Orange County Photography Archives

At the Beach, Family Photography, Kids Photography, Mother Daughter Photography, Orange County Photography

How to Prepare Kids for the Best Portrait Session

Photographing kids in Orange County can be fun and a little stressful. Here are some helpful hints to make sure your Orange County Family Photography session is the best it can possibly be. Here’s how to prepare kids for the best portrait session.

We understand that sometimes children can be unpredictable when it comes to photography sessions. Maybe they are nervous, anxious or just having an off day. It happens, and rest assured that we are able to handle just about any situation. However, there are things that you can do to help ensure a smooth and happy photography session for your child, so please read our suggestions below and apply them at your child’s Blue Sky’s Studio shoot.

1) If your child is at all shy, please be patient.

We give them as much time as they (not you or I) need to warm up to me and my camera. It is very rare that even the most apprehensive child doesn’t become my buddy after 20-30 minutes. Eager to please, many parents urge their child(ren) on, and this rarely ever helps. Please allow us to create a bond with your child at their pace. Giive us a little space with your child so they do not feel as though they have to “perform” for you with us.

2) Please do not answer for your child when we ask him or her a question.

We try to bond with them by getting them to talk to us. Often times, we will reach out to “test” your child(ren) to see how they will respond. Depending on their reaction (if they reach back to hold a hand/finger), we will know how to proceed. We like to take time to get to know your child and let them get used to us before we start shooting.

3) Please please please do not tell your child(ren) to “smile” or say “cheese.”

That’s our job. Besides, “cheese” or “smile” is almost always a fake or forced smile. We will get your child(ren) to smile by other measures that create real smiles such as goofy faces, funny stories, talking up their interests, etc…you know, kid stuff!! We’re great at kid stuff (we’re kids at heart)!

4) We encourage any ideas or props in your session, so have fun with it and get creative!

Many parents bring in 1-3 outfits and various accessories such as hats, scarves and jewelry. However, it’s important to keep in mind that changing multiple outfits on younger children usually changes their moods too. We recommend keeping it simple for the younger subjects. They grow up so fast! little-princess

5) Prioritize outfits and props!

Depending our your child’s age, they may not be able to stay happy and positive through an entire session. For toddlers, usually 45 minutes is the maximum amount of time that they will be able to be photographed. So, make sure you let us know the most important shots, and outfits so we get those done at the beginning of the session. That way, we make sure that if the session ends early, you still got the best shots that you will love an cherish for a lifetime. adorable-family-portraits playing-in-sand

Taking the time to prepare for your child’s photo shoot will not only make the experience enjoyable for you and your child, but will also help create an environment for amazing photographs for you to treasure forever. We are so excited to work with you!

The photos in this post are from one of our recent mother daughter beach photography sessions, in Laguna Beach. We decided, with input from her mom, to stick with two outfits and get lots of candid and interactive portraits. These will be cherished for a lifetime. family-photography

At the Park, kids modeling, Kids Photography, Orange County Photography

Orange County Family Photographer- 2 year old session

Orange County Family Photography– How to manage a two year old at a portrait session. Everyone that knows me is totally aware that I am obsessed with toddlers. I love the way they talk, I love the things that they say, I love to play games with them, they just totally crack me up. So while lots of photographers shy away from photographing toddlers because it isn’t easy, I think as long as you have a good understanding of what will go on during a toddler session, everyone will remain calm and have fun!

Toddlers usually start out a little shy of the camera– let’s face it, this is a new environment and most of the time the photographer is a stranger pointing a black box at their face while everyone is yelling at them to smile or say cheese. In my experience, this does not work. At Blue Sky’s Studio we typically prep the Mom or Dad before the session and ask if they will just let us quietly talk with their child in the beginning with no expectations, no smiling, etc. A typical reaction would be this, where the little one looks at their Mom or Dad for reassurance.

Once a toddler starts to warm up, the best way to get great expressions is to play games with them. I will often snort like a pig and tell them that is what my doggies say. They will typically laugh and say noooooo, that is what a piggy says. You get the point, they play along and they will usually give you an amazing huge smile like this.

Now is when the real fun starts, I always tell the parents not to worry at this point because things are going to get a little crazy, but these are going to be a true representation of your child’s personality. You know, something like this:

Things to remember about toddlers- You get about an hour to photograph them and then they are usually done. You can bring multiple changes of clothing, but often times they will not tolerate more than three clothing changes. I frequently have parents say to me, “I don’t think you got anything, my child wasn’t really cooperating.” I smile and say, “we will see”. Here is just a few of my favorites from a recent session. When she got a little tired out, big brother was there to give some love and affection and then she was back to her camera ready self!

We named her curl Fred!

We played tons of games with the hat.

Had to give brother some affection while she took a break!

To book a family or kids session, click here!

Family Photography, Kids Photography, Newborn Photography, Orange County Photography

Hello Baby

Long term relationships are kind of my thing. I have been with my husband for over 20 years, many of my clients started off with me shooting their wedding, then came back to shoot their pregnancy session, then their newborn session, then babies first year, etc. I really love to be a part of the growing up process for so many families. I feel grateful to have the people in my life for not just years, but decades.

