It is time! Session time!

So you have finally made it. You have made it through all the steps. You have picked a photographer, picked a location, decided on what to wear for your session, and now the day has come for that session. Believe it or not you are not quite done yet. Why? Because this where all the stress begins.

Why is there stress at the session?
The session with your photographer can be stressful for a number of reasons. Are you and everyone comfortable in front of the camera? Many would say yes because they are constantly taking selfies and always in front of a camera somewhere, however it all changes when you are in front of photographer. For some reason it triggers the thought process that it has to be perfect and that there can not be a single thing out of place. All of the sudden people lose their personalities and become very stiff and boring in front of the camera. This takes away from the magic of the photo that is about to be created.

Do you have body image issues?
The current standards of society can leave anyone with body images. Everyone is affected, men, women, and children alike. No one is able to escape these standards. If you have body image issues you are not alone, however realize that you are you, and the people that are going to be viewing your photos are going to love you for you. As long as you are happy with them they will be happy. Do not let the thoughts of self doubt in this area make you shy away from the camera or make you tense. Photos are a way to remember the past, and that is just it a moment in time. Be happy in that moment and love you for you.

During the Session.
Your session will be unique to you and those who are there. Even for the photographer. Even if this is a mini session that has a set up, it is still going to be totally unique from the previous session or the one to follow. Be comfortable with you and your photographer. Show who you really are and let your personality out. This makes for the best photos and also helps to relieve some of the stress from the idea of being in front of the camera to begin with. Your photographer is going to give you small cues or suggestions to guide you to different poses and to get the best angle or shot for you and your loved ones, but this by no means meant to be stressful.

If you have children with you to be photographed take a deep breath. The younger they are the more likely they are to be all over the place. Under no circumstances do not try and force younger children to pose or do something that is uncomfortable with. This will lead to lots of screaming, crying and frustration for all the parties that are involved. Your photographer will find a way to adapt and still get great photos for all of you. Just take a breath and let them play. If they are shy, let them be shy, they may or may not warm up, but a photo session can still be done with great images. My biggest suggestion to you as the parent is to not show that you are stressed due to the behavior of your child, and above all do not get angry and yell at them. It will only cause them to get upset, cry and make everything that much worse. So instead scoop them up, swing them around, love on them and make the session fun. Play with them, make the whole thing a game. It will not only help the child to become comfortable with the photographer, but you will have the chance to get some photos that you will cherish forever.

At the end of the session you and your photographer will part ways after having spent an amazing time together. It is always a temptation to demand to see all the outtakes on the back of the camera. Believe it or not, you don't want to see these shots. It may or may not ruin how you feel the session went. Remember that not every image is going to be perfect straight out of the camera and this can cause some unease with your photographer. Every photographer only wants to showcase their best work, and demanding to see the back of their camera can cause some ease, because you will not see just their best work. You can also cause doubt with the photographer about how happy you will be based upon your reaction at that time. Instead of stressing over the photos the minute that the session is complete walk away on a cloud. Remember you have just rocked a photo session, and like with all good things the photos will come in time. Be confident in yourself and your photographer that everything looks great.

Do you have any other thoughts to add? I would love to hear them! Please leave them in the comments below!

Preparing for the moment.. the session

Preparing for the session. Sounds crazy right? Why should you have to get ready for a session? That is the job for the photographer. All you should have to do is just show up right?

WRONG!

Believe it or not there is stuff that you need to do on your end. There is a belief that some hold that a photographer can work magic because they may have powerful editing programs like Photoshop and Lightroom that can make your photos look amazing. However it is not the job of the photographer to make you look beautiful. That is your job. Here is the link to an article regarding this very topic. Make me look amazing!

There is some planning that needs to go into your session on your part. For example what are you going to wear, and if there is more than just you in the photo what are others going to where? You need to make sure that you all coordinate your clothing. You don't want to have colors that clash, and you definitely don't want to have loud patterns or things that are going to distract away from your photo that is going to eventually ruin it for you in the end.

