Hey there! I’m Danielle. I’m a New Jersey family photographer who specializes in capturing candid moments of families across Central, New Jersey. Chances are you stumbled upon this blog post to get some tips on how to make fall family photos stress-free. You’ve come to the right place. Family photos are my speciality and I strive to make the experience as seamless as possible. I hope you find these 5 tips helpful!

Fall Family Photo Tip # 1: Choose Your Outfits Ahead of Time

I know that planning outits can be a very stressful task when it comes to fall family photos. Don’t worry! I’ve got a system. Choose a neutral toned color palette. Think brown, beige, cream, white, or tan as your primary colors. Then choose 2 or 3 colors within that palette to put your family members in. For a more detailed explanation of what to wear, be sure to check out this blog post. I would suggest planning your outfits a few weeks before your session to give you enough time to try everything on and make any necassary adjustments.

Fall Family Photo Tip # 2: Eat Before Your Session

The worst thing you can do is head into your session with cranky, hungry children…or even worse a hungry spouse. Now, you may be thinking “won’t that be messy?” The last thing you want is your child showing up to a session with food all over their face. My advice is to change into your outits after you eat (bring your clothes with you to your session or change in the car if you have to.) Also, bring a lot of wet wipes! So many of my clients bring snacks to their session. And that’s totally fine. In fact, I recommend moms bring little snacks to the session to keep their children from melting down or becoming bored or cranky. Snacks can also be great bribe food to get your littles to do a quick smile. Just make sure you have plenty of wipes to wipe hands and faces. Most of my sessions are planned in the evening about an hour before sunset. In the Spring and Summer months, this is great because it would definitely be after dinner time anyway. However, in the fall months when the sun sets much earlier it can be tricky. In this case, give your kids some snacks beforehand to keep them from getting “hangry” on the session.

Fall Family Photo Tip # 3: Know the Exact Location Where Your Photos Will Take Place

This is a big one! Photographers are usually on a tight schedule, especially if he/she have sessions booked right after yours. This is usually the case with back to back mini sessions. Photographers also go by the sun, and I know that I don’t like to shoot when the sun sets beyond the horizon. So I plan my session times very carefully. This means, it’s highly important for you to be on time for your session (especially if you plan on doing a wardrobe change in the middle of the session.) I always tell my clients the exact gps address, as well as detailed instructions on where we will meet. Make sure you know the exact roads you need to take before you head out. Check the traffic. If you are leaving around rush hour, plan some extra time. If you aren’t familiar with the location, maybe do a dry run a few days before the session so you know exactly where it is. The worst thing to have happen is get lost and then be late for your session.

Fall Family Photo Tip # 4: Don’t Expect Perfection

Okay, this is a tough one to accept. However, it’s a very imprtant tip to take stock of. I always tell my clients to not expect perfection during family photos. I don’t expect perfection. Kids are going to get bored. They may test their boundaries and see what they can get away with. They may run around and not listen to a word you are saying. Trust me, I’ve had it happen on numerous occasions. However, since I have a very candid style of photography, I’m able to capture a lot of the in between moments. The moments where you may not neccessarily be looking directly at the camera and smiling. I make sure I capture orangic and real moments of families interacting with each other. Yes, they make not look like the perfect Christmas card image. But that’s not my vision of family photos. I feel like that just adds a ton of extra pressure on you and your children. So don’t expect perfect smiles 100 percent of the time.

Fall Family Photo Tip # 5: Let Loose and Enjoy Your Time Together

Okay so this goes into my last tip. Just relax and enjoy the session for whatever happens. In the end, you are getting to spend some quality time together as a family that you may not normally have on a daily basis. The fact that you are all together in one place free of cell phones and screens is a bleessing in itselft. So I say, just try to enjoy the moment. Play with your children, laugh with them, talk with them, tickle them, lift them up in the air (for your younger children.) In my opinion, the candid moments are the absolute best.

Okay so those are my top 5 tips for stress-free fall family photos. If you found these tips helpful, I’d love if you can drop a comment below or come send me a DM on Instagram. I’d love to connect.

If you are interested in booking a fall family session, and you’d like to learn more information about my prices and packages, contact me here.

Happy Planning!