plus formal portraits…) it will be difficult for your photographer to get any of those just right before everyone poops out! A rule of thumb is 2 “set-ups” for every 20-30 minutes of shooting allowing your photographer to capture casual portraits alongside beautiful lifestyle imagery.
We hope this helps you choose the right session for your family. Considering your child’s phase of life, honoring it and working with it will result in beautiful, natural images of your favorite people.
ABOUT LAURA ESMOND, REESE & CO PORTRAITS, MATERNITY & NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER
Hi! I’m so thankful you are checking out my work here at my website and blog. I’m happy to share with what makes our Denver portrait studio so special.
I love to take care of lots of the little details like helping you style your session. We have a small, growing studio wardrobe available to you. Hair and makeup is also available to add on before your session to make your portrait session as simple and stress free as possible (inquire if interested!). Our goal is keep your session stress-free and a little moment of luxury with your family.
Laura Esmond, at Reese & Co Portraits, specializes in Denver newborn photography and in maternity, newborn, and family photos in Denver and the surrounding suburbs of Highlands Ranch, Greenwood Village, Parker, Castle Pines, Englewood, Colorado Springs and Littleton. She is best known for her bespoke maternity sessions that truly spoil mom-to-be with hair and make-up and artful images of her growing belly.
If you love my work, and you are looking for a newborn photographer for your family, I would love to begin planning your session. With over 20 years of photographing maternity, newborn and young families, Iit still warms my heart to be a part of documenting a growing family.
If you are interested in a custom portrait session with Laura Esmond and would like more information about what makes our studio so special, please click here to learn more.
If you would like to reserve your Denver area maternity photos or newborn photos, in our north Denver portrait studio or south Denver portrait studio, please reach out here.
Learn more about Reese & Co Portraits session options.
We are proud to have been voted by readers of Colorado Parent magazine as the Family Favorites 2021 Winner! All the feels!