Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions
Lesson 14 from: Lifestyle Family PhotographyEmily Lucarz
Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions
Lesson 14 from: Lifestyle Family PhotographyEmily Lucarz
Lesson Info
14. Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions
Lessons
Class Introduction
09:59 2What is Lifestyle Family Photography?
06:36 3How to Get Started in Lifestyle Photography
14:42 4How to Market to Your Ideal Client
10:34 5How to Book Your First Client
27:49 6Pricing for Lifestyle Photography Sessions
26:05 7Steps to Book a Client Using Iris Works
23:01 8The Client Questionnaire
06:33Why Use a Family Guide?
05:44 10Live Shoot: Family In-Studio
21:07 11Live Shoot: Introduce Fun Activity
19:38 12Image Culling Process in Bridge
24:52 13Gear Recommendations for Shoots
11:10 14Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions
07:25 15Plan an In-Home Shooting Session
08:33 16Activity Tips for In-Home Shoots
06:59 17Develop Your In-Home Session Flow
09:35 18Live Shoot: Find In-Home Natural Light
28:08 19Live Shoot: Engaging Children in Fun Activities
16:26 20Live Shoot: Introduce In-Home Activities to Shoot
18:36 21Live Shoot: Implement In-Home Shooting Flow
17:42 22Tips for Engaging Clients
04:06 23Photoshop: Edit Live Shoot Images
11:39 24Lightroom: Edit Live Shoot Images
07:41 25The Importance of Photo Composition
06:26 26Get Clients to Connect Naturally In Photos
04:57 27Example: Successful Family Shoot
13:59 28Example: Perspective in Shoots
03:54 29Incorporating Pets Into Family Photos
06:59 30Sales Techniques That Work
05:44 31Sellable Products and Packages
19:51Lesson Info
Tips to Create Authentic Shooting Sessions
Few tips. Let go of being perfect. This is huge, you guys. With lifestyle photography we talked about how you're trying to get real but just because you're getting real doesn't mean it can't be beautiful but it also doesn't have to be perfect, okay? You might have some harsher shadows than you wished for or you may have flat, boring light, it's okay. Somebody might be kind of out of focus, it's okay. Like, if you see a shot that Mom looks beautiful and the kid's kinda out of focus, Mom's gonna love that image, right? Keep that image 'cause Mom's the one picking the pictures. Let go of some of these imperfections because they don't see them like we do. Let it go. Okay? Have fun. Like, have so much fun. This image that you see up here was a newborn session. You probably can't even see the newborn in there. They had the most fun kitchen and we had to go in there and she was telling me that the dog was obsessed with soap bubbles. So, we went in there and we filled the sink up, she strapped...
the baby to her and they were being cute and lovey and the dog was just running around, right, getting the soap bubbles and it was fun. Like, have fun and don't worry if anybody's not in focus all the time. I mean, try to get as much as you can but if it's not, let it go, okay? And then play with wide angle lenses. You know, that's a really good investment. If you're looking to expand your lifestyle portfolio, if you wanna be different than everybody else, get a really fun lens. 'Cause you can take a really fun lens and do creative things that you can't do with standard prime lenses, okay? Alright, more about having fun. Don't be nervous, okay? And if you prepare well, we talked about this questionnaire, just have fun. Like, be prepared. If you're prepared, they'll feel better. If they're prepared, they'll feel better, everybody can relax and you'll have fun, okay? Arrive early. I cannot enforce this enough. Even if Mom's still getting dressed, it gives you time to pull the children up, hey, you know, what's your name? Let's go hang out. Can you show me your room? Oh, you like unicorns? Show me your favorite unicorn. And that's a great time to say, hey, Mom, go finish drying your hair. Go dry your hair. I'm gonna get to know the kids a little bit 'cause we're gonna play, you know. I put my camera bag down. I don't bring it with me. This is very, just, get to know the kids so when it's time to start shooting, everything is very relaxed, okay? It is not about you, okay? We think it's about us sometimes because we're shooting for what we think looks awesome. It's about them. So if they wanted a shot in a room that you don't particularly think is cute, just do it because they're gonna love it, okay? Trust me, the families are more nervous than we are during these types of sessions. Okay. Make them feel in control. This is another trick, okay? It's like we kinda do these things and don't realize that we do them, you know? So don't ask questions to a younger kid, okay? So, instead of saying, do you like to fly? Be like, hey can you show me your best Superman flying move? You know? So they think they're coming up with idea instead of, being like, hey, let's go fly on the bed. Say, hey, can you show me your best Superman move? So you give them the idea and they're like, yes I totally can do Superman and then they'll show you and they came up with the idea that way, okay? Siblings love a good sibling challenge too, okay? So, races, who can jump the highest? Who can laugh the loudest? You saw me doing the laughing the loudest yesterday. You know, who can tickle the most? You know, who can give Daddy the biggest kisses? So, as long as you take two kids and you give them something to beat each other with, they're gonna love doing it, okay? And they're gonna feel like they're in control of the situation. So, seeing these kind of activities that really give real