When deciding what to where consider where you are going to be. For example take a look at the photo below.

As you can see there is a large amount of red and green in this photo, however the young girl is still the center of the photo. She stands out as the model. Why? Because her clothing helps her to contrast against the scene. She does not blend in to the scene and does not disappear into the foliage around her, but her choice of clothing still gives her a perfect touch of feminism to make the shot about her, and bring out exactly who she is as a person.

When choosing clothing I am one that tends to believe that it is best to go with a solid color top rather than having things printed on the shirt or blouse. Why? Solid colors are timeless. The style of the top may not be but the color will always be timeless and therefore thirty years down the road when you are looking back at the photo you will not look at it in disgust and wonder "WHAT WAS I THINKING?!" ( I am sure we have all been there at some point.) Not to mention that with the way that fashion trends go that particular style could be back in style in thirty years. 

LADIES:

I have also noticed that women especially are very picky about certain areas of their body and how they look. I am right there with you ladies. I can not stand my little love handles either. So in order to make this easier for you here are a few suggestions. If you are not happy with a certain area of your body, either do not wear form fitting clothing over it, or dress in layers in that area. For example. Let's look at my love handles. I hate them with a passion. So here is what I do to hide them. I tend to wear tank tops a lot, but I know that these tops will show the love handles even more, so what I will do is where I looser top like a sweater, or flannel type shirt over the top, something with a bit of flow, that will not hug my love handle curves and yet still gives a great appearance. If I do not want to wear layers I will just choose a top that is not form fitting and has a bit of a flow to it, similar to the one in the picture above, and this way no one, including my photographer can see that small imperfection. 

You can also use long skirts to hide your legs if that is what you are uncomfortable with. Long flowing skirts can also make the shoot more interesting and give the photographer more to work with to make it fun. Things like twirling photos or if it is long enough maybe giving the impression that the wind is causing the skirt to "float" a bit. Either way it can be fun, and still help you more comfortable about you and who you are in your own skin.

MEN:

Believe it or not if men are uncomfortable about their waist line they can do something similar. Instead of making a point to tuck in their shirts, leave them untucked, or choose to wear a sweater that is a bit more forgiving in the areas of concern. 

When a man picks out the pants they are going to wear make sure they are long enough. You do not want to have him sit down and give off the appearance that he is wearing high waters. Also with standing poses the cuff of the pants should hit the top of the shoe and cover the sock. When dealing with size make sure that the pants are the proper size. Guys don't like to be uncomfortable. There is no reason that their jeans need to be so tight that they have to be "painted" on, but also there is no reason that they should be so loose that they are falling off. Pants that are to tight will make the waist line look larger (if this is a concern of his) however a waist line with properly fitting pants that a bit of give will not only keep him comfortable and less grumpy but will help that waist look a bit smaller. 

CHILDREN:

This is something that is a bit harder to work with. Typically children's clothes are full of shapes and colors which can throw off what you are going for. Do not worry! This is something that can be worked with and may actually add to the photo versus distracting because the child is the only one. Unless of course there are multiple children in the photo. If there are going to be multiple children I do recommend trying to limit the different types of patterns. But if they look good together, and the adults are sporting solid colors, this can make for a very fun shoot. 

With younger children I also would suggest that you select potentially 2-3 outfits for the session. I know that this may sound crazy, however after raising three of my own, I have learned that children manage to get dirty even when there is no where to get dirty. I am not sure how but they always managed to attract dirt to them! So with this thought in mind I would have the extra outfits. This will save both you and your photographer stress on the off chance that an incident of spit up occurred in route to the location, or there was a magical pile of dirt that your children found to play in. 

Remember when backing your bag for the session to bring extra wipes. Wipes are amazing, and will save you in a pinch for dirty hands, faces and feet. 

Now I know there are hundreds of suggestions out there and many ideas out there and I would love to hear them. Please leave them in the comments below so that we can expand the information here, and prepare others, and yourself to have an amazing session the next time you hire a photographer!