That is why I love our baby plan. One of the most stressful times in a new Mom and Dad’s life is the first year with their baby. Many days you can barely make it to the shower, let alone get all dressed up and ready for a photography session. Well, we make it easy for you. Once you book your pregnancy session, we put the due date on our calendar. Now, I know that babies are not typically born when they are suppose to be… but we instruct Dad to send us a quick text on the actual day of delivery. Then Blue Sky’s has you covered from there. We schedule your newborn session 7-10 days after your babies birth date. Blue Sky’s provides lots of super cute baby outfits and we can even dress up Mama and provide professional hair and makeup right in our studio.

Six months later, when your beautiful baby is holding up their head and giving out lots of smiles we call you to schedule another session. The six month session typically take place in our Laguna Beach studio and we have lots of fun clothing and props to make it unique to your family.

All too quickly, the baby turns one. We call you again to remind you that it is time for another session. They can walk, sit up, say Mama and love to have their first taste of cake. We capture all this for you with the whole family in the portraits, or just the baby, it is completely up to you. This typically takes place on location at a park, the beach, your home or wherever you choose. Finally we put all of your favorite images together into a beautiful Press Photography album that you will have as a family heirloom forever. Jessica and Anthony were one of my favorite wedding couples and I was over the moon when Jessica called me to say she was pregnant. We booked a baby plan for the gorgeous Naomi and had such a blast documenting her first year. Here is the final album we put together for the family. Enjoy! If you are ready to book a baby session or you know someone who is, just send me an email and I will give you all of the info at kristin@blueskysstudio.com.

Family Photography, Orange County Photography, Portrait Photography, Studio photo session

I love transformation

I think I am slightly obsessed with transformation! I love watching television shows with my family about all types of transformation. Our new favorite is The Deed on CNBC. Not only does Sidney Torres transform old beautiful houses in New Orleans into fabulous new home, but he also helps transform the people who need his help by teaching them to become better real estate developers. My obsession doesn’t stop with real estate, although I do love anything on home design, I also love shows that transform food or even transform people. Another favorite is, The Profit, because I love how Marcus Lemonis transforms business people and helps them become profitable.

For me, March has been transformation month! My wonderful husband volunteered to help transform my Laguna Beach studio into the studio of my dreams. He converted my loft space, which was primarily being used to dump old studio props, into a full on shooting wardrobe space that my clients will be able to use to create the photography session of their dreams. He also utilized the space to build a work station for our fine art printing. It looks amazing and I am so excited to have it fully functional.

He didn’t stop at the loft. We have all new lighting, a new professional hair and makeup station, several new gallery walls and he fixed all of the Ikea furniture that I put together to make it now fully functional (I have to admit, the drawers didn’t work on anything). The cherry on the cake was definitely the new blue roll up door and front door, perfect not only because it is blue, but also because we can now use it as a new shooting area.

March is also transformation month, because we are doing our Mother Daughter makeover special complete with wardrobe, hair and makeup. Here is a sneak peak at the new blue door with the gorgeous Gill kiddos who can now say they were the very first family to shoot on the blue roll up door. Enjoy. More beautiful images of the studio to come, once it has been completed!

Family Photography, Fashion, Orange County Photography, Portrait Photography, Studio photo session

Exist in Photographs

Do you have an excuse about why you keep putting off getting portraits of yourself and your family? Are you waiting to look perfect, have the perfect body, skin, hair, etc.? While you continue to put it off for one more year, your family is missing out on beautiful images of YOU!

That is what exist in photographs is all about. I absolutely understand that there is a lot of work that goes into planning a photography session. Sometimes it seems like it just isn’t meant to be, but believe me it is. Take me for example. My busiest time of year is October and November. I work an average of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the middle of all that craziness, is my own family that needs portraits for the year. For me, I need to find one of my friends that is a photographer, and also really busy, to agree to take a few images of the whole family together. I can handle the portraits of my kids and my kids with my husband, but I feel like it is really important for me to also get into the portrait every year. I don’t want my kids to look back in 10, 20, or 30 years from now and say, “where was my Mom”. Or, “my Mom was always behind the camera, and looks like she was never around according to pictures”.

I want to make it easy for you to say yes to a portrait session this year by doing the follow:

Having a hair and makeup artist available for you to look and feel your very best.
By having a shooting wardrobe, that I can mix and match with your own clothing to take the hassle out of planning for the outfits for your session.
Creating a fun environment for you and your family where everyone feels comfortable and is actually having fun.
By guiding your posing to make you look your very best. I can take off at least 10 pounds with good posing!
By using photoshop to finish your portrait and make your best just a little better.
And finally, by inviting you to our studio a week after your session for a personal reveal of our top images from the session. These images will be fine art prints, fully retouched, mounted and matted ready to take home that day. All of the prints also include the digital file of the edited image. In addition, we will walk you through the rest of our beautiful portrait products to help design wall art and other keepsakes.

Do you have someone you love that you want to capture forever in portraits? Take advantage of our makeover special this month. For more details, email us at kristin@blueskysstudio.com. Have a beautiful weekend and enjoy this unbelievably beautiful mother and daughter duo!