How to Capture Genuine Smiles and Emotion in Family Photos
It’s so important to me to know how to capture genuine smiles emotion in the family photos I take. Posed photos where everyone is looking and smiling at the camera have their place, but my favorites are the ones that just ooze joy and personality. Gone are the days of stiffly posed pictures that don’t really feel like you.
What do you want your family to see when they look at your photos in the future? I want them to see a family that loved each other more than anything. I want them to see the joy we feel when we’re together. Now I’m not saying that every moment in life is happy and joyful and butterflies and rainbows, but it can be a lot of the time. And that’s what I want to showcase.
Setting the Scene for Authenticity
In order to bring out those authentic, natural emotions it’s important that you and your family feel comfortable. I try and make the session feel relaxed and fun, with a lot of playing and moving around.
When you fill out your session guide and questionnaire you’ll have a place to tell me about each of your family members, especially your kids. It really helps me to know what they are interested in so I know what they might be excited to talk about. It’s hard to build trust in a short 1 hour photo session, but it can be done.
Building Trust and Connection
You can help build that trust by telling your kids about me, and what will be happening during the photo session. Just preparing them with what to expect will help a lot.
It’s important to me to understand your family, so share as much as you feel comfortable with.
Encouraging Natural Interactions
It’s really important to keep this a positive space where the kids feel happy and loved. I’m not here to tell anyone how to parent, but try and keep corrections to a minimum during our time together. If they aren’t doing exactly what we want, no worries. I have worked with enough families to know how to roll with it.
Creating a Fun and Relaxed Atmosphere
One of the best ways I know to encourage those natural interactions is by playing games. I have a few up my sleeve; here are some you might see me use.
Who… has stinkiest feet takes the longest to get ready burps the most is the most ticklish
Tell mom or dad something you love about them. With older kids it’s fun to have them do it in alphabetical order for a challenge.
And for the solo photos, here are a few I like to use.
Wiggle wiggle wiggle, Freeze! With the little kids we dance and wiggle our hearts out and then when I say freeze, we all freeze! This can get them giggling and channel some of that energy without them trying to run off.
Show me your dress– this is the best with little girls in twirly dresses. They love swishing their dress and spinning around.
Superhero! Little kids love to show me their best superhero pose. Dad gets in on this one sometimes too.
With all that being said, not all of these tricks work for everyone, and that’s ok! We’ll just do our best and have fun.
Capturing Relationships
I love to capture mom and dad together, and mom and dad with each of the kids. With these it’s important to not think so much about looking at the camera, or even looking good on camera. Let me take care of that. You just focus on loving your babies when you’re with them. Pick them up, hug them, caress their face, whisper I love you. Anything you would do when you’re snuggled up on the couch at home.
Embracing Imperfections and Unscripted Moments
No two sessions are alike because no two families are the same, and that’s a beautiful thing! Imperfections are a great part of who we are, and that’s part of the authenticity we are looking for. Just be yourselves and the rest will follow. Don’t worry about capturing a specific pose, let it flow.
Client Experiences
Here are what a few of my clients have to say about their experience at a photo session with me. Read more reviews by clicking here.
“Anne is so great to work with! She is patient and has the sweetest ideas for poses. She positions and prompts us perfectly to capture real, genuine emotion.” – Megan
“Anne is so fun to work with. I really enjoyed how cute she was with my baby and she was able to love her and get her to smile. I am thrilled with the results!” – Julie
“We were so fortunate to have Anne capture our family photos. She is so good with our three little kids and was able to capture their personalities. We were able to have a mixture of posed and real authentic photos, which I really appreciated. Our photos turned out amazing and they will be something that I will forever cherish. I highly recommend Anne!!” – Kelsey
So what do you think? Are emotional, authentic photos important to you? I hope this helped with knowing how to capture genuine smiles and emotion in family photos.
If you’re ready to schedule your family photos in Colorado Springs, just reach out using the contact me button or clicking here.
