Family Mini-sessions offer a great way to get a handful of great photos of your family in a short burst of time being "on" for the camera. The main ingredient for success is for everyone who will be in front of the camera to be as comfortable as possible.
The following tips are ones that we've observed to have the most significant impact on success.
1. Arrive a Few Minutes Early
This sounds too basic to be worth mentioning, but there are several reasons being a few minutes early will set you and your family up for success. First, being early to any appointment takes your stress level as a parent way down, and your kids will pick up on that and (hopefully) be primed to follow suit.
It allows your kids (especially the young ones) to get acclimated to the area. This is the main reason we do mini-sessions in outdoor settings rather than indoors because younger children tend to be more comfortable in surroundings they are familiar with.
Being early also lets your kids watch any sessions in progress. Depending on your children's ages, they can see how easy their job will be, which may help calm any nervousness.
2. Prepare Your Kids for Their Session
15-20 minutes for a photoshoot sounds like a short amount of time. You might think-"How can we get good photos in such a short timeframe?" The reality is that fifteen minutes in front of a camera can feel like an eternity. Having worked with children for years (and also raising a few of our own) has taught us their attention spans tend to evaporate after the first ten minutes. Anything we get after that is a bonus.
Knowing this, we typically do the entire family grouping first when they are at their freshest and (usually) most cooperative. This is the setup with the entire family. From there, we'll get as much variety as possible.
The very last thing we'll do is get individuals of each child doing something fun. It's all age-dependent, of course. For 0-3-year-olds, it may only be sitting in the grass. For 4-10-year-olds, they may be up for sitting or standing in a tree, while the over 11 crowd may only be up for standing in one spot and crossing their arms.
3. Allow Your Photographer to Give ALL the Direction
It's tempting, almost instinctual, to want to repeat everything your photographer says when they give your kids direction. I even caught myself doing it at a photo shoot with my own kids a few months ago! I assure you, no matter their age, they can hear and understand us.
For example, if your whole family is looking and smiling perfectly at the camera except your son, I'm going to call his name to get his attention. This is often when Dad stops looking at me to look at the kid in question and repeat what I just said and make sure he complies. All the while, the kid was doing what I asked, but now Dad is looking down. It's a vicious cycle. (I'm guilty of this too!)
4. Kids Will Be Kids
We've talked about prepping the kids for the experience, now is an excellent time to prepare the parents' expectations. As much as we don't want to admit it, the reality is, your kids don't want this fabulous family photo as much as you do. That's ok though. We'll work through it. Stay calm. We've got this!
Being parents ourselves, we know the stress of getting the kids all dressed up and sold on the idea of going somewhere to sit still for a few minutes and behave for the camera. In fact, though we've been professional photographers for over twenty years, we always hire other pros to photograph our family and children because it works out to be a better experience for all involved.
We hope our kids will cooperate. Sometimes they are perfect angels one minute, then the next, decide they are done. Sometimes in those situations, it's helpful for the parent to take a few steps away and let the photographer see if they can make the breakthrough. That often works.
5. Bribery is a Slippery Slope
It's tempting to use tangible rewards like candy, ice cream, or a toy to motivate your child's cooperation during the session. Every child responds differently to this, and you know yours better than anyone.
I've observed that when a bribe is made, the child will do the best they can. If their best isn't quite good enough (not big enough smile, etc.) and the parent threatens to take away the reward, a power struggle ensues, and it's usually game over.
Positive encouragement from all of us has proven to be the best motivator.