Colorado Family Pictures | How to eliminate fake smiles during your session

Family

Colorado family pictures can be hard! Especially with little ones! Kids are completely unpredictable. They can be so adorable and easy going and laughing uncontrollably one minute. Then the next minute, they are crying or angry. Children will typically smile for you all day long until you put them in front of a camera that is. Then they freeze up like a deer in headlights. We want to avoid the gritted teeth and bug-eyed forced smiles during our session. 

Here are some things you can do: 

How to get authentic Colorado family pictures!

Make a list of things that your child thinks are funny and send it to us prior to the session. This way, we can be prepared and add these things into our bag of tricks. 

Help us break the ice!

Also give us a list of icebreakers for your child. Tell us the kinds of shows they watch, music they listen to, friends’ names, favorite story, etc. This will give us something to talk to them about. It will help them forget that they are in front of a camera. Before your Colorado family pictures, we will send you a questionnaire – this is the perfect place to put this information!

Practice phrases at home to see which ones evoke the best smiles from your child. (Please, oh please, avoid “Say cheese!” unless that really works for you child.) 

Before your Colorado family pictures, try out a couple of jokes with them. During the session, we can ask them to tell us a joke. This will typically loosen them up as they tell it to us.

If there is a song that your child loves, load it up to your phone and bring it along with you. Otherwise, be prepared to sing it for them during your Colorado family pictures.

Prepare a bribe (think toy, trip to the zoo etc.) and remind them of it, during the session. You can also let us know about it beforehand- that way we can use it if things start to go south.

A lot of what makes our Colorado family pictures sessions so special is that we really try to let you be you. We don’t like the stuffy formal poses. Although, we will get one or two what we call Christmas card photos (you know the ones where everyone is posed just right and looking and smiling at the camera). However, the majority of our time together will be filled with laughter, snuggles and lots of playtime! So getting those real, authentic smiles is usually pretty easy.

Lets be friends!

Colorado family pictures are near and dear to my heart! Every family has a story and it deserves to be told. To be documented forever! It is truly a beautiful time in your life and a privilege for me to be a small part of it. Reach out to me here for more information! You can also check out our Instagram or Facebook to see what we have been up to!

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