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Lifestyle Family Photography

Lesson 14 of 31

Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions


Lifestyle Family Photography

Lesson 14 of 31

Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions


Lesson Info

Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions

Few tips. Let go of being perfect. This is huge, you guys. With lifestyle photography we talked about how you're trying to get real but just because you're getting real doesn't mean it can't be beautiful but it also doesn't have to be perfect, okay? You might have some harsher shadows than you wished for or you may have flat, boring light, it's okay. Somebody might be kind of out of focus, it's okay. Like, if you see a shot that Mom looks beautiful and the kid's kinda out of focus, Mom's gonna love that image, right? Keep that image 'cause Mom's the one picking the pictures. Let go of some of these imperfections because they don't see them like we do. Let it go. Okay? Have fun. Like, have so much fun. This image that you see up here was a newborn session. You probably can't even see the newborn in there. They had the most fun kitchen and we had to go in there and she was telling me that the dog was obsessed with soap bubbles. So, we went in there and we filled the sink up, she strapped...

the baby to her and they were being cute and lovey and the dog was just running around, right, getting the soap bubbles and it was fun. Like, have fun and don't worry if anybody's not in focus all the time. I mean, try to get as much as you can but if it's not, let it go, okay? And then play with wide angle lenses. You know, that's a really good investment. If you're looking to expand your lifestyle portfolio, if you wanna be different than everybody else, get a really fun lens. 'Cause you can take a really fun lens and do creative things that you can't do with standard prime lenses, okay? Alright, more about having fun. Don't be nervous, okay? And if you prepare well, we talked about this questionnaire, just have fun. Like, be prepared. If you're prepared, they'll feel better. If they're prepared, they'll feel better, everybody can relax and you'll have fun, okay? Arrive early. I cannot enforce this enough. Even if Mom's still getting dressed, it gives you time to pull the children up, hey, you know, what's your name? Let's go hang out. Can you show me your room? Oh, you like unicorns? Show me your favorite unicorn. And that's a great time to say, hey, Mom, go finish drying your hair. Go dry your hair. I'm gonna get to know the kids a little bit 'cause we're gonna play, you know. I put my camera bag down. I don't bring it with me. This is very, just, get to know the kids so when it's time to start shooting, everything is very relaxed, okay? It is not about you, okay? We think it's about us sometimes because we're shooting for what we think looks awesome. It's about them. So if they wanted a shot in a room that you don't particularly think is cute, just do it because they're gonna love it, okay? Trust me, the families are more nervous than we are during these types of sessions. Okay. Make them feel in control. This is another trick, okay? It's like we kinda do these things and don't realize that we do them, you know? So don't ask questions to a younger kid, okay? So, instead of saying, do you like to fly? Be like, hey can you show me your best Superman flying move? You know? So they think they're coming up with idea instead of, being like, hey, let's go fly on the bed. Say, hey, can you show me your best Superman move? So you give them the idea and they're like, yes I totally can do Superman and then they'll show you and they came up with the idea that way, okay? Siblings love a good sibling challenge too, okay? So, races, who can jump the highest? Who can laugh the loudest? You saw me doing the laughing the loudest yesterday. You know, who can tickle the most? You know, who can give Daddy the biggest kisses? So, as long as you take two kids and you give them something to beat each other with, they're gonna love doing it, okay? And they're gonna feel like they're in control of the situation. So, seeing these kind of activities that really give real connection, smiles into pictures, okay? Alright, a few more shooting tips. These pictures are on my phone. These are my phone pictures. These are my children, okay? So, that bottom picture down there, that at my dad's house and they've got a RV and they travel all over doing dog shows and the cousins were in town and they were all in there. And this was the most fun composition. It was just so cute. They peaked their heads out. Get really good with your composition. Get creative. You know, keep things on the side of photos. Don't use your whole center frame. We're gonna go into details about composition coming up. But, just get used to composing on your phone, okay? Get used to composing on your iPad. Do fun pictures. Don't worry about things being perfect. Same thing right over here. Zachary was sitting there. We were at a relative's house and I text him this phone, this picture and he said to me, how'd you do that? I'm like, what do you mean how did I do that? (laughs) Like, I'm standing over him and I took a picture of my son eating ice cream on the stairs because he's having his deck rebuilt so he couldn't go outside and he was fascinated with this shot which is funny to me 'cause I'm like, I just stood over him and took a picture 'cause he looked cute. However, that drew him into the image 'cause it told the story of him getting his deck rebuilt, which just finished, and he also go to see, you know, Zachary sitting there eating ice cream, okay? So, always be thinking about the story that's going on around you, composing for the story and bringing in a person or dog or whatever, a goldfish. So what if? Kids will be kids. So, what happens if they want nothing to do with you? 'Cause this happens, right? This is when sometimes, and you'll know this in advance if you're gonna have a kid that has stranger danger, that'll all be in your questionnaire, bring a longer lens, okay? So you're gonna step outside the room and you're going to shoot them from farther away. Okay, so those are the kids that don't want anything to do with you. You can set them up with an activity in the other room, step back and get your shots that way, okay? Grab a child's favorite thing and just let 'em see what's gonna happen, okay? Like the fish. They wanted to bring a fish in. Cool, let's do the fish. It's his favorite thing right now. Put them in their room and just sneak in, okay? You can sneak in around those kids that are kinda scared of you. But the biggest trick, honestly, with kids that don't want engage is the bed jumping. I mean, every kid likes to jump on the bed. It always works. And a snack break obviously never hurt anybody, okay? So, let's go through the recap of the workflow here. We get our inquiry. We email back. Send over a contract and the initial invoice with Iris. Send the questionnaire via Iris and then once the client is, the date's chosen, send over the family guide and that family guide we kinda touched on a little bit yesterday, earlier. And the family guide just is full of information and that's in the bonus materials. The family guide just has a bunch of information about what to wear on the day of the session, what to expect when I get there, there's a whole section about please don't be nervous, it's okay if things go wrong. I have things for backup. Just a lot of things to put your client at ease. There's kind of a modified, it's not an editable version but it's in the bonus materials with the class. So, that's in there. It's great. Set up a time to talk on the phone. I cannot encourage this enough. So, do that after you send them their family guide so you guys can kind of go over all of this together so they really feel like they're part of their session, okay? And then send a reminder email and Iris will do that automatically for you. We went over that yesterday.

