Today I’ll be sharing how I interact with my families in order to help you achieve a lifestyle photography session. This topic has been a big one inside my Blueprint Program. Photographers start to realize that their sessions look a little too stiff or posed and they want to focus more on lifestyle sessions.

The Warm Up Phase For A Lifestyle Photography Session

First off, every session is going to go through a warmup phase. This warmup phase usually begins when you and your clients both arrive at the session to shortly after the session has begun. I always utilize the first 10 minutes of my sessions just letting my clients warm up.

This can be as you’re walking to the spot just begin making conversation with them. Ask them how they are, compliment their outfits, dive into conversation with whoever talks to you first. This can lead to a more lifestyle photography session because it helps your clients get used to you and then feel a bit more comfortable in front of the camera. From there just let everyone breathe, talk, loosen up. Then based on the kids I do what I call a temperature check. Are the kids happy? Do they seem like they’re ready for the camera yet? Or do we need to let them run around a bit?

And if they do need to run around a bit then I usually tell the parents that it looks like their child needs a little bit of time to warm up. So if it’s ok can we just walk around, let them touch the grass and pick some flowers? Whatever it is that they need to do. And we’ll start taking pictures in just a minute. They always seem super impressed that I’m paying attention to their child’s mood. You don’t ever want to upset a child at the beginning of a session because it will be ten times harder to gain back their trust. Every session you have will need some type of warm up phase in the beginning so you’ll need to decide what that looks like for you.

Transitioning Into The Session

How I break out of this warmup phase is by beginning to pose everyone in a Christmas card type photo. Mom and dad are typically holding each child and everyone is bunched up together smiling at the camera. So I begin with what they’re familiar with. Give them something they are used to before I start to break down the barrier and do things a little out of their comfort zone. Once you have those things going naturally then you’ll notice everyone will start turning and looking at each other or a child will try to jump out of their parent’s arms. These are the moments you’re looking for because you’re waiting for those candid opportunites to present themselves. And the more you practice this in your sessions, the easier it will get allowing you a more lifiestyle photography session.

You’ll have your clients who are stiffer than others who aren’t going to do a lot. Or they’ll be in the mindset that everyone needs to be looking at the camera throughout the entire session. You have to be comfortable taking control in a very natural and respectful way. You have to be able to tell them “hey, it’s ok. For this one I actually don’t want everyone looking at the camera. You can all look at each other, look at your shoes, look for bunny rabbits.” Whatever sounds right to get people to look away from you. You want to really be looking for these natural moments. Let’s say a child is trying to get out of mom or dad’s arms. Reassure the parents that it’s ok and you’ll just follow him around and take some cute pictures of him while he’s playing.

So that is the warm up phase and how I transition from making sure everyone feels comfortable and looking for those more candid opportunities.

The Difference Between Posing And Prompting

I want to explain to you how I look at these two things. When I say posing this is when I am helping the clients sculpt together. Telling them what to do with their face, their body, hands, expressions all of that. So posing is like sculpting. Prompting is little phrases that I use with my clients to get them to do something on their own. I do a healthy mix of both posing and prompting. I’m not afraid to be that photographer who says, “hey dad, your wrist is looking a little funny. Can you do this instead?” Also one of the things I do at the beginning of the session is let everyone know some different things they can do with their hands throughout the session. And they usually remember that but I do remind them as we go.

Prompting is when I’m telling them to do something. I’m not touching them. I’m standing back away from them with my camera and I may say something like “hey mom, I would love for you to hold hands with dad. Now turn your body towards your right side, turn your face. I want you to look back at your husband.” Then I’ll tell dad to look back at her. “Mom go ahead and tuck that hand somewhere, amazing. You all look great. Now mom I want you to whisper something to dad in your sexiest voice about what you had for lunch today.” The reason I’m doing this isn’t because I care what they are telling each other. I’m waiting for the smiles and laughter to break out so I can capture more natural expressions.

So that’s really the difference between posing and prompting. The less posing you do and the more prompting and suggestions then the more natural and candid photos you’ll get.

Prepping Your Clients Before The Session

One golden tip I want to give you before I give you some prompts that you can use is this. A big part of how your sessions go really relates back to the prepping that you did before the session even started. So this is why client experience and client prepping is such a huge thing because it really does make a difference. You need a client questionnaire that’s going to address the things that you need to know. You need to know how comfortable your clients are going to be. How far can you push their limits?

For example, most families that come to you are probably going to be more on the timid side and won’t want to do much outside of their comfort zones. Will you have clients that will be more brave and confident? Yes! But how you find this out is in your client questionnaire. You should be asking questions in your questionnaire that will give you insight into who you are working with. What is the family dynamic? How do they flirt with each other? Are they hands on type of people or more hands off? You’ll never know unless you ask so a client questionnaire is a game changer. This is where you’ll learn about your client’s personalities and any boundaries they have.

