Tips For Your Best Family Portraits Ever! // Irwin, PA

On Wednesdays, if I’m not posting the highlights of the wedding I photographed the past weekend, I try to post answers to common wedding questions, as well as tips & advice for wedding days!

But today, I’m switching it up.

It’s October & that means Family Portrait season has arrived! October seems to be the prime month to get updated family photos – whether it’s for Christmas cards, gifts, to update the wall, or just because it’s the most beautiful month of the year – it’s literally the perfect time!

My schedule has been packed the last few weeks with so many amazing families – I love it! I don’t do a lot of family photography, but this time of year, I truly don’t mind it. It’s wonderful to just be outside, enjoy the fresh, crisp air, and have some fun with people I thoroughly enjoy hanging out with!

Since I’ve been in the family portrait groove lately, there are a few tips I wanted to share to make your fall family portrait session the best ever! Ready? Here we go!

What to Wear

I get asked the question: “what should we wear” ALL the time! And the answer is really challenging. I’m sure you’ve seen picture perfect families on Pinterest or your Instagram feed, all wearing cohesive outfits, not too matchy-matchy, but the perfect blend of colors, textures, and patterns. The photos make it seem like it’d be really easy to just go to your closet & pick out a palette of perfect outfits. If you’ve ever tried this, you know just how challenging it can be! So, here’s my advice:

• COLORS: What always seems to work best is sticking to a palette of soft and light, muted tones and shades. I always suggest staying away from bright, bold colors and large patterns as they will be distracting. A blend of neutrals will bring all the focus to the faces & the emotions of the people in the photos! Think shades of muted pink, soft blues, grays, creams, light browns, and whites. From there, the goal would be to break up the colors, so not everyone is wearing the same colors on top & bottom. Think about each outfit with a dominant and accent color in mind – the dominant color being what you see the most of, and the accent being the much smaller pop of color. Your goal should be for each person to wear a different dominant color, while tying in to each other member of the family with different accent colors.
• FOR THE LADIES: I know that jeans & flats are the most comfortable, but let’s just be honest: there’s something extra stunning about a woman in a dress or a skirt. And there’s a reason for that: dresses truly flatter the female body, especially on camera. Further, high heels elongate a woman’s legs & make them look fabulous (and who doesn’t want fabulous looking legs?) If you have little ones, I highly suggest choosing longer dresses or skirts (maxi skirts for the win!) That way, you don’t have to worry about being uncomfortable as you get down on their level to interact with them! One more tip: if you aren’t fond of the way your arms look, definitely opt for a dress with 3/4 length sleeves, or bring a blazer or cardigan along – either option will yield slimmer looking arms & I think we all want that!
• FOR THE GENTS: Again, I understand that jeans & flip-flops might be the most comfortable, but let’s be honest: there’s something so masculine about a man in fitted dress pants & a blazer, or a v-neck with the collar of a button-down peaking out. James Bond is popular with the ladies for a reason, right? Men look so sophisticated in long dress pants and layers on top. Vests, bowties, jackets, and of course dress shoes – they all add an extra layer of oompf to a guy’s attire and make him look extra sharp.

And here’s the best part about dressing up & looking extra fabulous – it gives you a boost of confidence you didn’t even realize you could get from your wardrobe. And if there’s one thing that photographs incredibly well? That’s confidence!

Regular Routine

Here’s my number one piece of advice when it comes to family portraits: whatever you do, follow your normal routine throughout the day leading up to your session! Here’s what I mean by that: little ones need their naps, and snacks, and routines to be properly rested & happy for their photos. The day of your photo session is not the day to go off adventuring and changing up everyone’s rhythms. If your little one takes a nap at 1pm every day, make sure that he goes down for that nap as usual! Don’t cut corners or plan extra activities! In order for everyone to be at the best for photos later on in the evening, the day must be “business as usual” for your little ones.

Bribery Will Get You Everywhere

No matter how much you coordinate your outfits and give your little people plenty of rest, getting their photos taken is a brand new experience (even if you’ve done it before). It will be fun at first, but then it will suddenly become not so fun when they aren’t allowed to dig in the dirt, roll down the hill, or go running a few laps around the location. Sitting still and smiling at a camera aren’t things that come naturally to us. For kiddos that are a little older, a little preparation can go a long way: in the days leading up to your session, explain what we’re going to be doing, how important it is to you, and if they are good, that they will get some sort of reward. Littler people wouldn’t really understand, so more immediate rewards work best! Bring along a bag of snacks, a drink, maybe a little toy, and a special treat they can have when they are all done. Bribery will suddenly become your best friend and it truly works wonders!

Give Yourself Grace

You can do everything right and still have a stressful day. I can almost guarantee that things will simply go wrong the day of your photoshoot: getting pulled over, your curling iron breaking, a little person falling on the way into the car & scraping up their entire face – I’ve heard so many stories starting out with: “You’d never believe what happened to us on our way here!” I’m not sure why, but that just seems to be how it goes on photo session days! But you know what? It’s okay! My goal is to make your family photos as fun & stress-free as possible, so once you’ve arrived, take a deep breath & turn everything over to me! I promise, there’s very little I haven’t seen or dealt with & simply leave the picture taking up to me.

People tell me all the time: “I’m not very good at taking pictures,” meaning, they aren’t comfortable in front of the camera. I always respond, “Well, I have great news for you! You don’t have to take any pictures today, that’s my job, and I’m pretty good at it!”