Class Description

  • Capture authentic lifestyle family images
  • Plan for a successful lifestyle session
  • Edit for beautiful skin tones and stunning portraits
  • Build a successful lifestyle photography business






  • Budding photographers ready to turn a passion into a profession
  • Parents that want to capture better images of the everyday moments
  • Professional photographers ready to do more with lifestyle images




  1. Class Introduction


  2. What is Lifestyle Family Photography?


  3. How to Get Started in Lifestyle Photography


  4. How to Market to Your Ideal Client


  5. How to Book Your First Client


  6. Pricing for Lifestyle Photography Sessions


  7. Steps to Book a Client Using Iris Works


  8. The Client Questionnaire


  9. Why Use a Family Guide?


  10. Live Shoot: Family In-Studio


  11. Live Shoot: Introduce Fun Activity


  12. Image Culling Process in Bridge


  13. Gear Recommendations for Shoots


  14. Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions


  15. Plan an In-Home Shooting Session


  16. Activity Tips for In-Home Shoots


  17. Develop Your In-Home Session Flow


  18. Live Shoot: Find In-Home Natural Light


  19. Live Shoot: Engaging Children in Fun Activities


  20. Live Shoot: Introduce In-Home Activities to Shoot


  21. Live Shoot: Implement In-Home Shooting Flow


  22. Tips for Engaging Clients


  23. Photoshop: Edit Live Shoot Images


  24. Lightroom: Edit Live Shoot Images


  25. The Importance of Photo Composition


  26. Get Clients to Connect Naturally In Photos


  27. Example: Successful Family Shoot


  28. Example: Perspective in Shoots


  29. Incorporating Pets Into Family Photos


  30. Sales Techniques That Work


  31. Sellable Products and Packages







