Preparing for a photo shoot can be really daunting and stressful. Depending on your photographer will depend on how prepared you are. However, there are a few general things that I can let you know, so you can feel excited and ready for your upcoming photo shoot session. Let’s begin with the top four.

Have a general idea of how you want your photographs to look and feel: some people like the traditional formal and structured look to their photographs. Think: having everyone seated looking at the camera with hands in laps or standing and clasping their hands in front of them. And while there is a time and place for these types of photos, most of the people that I have photographed over my professional career, are looking for a more relaxed and personable feel to their photos. I always suggest to my clients to create a Pinterest Board and send to me a copy their inspiration for the vibe that they are most drawn too and include both colour and black and white photographs. By doing this, you are giving your photographer the preferred aesthetic and theme and then, you and your photographer can talk about how they can achieve this look for you.

Who is going to be included: if it is just yourself, then this will not apply to you. But if your session is a family, a couple or bigger (extended family members or groups), then some logistics will need to be thoroughly thought out. If it is just a couple, all you’ll need to worry about about is arriving on the designated time arranged by your photographer. If there will be more than just you and one other person, think about how you will communicate all of the details to everyone and ask your photographer if they offer Zoom sessions that people can join in on. I offer this to my clients and invite everyone who will be apart of the session to join and it is also a good opportunity to have all those questions answered. Someone may ask your photographer a question or questions that you may not have even thought about!

Dealing with younger children: we all know that kids can be unpredictable and they have their own set of needs. Little ones will usually have nap times, feeding times, etc., to consider, while the primary aged kids have an abundance of never ending energy! Be sure to have a chat with your photographer about how they’ve handled photographing children in previous sessions and what considerations you need to know and prepare for. There is nothing worse than having a stressful, rushed photo shoot session, where the children and Mum are sobbing with tears! If my clients do have children, we spend a LOT of time talking about the children’s daily routines, their quirks, their personalities and any allergies or sensitivities that they may have (noise, lights, etc). As a Mum and Grandmum myself, I know how rambunctious and full on children can be, and as the photographer, I want ensure that the children are feeling included in the fun, not excluded.

Print your photographs: while we are very much in the digital age, there is a significantly BIG difference between seeing your photographs on a computer screen or online gallery and you actually feeling and touching them in person. There is something truly personal and very emotional when you see yourself or those that you love, in beautiful photographs that you hold in your hands. Your printed photographs will not only be loved by you now, but they are also your legacy that you are gifting to your future generations. Professionally printed photographs and beautiful printed Wall Art is always what I do for my clients, because they also receive their digitals for all products that they do purchase. While digitals may be the cheaper option, what will become of those digitals if they are only on a USB or up in the cloud somewhere? And what is it that your loved ones will look for when you are no longer here? They will WANT photographs of you. Give yourself the gift of printed photographs, that will ALWAYS keep on giving.

There is a lot more advice and ideas for photo shoot preparedness that I will be sharing with you in future blog posts, but I do hope these first four steps gives you a good starting point of things to consider.

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You can also book your own private studio photo shoot session for either portraits or boudoir with me HERE.

Till we chat again later, have the most incredible day/night Friend.

Melissa xoxo