You have spent all morning trying to get your children into clean outfits with clean faces. Your toddler is in meltdown mode because you wouldn’t allow her to watch the end of “Dora the Explorer.”  Your four-year-old is crumpling his freshly ironed shirt as his toy cars crash into each other loudly and endlessly.  Your baby has decided that she will sleep through the duration of the process, but only after she has spit up all over her frilly dress. You spend half an hour at the studio, where an unabashedly bored “photographer” makes loud clucking noises at your kids that merely add to the pandemonium and seems to be taking pictures with eyes entirely shut.  At the end of the day, you have a handful of unnatural pictures, a bill for a couple hundred dollars, and a splitting headache.

A baby changes just about every time that you blink, leaving new parents scrambling to capture those fleeting moments in photographs before they forever disappear. Aside from the hundreds of photos that are undoubtedly piling up on personal digital cameras, many parents make the trek into a professional photographer every three months for the first year. All those trips add up to a lot of adorable outfits to pull together and a significant amount of cash to put up for sitting fees and pictures to take home. So how do you ensure that the money you are investing will be well spent?

It may seem easiest to pick any old studio out of the yellow pages, but a little research will generally save you time, money, and frustration in the long run.  Babies, as a general rule, aren’t interested in posing or making rigorous costume changes for their portraits. You are at their mercy when it comes to getting that “perfect shot,” which can be a lengthy proposition. How much time is your photographer willing to devote to your sitting? Only half an hour with your baby will probably not be able to provide you with high quality pictures.  A good photographer should be willing to go through dozens of snaps to generate the ideal pose.

Great baby photos will usually come from photographers who work from a variety of angles, including close-ups.  Is your choice willing to get down on the floor with your kids and snap away?  More variety means a greater likelihood that you’ll love the way the photos turn out.  But a photographer should be versatile in other ways too. Getting that perfect smile means that your youngster has to feel comfortable, engaged, and at home. An approach that is too boisterous for a shy child, a person unable to play with a toddler, or someone who creates an atmosphere where everyone feels rushed will not be able to adequately capture your child. Remember, the goal is to achieve those beautiful and natural smiles.

To find a photographer you enjoy working with, begin by asking for personal recommendations from those you know.  People who have loved the results from their photo shoots won’t hesitate to put forth a recommendation.  You should also ask a photographer to see a portfolio of work that he or she has completed.  This will give you an idea of the quality you can expect from the pictures, as well as the general style.  Be sure to fully express your expectations and concerns before the sitting.  The beautiful photos you take home will make the extra preparation well worth effort.

Picture taken by Michelle Gouge Photography.

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