Photographing Children....

When you do something for long enough, you start to see trends.  

I've found this in photographing children.  

And the other day, when photographing my own child, he demonstrated the typical flow of a children's photo shoot.  

Allow Noah to walk you through it...

1. Kids start off shy.  If you're a hired photographer, they probably don't know you very well.  But even if you're their own MOTHER (the case here), they may still play the shy card...

2. But don't be discouraged!  Shy kids are cute too!  Shoot them shy, even if you don't use the pictures in the end, it gives the kids time to get used to you and the picture taking process.

 3.  Keep encouraging them.  Change locations and poses, so they don't get bored or think they're doing a bad job.  Tell them, "Good job!  Now let's try this spot over here!"
"I'd love to see your smile!  Show me your teeth!"

4.  And when all else fails, offer a bribe!  I had a pack of gummies in my pocket which became the prize Noah would win if he smiled pretty for me.

 5. Your subject may have a fake smile that he pulls out when he sees the camera.  Do something (I suggest tickling) to get a genuine smile going, and then ask for their "tickle-smile" as your take your shot.  After lots of praise, joking around, and the thought of gummies...Noah loosened up and we had some fun.

 6.  And I am thankful for the range of expressions that came from our shoot.  Precious and shy, goofy and smiley.

 P.S.  One more trick to have up your sleeve... allow them to be themselves (not your ideal suggested poses).  Noah loves to make toot sounds with his tongue, so I joked around with him about tooting, and he loved it!