How to prepare for your best family session

You’ve booked a photography session for your family! Whether this is your first family photography experience or an annual occurrence, there are some things to think about to make this the best session possible. Some questions to ask yourselves:

Where do we want the session to take place?

What kinds of images do we hope to get from this session?

What kind of feeling do we want this session to have?

What will we wear to make sure the session fits our chosen vibe?

What will we DO with the images?

The good news is that you don’t have to answer these questions all by yourselves. My client prep guide will help you get a big picture sense for how to prepare for your session, and my client intake questionnaire will make sure that all the information I need to create a beautiful, personal session is communicated to me. And we can always talk over any questions that are giving you trouble. But for today, here are some possible answers for you to consider.

Location

I’ve got three general options for your family session:

An outdoor or on-location session — There are SO many options in this category. Do you feel drawn to a more natural setting or more urban/architectural? A wide open field or the forest? A river, lake, beach, botanical garden? I’ve shot at the Seattle Public Library, the Olympic Sculpture Park, Pike Place Market, The Center for Wooden Boats…with so many options, it’s helpful to think about what fits with your family’s personality.

A family of three with Seattle buildings behind them filtered by a colorful scrim which is reflected in the lower quarter of the frame

Family of four on the bank of a river with fall leaves and fog in the background

An at-home session — Sessions at home are definitely the most personal option because you are surrounded by your own belongings, photos, and history. An at-home session is a fabulous option for a more documentary type of session filled with activities that your family loves together. We can also get beautiful traditional portraits at home. I can make most homes work for a session, no matter the size or number of windows, but if your home is naturally on the dark side, you’ll get dark and moody images. If you dream of a light-filled session, but you have a darker home, it may not be the best option for you.

A family of seven sitting on a bed with a cream tufted headboard, all lined up across with the eldest girl in the center reading a book.

Red-headed mom sitting on the floor with her baby in her lap and two older children snuggled up with her. Baby is grabbing her brother's nose

A studio session — A session at my studio in Shoreline is a fabulous option for lifestyle portraits and even more formal, styled portraits. One benefit of the studio is that it’s incredibly versatile. Another is that we get great light even on a dark, rainy day. It’s also a good option for families who are concerned about their children being hard to contain in an outdoor setting.

Family of five in white, tan, and light blue sitting on a blue velvet couch with plants on either side

Family of five with a large range of skin colors on a dark brown backdrop

Kinds of Images

You probably already have an idea of the kinds of images you’d like to get from your session, but you may not know how to articulate your vision. There are some general categories that most sessions fall into, though some sessions will combine more than one type.

Documentary Images — These images show your family doing things together, and often interacting in a normal, everyday way. These sessions are most often done at home, though we could also do a documentary-style session involving an outing to your favorite ice cream shop and local park. Documentary images mean less styling of clothes, less direction by me, and very little actual looking at the camera. If this sounds like something you’d like, we can definitely plan a few activites together that will capture exactly who your family is right now. And even if you choose a documentary session, I always include one photo for grandparents which includes a more traditional, look-at-the-camera photo.

Black and white image of a family of seven around their dining table making Valentines

Lifestyle Images — The bulk of my work is in the lifestyle category. These are posed images that don’t look TOO posed. I actually direct lifestyle images quite a bit, telling you where to sit, what to do, and then I let the magic unfold. Lifestyle images look natural but polished and generally include lots of hugs and snuggles, just in the most flattering ways. Lifestyle images can happen in pretty much any location.

Mom and Dad holding their young daughter who is laughing set against a backdrop of green trees

Formal Portraits — These are very posed, very styled, very planned images of your family that are classic and timeless and striking. Formal clothing works well and these portraits can be done in my studio with a styled backdrop or in some outdoor locations. Depending on location and time and wardrobe, it’s possible to add a few lifestyle images into a formal portrait session, but this option does not combine with documentary images.

Feelings of Images

Is there a certain mood you’d like your session to have? Fun and filled with laughter? Peaceful and serene? Mysterious and ethereal? Celebratory and joyful? Your location and desired type of images and wardrobe will all contribute to the overall feeling in your session so it’s good to have this in mind as you are planning.

Wardrobe: Choosing Colors

The first step in choosing wardrobe is to choose a color palette for your family that works well with your location (don’t choose greens if you’re shooting in a forest) and that fits your families overall style. I recommend starting by finding a clothing item already in your closet or purchased new for the hardest person to dress in the family. Often times that will be YOU. But I want you to feel your very best, so it’s a good idea to start by finding something you love and then pulling colors from that outfit to create your palette (or if your outfit is a solid color, pulling colors that play well with that color — colors that harmonize or pop next to it). A color palette should have no more than six colors, and yes, different shades of the same color can count as individual colors).

