You can imagine from the title of this post that our family photos this past weekend went a little less than smooth.
It started before the weekend even began with a rude wake up call around 4:30am. I was down for the count for 24 hours, and my was it ever unpleasant. It is never pleasant to have the stomach flu, obviously; I mean other than the weight loss bonus. So trying to have family photos taken no less than 24 hours after the stomach flu is a recipe for disaster, when taking photos of a toddler is a challenging activity on the best of days. They have short attention spans and even shorter patience with anything that you are hoping they will be into (i.e. that beautiful old fashioned crate that your photographer brought will be less desirable than pretty much anything in the world.). What they will be interested in is dirt, leaves, running away, and pulling at clothes.
I decided to write this post because I think that this shoot really could have gone way better, and hopefully I can help save you from making the same mistakes I did!
Here are some of my tips for trying to get nice photos of your toddler tornado.
Kim Moir Photography – Please do not use without permission
Take the important photos first. Toddlers tend to be calmer when they first enter an environment because they are unsure. This is the time to get that family photo of the group of you. Sure they may not have the biggest smile, but I would rather have them in my arms than arching their back at a full 45 degree angle trying to get to whatever it is that catches their eye.
Wear pants. It’s probably easier for you as the mother to wear pants too, as you’ll be doing acrobatics trying to pose with your little one at that perfect angle, but it may also be helpful for your little girl to do so as well. I love dresses, but after looking at the results from the shoot on Saturday, I have realized that until my daughter is a little older, shots of her bloomers are more common then I would like. That’s okay for a baby, but I am not a fan for a toddler personally. Next time, I will put her in pants and avoid this problem.
Toys. If you are doing a shoot with toys in it, then by all means go for it! But if you are not, then toys should be a last last last resort. Trying to keep a little one still is tough enough without trying to keep them from waving that lovable stuffed animal around their head. Using them as prop to make them smile doesn’t really work at this age and will just make them either want to run towards you to grab the toy, or become angry that they can’t have it. This is probably something best discussed with your photographer ahead of time so they, with the best intentions, don’t bring something along.
If they have had enough, they have had enough (ditto for you! ). Once you lose your little one, it is time to move on. Otherwise you are just going to end up with everyone involved being upset. I have learned the hard way that it is only going to get worse! You can bring the camera to the toddler, but you can not make her smile if she doesn’t want to.
As for us, I am thinking the dog will be on the Christmas card this year.
Have your family photoshoots gone smoothly or disastrously?
blogger / cherry / 192 posts
definitely agree on the pants suggestion!! I wore a dress for our last family photos… bad idea
pomegranate / 3729 posts
Thanks for the tips! We are taking our with almost 19m old next week!! Pants for all
kiwi / 511 posts
I have been trying for weeks to get my guys together for a Christmas card photo. The littlest is great and I got his single shot not a problem. It took a while but I got a single shot of the elder, by cropping out the younger. But I want one of them together, oh boy is that trouble
I tried last week and got one meh photo. I am about to attempt again this weekend.
The previous week I did it right after nap time but both boys were not feeling well so that was an issue. This weekend I plan on doing it right after breakfast so they are at their best, rested and fed. Bonus points for them in their PJS. Then I just snap snap snap snap snap as will my DH. It is the beauty of digital I can delete everything if necessary or all but the one. I am hoping it will go well, fingers crossed.
Oh the other thing I plan on having my props out and ready I didn’t have that last time they saw me set up. It is just simple I had them on the tree skirt and a string of Christmas lights because they are festive and won’t get too hot so I don’t have to worry about burns.
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
OMG. We did our family photos yesterday and my husband had the stomach flu too! FUN TIME FOR ALL. UHhhhhh. Hopefully we got a few decent shots. We just couldn’t afford to put them off because we need the pics edited and back to us in time to send out Christmas cards.
pomegranate / 3858 posts
Love that sweater dress…and the gorgeous red curls!
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
This is all so true! Toddlers are super difficult to photograph. Our recent photo shoot wasn’t plagued with the plague, fortunately, but we did experience some difficulties getting Liam to cooperate!
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
Whoa, glad you survived the shoot!
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
That is a cute picture and her dress is super adorable!!! Glad y’all made it through though!
We have our family photo shoot this weekend. DS is 4 months old, and it’s supposed to be in the 40’s… And it’s supposed to rain… (>_<) It's in the mid-70's the past week, including today. WTF!?
blogger / clementine / 998 posts
Love the hair. I think if you can, find a photographer that focuses only on children…..it’s like when I needed someone to alter my prom dress ages ago. I approached the only seamstress I knew – the one that created all my form fitting spandex dance costumes from scratch with no patterns. She told me that she was the expert at what she did, but would not be the best person to tackle a dress. Same for me. I shoot weddings and do them well, but when people ask me to do a simple family photo, I give them some names of photographers that I recommend and leave it a that.
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
Oy yes, toddler photos are tough!! At least you have an adorable subject
blogger / persimmon / 1231 posts
Great tips! And that picture is gorgeous
blogger / nectarine / 2608 posts
Her hair! That top! Perfection. I can’t believe you got some good ones under the circumstances– I’m pretty sure ours would have been a complete mess.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
So true! We had a photoshoot last weekend and in the beginning she was fine smiling for us, but after awhile she was totally over it and it was really hard to capture pics of her smiling!
apricot / 358 posts
Adorable photo! Thanks for the tips.
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
We just got ours back and there weren’t a ton of great ones. They were ok just not great. One of my kids was always looking goofy.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
some great tips esp about getting the important pics first!
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Definitely good tips! Photo sessions get so much harder as they get more active!
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
Great tips!! I feel like we are finally getting to an age where I at least have a chance of bribing Mini to participate in the shoot… Nicely. But there were a whole lot of difficult shoots prior to that.
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Oh man stomach bugs are the worst Great tips though!