Some recommendations for the session

• Wear something comfortable. If your child's sweater is itchy and driving him/her crazy, it will show in the photograph. Same for yourselves if something is too tight or just doesn't fit right

• I’m not a huge fan of color coordination in family portraits. That advice still stands. I think that if you want a cohesive photo, then you can choose a similar range of colors to dress each member of the family in. Think pastels for Easter portraits, clothing with pops of red for Christmas, or beiges, off-whites, and navies for a more serious family portrait session.

• Consider using a professional hair and makeup artist. When mom doesn’t have to worry about getting herself ready, it’s much, much easier to get all of the kids ready. Ideally, I suggest hiring a makeup artist to come to their home around 4 hours before the family portrait session, so that both parents can tackle handling the kids in the hours leading up to the shoot. On the other hand, many women are great at doing their own makeup. If that's the case, go for it

• I encourage parents to have children just act like themselves so that I can get more genuine reactions out of them. Sometimes this does mean that I intervene in the middle of a shoot (kindly, of course) to remind the parents that it’s okay for the children to be messing around with each other, etc. The more comfortable children feel to be themselves during a family portrait session, the more comfortable they will look on film. 

• I encourage families to interact with one another. Nobody can ever truly forget that a photographer is taking their photos, but I make sure everyone knows that they don’t always need to be looking at me in order for me to take great photos. Candids of the kids being themselves make terrific memories
• Try to be available for a session at the best times of the day. Photographers love the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset. Those two times - called golden hour - give the best results on people's skin. There are no squinting or raccoon eyes from the sun. Your skin just glows under those conditions. Sometimes your family is just not available during golden hour. In that case, we will find good locations sheltered a little from the sun and most likely use flashes to get great lighting as well

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