I like to consider the backdrop as one of the colors as well. So when I was planning a session for my mom and my kids, I asked her to show me some dress options that she felt great in. I knew I wanted to shoot them on the chestnut brown backdrop in the studio, so I chose a teal dress she showed me, and then I went to Pinterest and searched for color palettes involving teal and brown. I chose the one below because I knew my kids had some clothes in those colors already. I just had to buy a new outfit for my 10 year old because she didn’t have anything that fit (love those growth spurts!).

See how the colors all worked together with each other and with the backdrop?

Four kids surrounding their grandma, the three girls smiling big, the boy smirking, on a brown backdrop

Choosing a color palette for your session is good advice whether you are doing a lifestyle session or a formal portrait session. It’s less important for a documentary session since those images are supposed to be more real life.

Wardrobe: Guiding Principles

Everyone should coordinate, but not MATCH. Fight me on this, but please don’t put your daughters in matching dresses or your sons in the same shirt and pants. Let them each wear something that feels like THEM. They’ll thank you when they’re older!
Use pattern sparingly. A good rule of thumb is one pattern per three people max. Patterns should not be too tiny or they’ll look too busy and they should not be TOO large or they’ll pull attention to the pattern and not the person. Pin stripes should be avoided as they create a weird illusion in photos called moire. Not pretty.
Avoid neon colors. Again, we don’t want to see one color standing out or just a ton of bright color because that detracts from the people in the image. Also neon colors (and some colors like bright magenta, bright orange, bright yellow) cast colors onto your skin that we don’t want.
Embrace layers and textures and accessories. If everyone is just wearing a shirt and pants, we lose an opportunity to create dimension in your family images. Adding layers (vests, cardigans, etc.) and accessories (scarves, statement earrings, hats,) brings interest to your images and gives each individual more opportunity to personalize their look. Hats and scarves are also really fun to play with while shooting. They’re a wardrobe item AND a prop! Having a variety of textures in your wardrobe also helps with this. Consider adding denim, bucle, wool, corduroy, faux fur, etc. to mix things up and create depth.
Pay attention to feet! Don’’t overlook your family’s footwear. Sometimes that might mean just going barefoot (especially at the beach or at home). I always say that bare feet (not socked feet) are cuter than shoes. But make sure your carefully curated outfits aren’t marred by a pair of dirty runners or glittery unicorn shoes.
Consider professional hair and makeup. Take something off your plate on photo day; it’s stressful enough to get everyone else photo-ready. If you are able to get your hair and makeup done (bonus would be a mani/pedi, too!) you will not be sorry. Let me know if you need a HMUA recommendation for someone who is great and who will come to your home. And if you are happy to do your own, go a little bit heavier than you would for everyday. The camera will thank you.
Be YOU! If you don’t wear dresses, don’t wear them for photos. Be yourself! If that is Doc Martens and ripped black jeans and a tank, let’s lean into that! Let’s create images that tell YOUR family’s story.
Don’t do it alone. I’m here to help a little or a lot. At the least, I’d like you to text me photos of what everyone plans to wear in time for me to weigh in and suggest tweaks as needed. But I can also do this work for you. I LOVE to shop for people! So if you don’t have the time or the desire to pull everyone’s outfits together yourself, I’m happy to do some online shopping and send you links of things to buy for each member of your family. Or maybe you just want help choosing a color palette. I can do that and let you take it from there. Whatever you need, I’m here and I’m so happy to help!

The Day Of

I touch on this in the client prep guide, but it’s probably the most important piece of advice I can give to help your prepare for your best family session possible: JUST LET GO. While we’re shooting, let me handle the kids. All you have to do is look at them lovingly, play with them, snuggle them, comfort them. DON’T DISCIPLINE THEM during the session. I work hard to establish a rapport with your children, and nothing causes a child to shut down more quickly than being admonished by their parent. I can absolutely handle any situation your kids can throw at me (ahem, mom of four kiddos here). And as long as you keep smiling, we’ll get beautiful images.

You’ll want to prepare the kids ahead of time for what we’ll be doing and I highly recommend planning a fun treat for the kids immediately after the session. Maybe that’s time on the playground at the park, or going wading, or getting ice cream, but it’s a great way to give them something to look forward to and for everyone to debrief after the session is done.

After the Session

Be thinking about how you’ll want to use your digital images and your print credit (included in each collection). Do you need wall art for your home? Would an album be a portable way to tell your story if your walls are full? Does Grandma need an updated 5x7 of each kid to hang on her playroom wall? My goal is for every client to end up with tangible products in addition to digital images. I’ve had way too many sessions of my family that just sit on my computer because I thought that SOMEDAY I’d get around to designing that album for us. I hope that providing print credit to my pro-labs that you’ll come away with beautiful, heirloom quality products that help you tell your family’s story.

Please reach out if this brings up questions or if you want help with any aspect of this preparation. Family photos are an investment and they’re worth putting in some effort to make sure you love the images you receive.