connection, smiles into pictures, okay? Alright, a few more shooting tips. These pictures are on my phone. These are my phone pictures. These are my children, okay? So, that bottom picture down there, that at my dad's house and they've got a RV and they travel all over doing dog shows and the cousins were in town and they were all in there. And this was the most fun composition. It was just so cute. They peaked their heads out. Get really good with your composition. Get creative. You know, keep things on the side of photos. Don't use your whole center frame. We're gonna go into details about composition coming up. But, just get used to composing on your phone, okay? Get used to composing on your iPad. Do fun pictures. Don't worry about things being perfect. Same thing right over here. Zachary was sitting there. We were at a relative's house and I text him this phone, this picture and he said to me, how'd you do that? I'm like, what do you mean how did I do that? (laughs) Like, I'm standing over him and I took a picture of my son eating ice cream on the stairs because he's having his deck rebuilt so he couldn't go outside and he was fascinated with this shot which is funny to me 'cause I'm like, I just stood over him and took a picture 'cause he looked cute. However, that drew him into the image 'cause it told the story of him getting his deck rebuilt, which just finished, and he also go to see, you know, Zachary sitting there eating ice cream, okay? So, always be thinking about the story that's going on around you, composing for the story and bringing in a person or dog or whatever, a goldfish. So what if? Kids will be kids. So, what happens if they want nothing to do with you? 'Cause this happens, right? This is when sometimes, and you'll know this in advance if you're gonna have a kid that has stranger danger, that'll all be in your questionnaire, bring a longer lens, okay? So you're gonna step outside the room and you're going to shoot them from farther away. Okay, so those are the kids that don't want anything to do with you. You can set them up with an activity in the other room, step back and get your shots that way, okay? Grab a child's favorite thing and just let 'em see what's gonna happen, okay? Like the fish. They wanted to bring a fish in. Cool, let's do the fish. It's his favorite thing right now. Put them in their room and just sneak in, okay? You can sneak in around those kids that are kinda scared of you. But the biggest trick, honestly, with kids that don't want engage is the bed jumping. I mean, every kid likes to jump on the bed. It always works. And a snack break obviously never hurt anybody, okay? So, let's go through the recap of the workflow here. We get our inquiry. We email back. Send over a contract and the initial invoice with Iris. Send the questionnaire via Iris and then once the client is, the date's chosen, send over the family guide and that family guide we kinda touched on a little bit yesterday, earlier. And the family guide just is full of information and that's in the bonus materials. The family guide just has a bunch of information about what to wear on the day of the session, what to expect when I get there, there's a whole section about please don't be nervous, it's okay if things go wrong. I have things for backup. Just a lot of things to put your client at ease. There's kind of a modified, it's not an editable version but it's in the bonus materials with the class. So, that's in there. It's great. Set up a time to talk on the phone. I cannot encourage this enough. So, do that after you send them their family guide so you guys can kind of go over all of this together so they really feel like they're part of their session, okay? And then send a reminder email and Iris will do that automatically for you. We went over that yesterday.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Bonus Materials
Ratings and Reviews
yeahyeahsyd
Emily reignited my passion for lifestyle photography and gave me the tools that I needed to give my business a creative and profitable boost. Seeing how effortlessly she interacted with families and the efficiency of her workflow was inspiring. I'm excited to shake things up and make some positive changes in my business that I know will lead to success. Thank you Emily and thank you Creativelive for this fun and informative class!
robinspalding
I was just hoping on here to post how much I loved this class. I used to be a portrait photographer, veered away for a bit to focus on more conceptual art photography but i still am interested in lifestyle photography. Emily is very inspiring, her bubbly personality was a joy to watch how she interacts with families especially the kids. Her work is phenomenal! (in response to one of the bad reviews, about her cutting off children shooting on a live workshop while tethered and teaching can easily explain this away as you can tell from her portfolio that she always has compositionly beautiful images) This class has renewed and inspired my love of lifestyle and i have been shooting so much since the class! Definitely used her tips and tricks to improve my pictures! highly recommend this class!
Bernadette
Watching Emily on CL - I rarely comment, but wanted to pop in and say what a great class it is! Full of helpful information and good content. One of the first classes that moves at a perfect pace, keeping things interesting & engaging. I tend to lose interest quickly when classes drag, but she really does such a fantastic job, which is refreshing. Makes watching the class really enjoyable! Thank you!