5 Prompts That You Can Use For A More Lifestyle Photography Session

I thought back to some family sessions I’ve had recently and I pulled these prompts from there. Feel free to tweak these however you want.

1. “I’m going to have you swing Tommy while you’re walking towards me.” I use this prompt when I feel like the child just wants to keep moving. Usually with toddlers or younger kids four and under. They don’t want to stay in their parent’s arms or they’re starting to get upset whenever someone picks them up. This is when I’ll say “I think what would work best is if you guys swing Tommy while you’re walking towards me. Does he like to swing?” Then I give them more instructions like “walk over there, keep going I’ll tell you when to stop.” I will say nine out of 10 kids love this and they want to keep doing it over and over. So if you start with this one you’ll have to keep doing it throughout the entire session. So keep it as a little tool in your toolkit for whenever the kids start getting antsy.
2. The next prompt is to just have your clients dance. There doesn’t have to be any music and it doesn’t have to be anything special. You can instruct dad to twirl his daughter and if mom has a baby on her hip she can grab his little hand and sway back and forth. “While dad spins Lilly dad just keep looking at Lilly. And then take a couple glances at mom every now and then.” And that’s it. These make really cute pictures because you can get close and capture facial expressions. And you can step back and get the whole landscape.
3. “Mom, just cuddle your babies. You can whisper in their ears, have them look at your jewelry. I just want you to keep your focus on them.” This is one of my favorites to get mom and the kids to stop looking at me. It’s just so sweet to have these intimate moments where you’re able to capture the details. Then having them go nose to nose and mom giving one of the kids a little kiss on the temple or the cheek. This is how you’ll be able to get those more emotive type pictures. So tell mom or dad “I just want you to cuddle your babies. And then just keep your focus on them and not me.”
4. Have them play follow the leader. For this one you need at least two people. It’s not going to work with just one. This will work for families, couples, etc. What I love is that you’ll get natural, cute photos especially from the kids. So playing follow the leader they can hold hands or they can not hold hands and turn it into a little race. This really allows your clients to be in the moment and forget about you.
5. Have them play Ring Around The Rosie. This one is for the kids. So if there’s one or two kids and they’re really young I have them do something more stationary. So I’ll tell them to touch the grass or pick a flower. And if there’s three kids or more or they’re older then I’ll have them do Ring Around The Rosie. It’s just really cute to see them holding hands and falling down and all of the cute facial expressions.

So those are the five prompts that you can leave in your notes app on your phone and use them for a more lifestyle photography session.

Advice For Dealing With Grumpy Dads Or Upset Kids

Most dads will suck it up and are actually pretty pleasant to work with. But you’ll still get the dads who will make you work for it. What I recommend when this happens is to again do a temperature check. If they’re making your session difficult then I would have dad step out and we’ll go back to the warmup phase. Or we’ll go back to that Christmas card pose. And if I notice during that pose that dad or one of the kids is not loving it then I’ll just nicely remove them from the photo. Tell them “hey, I’m going to take some pictures now of mom and the kids. And if you’ll stand right over here maybe you can help me get the kids to smile.” So that’s one thing, pull them out early and bring them back later when everyone else is having a good time.

The other thing is just understand that sometimes I will just straight up say this to a dad or a teen that does not want to be there. I will say “I know this isn’t your favorite thing and I’m trying to do this as fast as I can and will get you out of here. But the more you participate and the more smiles you want to crack, the faster it will go.” And sometimes they just need that reminder.

I’m one of those photographers whose sessions are definitely child led. Because ultimately that’s who matters most when it comes to mood. So what can you do so the child will maybe crack a smile? You can prompt the parents to kind of fake drop the child off their hip or do they want to sit on dad’s shoulders? Or I’ll ask the parents if there’s a word that makes their child laugh.

So you just have to get really creative in all the little tools you can use to get kids to smile. If there are more than three people present then I’ll ask one of the adults to take the child away for just a little break. Maybe they need a snack or a drink or just to be away from the camera for a moment. And while that’s happening I just focus on whoever is left at the session.

Helping You Achieve A More Lifestyle Photography Session

This really is how I work with my clients to get a more lifestyle photography session. It’s probably why my clients are always telling me I’m so patient and great with their kids. This has become such a routine for me that I’m not bothered when something goes wrong or when someone is upset. Of course I feel bad and there are definitely some sessions where I just can’t recover the child’s attitude. But I also know that I can’t control them. And my job is to do the best that I possibly can. Let me know what it was in this episode that you found most helpful.

Send me a DM on Instagram and tell me that you read this post or listened to this episode. Tell me what you loved and any recomendations you may have. I can’t wait to see your lifestyle photography sessions!

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