How to Prepare for your Spring Photo Session

/ Family Photography
regina family photographers, regina family photographer, family photographers in regina

Our spring sessions are coming up and I’m sure many of you are beginning to wonder how to prepare for your spring photo session. I’ve put together a few tips to help make the process as easy and enjoyable as possible so that you can focus on enjoying your family photo session.

  1. When planning your outfits start with Mom. While these photos are for everyone, I know that you Mama are the one that will treasure them the most. I want to ensure that you look at the photos and love them and can marvel at how sweet your babies are rather than how frumpy you look in that dress. Pick an outfit you LOVE – take a photo of yourself in it to make sure you still love it and then base everyone else’s outfits off of that.
  2. Be co-ordinating but not matching. You want your colours to compliment each other and the season. You do not want to all wear the same colour of shirt, but rather pick two or three colours and make sure everyone has at least one of those colours on them. You want the colours to compliment the season so for spring photos you will want pastel colours. It works great to tie all the colours in if you add accessories. You can do this by adding in scarves, hair clips and bow ties in your chosen colours.
  3. Dress as fancy as you are comfortable. The nicer your outfits, the better your photos will look. If the girls all come in dresses and the boys come in dress shirts and bow ties then the photos will look better than if everyone is wearing jeans. Don’t be afraid to dress up!

I made up a selection of outfits from this season’s H&M selections so that you can see how well co-ordinated outfits can look good together. It doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. You could probably put together some well co-ordinated outfits from clothing that you already have and well co-ordinated outfits will look better than nice new outfits that don’t co-ordinate well.

Regina Spring Mini session outfit guide

Plan to be ready 30 minutes prior to when you actually need to be. Something ALWAYS goes wrong prior to family photos and this gives you some leeway time to ensure everyone is ready so you can all look great!

Make sure everyone is well rested and well fed. The day of your family photos is probably not the best day to skip naps and be out adventuring in the sunshine all day. You want happy kids for your photo session and the best way to do this is to make sure they have gotten enough rest and have full tummies. It can be beneficial to bring a treat or snack for immediately after the session as well.

And finally make sure that you show up 15 minutes prior to your session. This is especially important for mini sessions. Mini sessions are scheduled back to back so if you are late for your session it will come out of your session time which means less time to capture amazing images.

And those are my suggestions for a successful spring photo session! It’s arguably the prettiest time of the year in Regina and is such a great time to capture family photos. I can’t wait to document the love that your family has for one another!

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How to Prepare for your Newborn Photo Session

/ Newborn Photography
regina newborn photo session

A successful newborn session can be largely dependent on successfully preparing for the session. I always send my newborn clients information on how to successfully prepare their baby for their newborn session. Some babies are really sleepy and would do great regardless and some babies are having a rough day and no amount of preparing seems to help. However, most babies benefit from a little preparation.

Regina newborn photographers
  1. Newborn sessions are best held between 5 and 14 days. It’s best to not do the session before five days as often Mom’s milk hasn’t come in yet and Mom and baby need time to settle and bond. Some babies continue to do great following day fourteen but prior to day fourteen is when the baby is still sleepy enough to allow for the newborn posing that is required. Baby acne also tends to pop up after the two week mark.
regina newborn photography

2. Keep the baby up for 1-2 hours prior to the newborn session. This will hopefully allow for baby to easily fall asleep at the beginning of the session and stay asleep for the entirety of the session. Don’t try to keep baby up for longer than two hours as then he or she will likely be overtired. I always recommend a long feed followed by some awake time, a bath and then getting ready to head to the studio for the session. But the biggest thing is to not stress out about this. Can’t keep baby awake? No big deal. Baby will still sleep at the studio, it is not worth stressing you or baby out over.

3. Plan your outfits

I always strongly encourage family photos. Not only will they be great for you to look back over but I always think about how incredibly special that will be for your child to see when they are grown. I recommend a white or cream tank top or shirt for Mom, and any siblings and a black or white shirt for dad. This keeps the photos simple so the focus is on the baby.

4. Expect to Follow Your Babies Lead

When a newborn arrives at my studio for their photo session they typically fall asleep within ten to fifteen minutes and stay asleep for the entire session. However, this does not always happen. Some babies are having a rough day. Some are cluster feeding, some have a sore belly and some just hate being touched and positioned. I will never force your baby into a pose that he is uncomfortable with. So while you may have an idea of photos that you want to get (and I do as well!) we will always follow babies lead and get the photos that he or she is comfortable with. And for some babies that means that they will be wrapped up their entire session so that they can feel safe and secure and need to be re-positioned less.

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