Charlotte | Making the Most of Your Children’s Portrait Session

Charlotte is such a sweet baby and I loved seeing her again at her six-month pictures! She is doing my Baby’s First Year plan and I just love to see how much she changes every three months (you can see her three-month pictures here). She’s been such a cooperative baby, and we got so many great shots and big smiles!

There’s a few reasons why her session went so well, and I thought I would list them for you so you can make the most of your session too!

The mom, Amber, was super flexible and let me choose both the time of day and the location. What you may not realize is that I consider just about every detail when scheduling your photo shoot. For instance, the best lighting is in the early morning or evening. I also considered the angle of light and which direction the light is coming from with respect to the best background. All of these things need to come together to create a beautiful portrait.
The baby, Charlotte, was well rested and well fed (right before our shoot). Having a well-rested and well-fed baby makes a huge difference in the temperament of the baby during our session. If you are nursing your baby, I would suggest arriving at our location a few minutes early to feed him or her right before we get started.
The mom came prepared with a variety of cute outfits, hats, blankets, and props for me to choose from. We stood together near her car and went though everything she brought, and she let me “take it away.” I love to bring my own props to photo sessions, but it’s fun to see what new ideas the parents bring to the shoot as well. Looking back, some of the best pictures I’ve taken have been when parents pull out a bunch of clothes and let me pick and choose what to use. I guess this requires you to trust your photographer!
Obviously, kids are kids and sometimes even in the most ideal circumstances, they still won’t be in the mood to cooperate. So I know, as a parent of a baby and a toddler myself, that no matter how much planning you do, sometimes the kids will still do what they want. For those days, I carry a few suckers in my camera bag. 🙂

I hope those little tips help you when planning your photo shoot too! If you have any questions, please let me know. 🙂 Enjoy the pictures of little miss Charlotte!