"What should we wear for our portraits?"

When families plan a portrait session with me one of the questions they frequently ask is "any tips for what we should wear?" Yes! I tell families that they can match if they choose to, but it's not necessary. The important thing is to look coordinated with one another; choose a color scheme and build around that, and make sure the clothing styles go together as well--you wouldn't have one person in a suit and another in jeans and a t-shirt!

Another thing to consider is the setting for your portraits. On the beach a casual, fun look is great! In a more formal setting (sometimes in the studio) you might want to have everyone dress up more.

The most important thing is to look like you all belong together, not like a random group of people that just happened to take a photo together! Check out some examples below, from portraits on the beach to a park, to the studio!

Say..."cheese?"

If you have been to my studio or worked with me before you know I am not a fan of "Say CHEESE!" to elicit smiles. Why? Well, for one reason, after 19 years of photographing children I'm just plain tired of hearing that shouted over my shoulder when I'm working. I know that parents just want great smiles from their kids! And believe me, I want that too; but part a photographer's job is connecting with their subjects, not just pushing a button. Whether I'm at my studio or at a school I work to establish a rapport with children and I have a huge array of words and silly phrases that I will drop to get those natural smiles from them. I've also found with some kids that they've heard "say cheese" so much that it no longer means a natural smile, just a pasted-on fake one. So say no to CHEESE and trust me (or whoever your photographer is!) to get those spontaneous, happy smiles from your children!

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Choosing the right background for your portraits

These are from a session I did a few years ago in the Fall at a park here in Hampton; I started out by the lake because sometimes the water reflects the colors from the trees but on this particular day it was a bit windy and as you can see more than half of the background is just the whitish water. This lovely family looks great and they did like the portrait! But I knew I could do better with the background so we moved around and ended up in another location where the background is pretty but not distracting, allowing the family to shine. This is my tip for you today! When taking pictures of people, whether you are an amateur or professional, look for backgrounds that don't pull focus from your subjects. Of course there are always exceptions! Sometimes the background IS the point, but that's a tip for another day.

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