How to get great family pictures with just a little time

For this shoot I had an hour
but we wasn’t counting with Marisol’s Pregnancy
and the place that I wanted to take them for the session was not too far but her belly was huge and she thought that she wasn’t able to walk more than 3 minutes
so Juan, her husband went to rent a golf cart and it took a few minutes
we planned the session for the
Golden hour and sunset.

I was against the clock with less than an hour to shoot
as soon as we arrived I asked them to get ready asap
so…

As a client

Trust your photographer
he is the only one who is seeing trough the lens
and is the creative one

Be open to ideas
it might sound crazy but do it for the BOLD images
even 1 pose with from different angles or captured with just seconds of difference could create something stunning

Bring your own ideas too
is always helpful to know what do you want to recreate for you
so you can provide the photographer with this ideas previously
so he can apply the knowledge to get you what you want

Do it for the future bold memories not only for posing
We al ready discuss this, is not only for have a dreamy picture of a silly moment
on the Mexican Caribbean, it’s all about to have something to talk about
at dinner time, or after a few years
during your holidays maybe to somewhere colder and you would love to be here
having fun
as you did.

Be Real
with this I mean 2 things mainly
Be yourself, after all this is for you to have
think on how would you like to remember this
”moment, travel, path, family time, any thing it is for you”
&
be conscious of the time, do not expect a colorful silhouette at 16:00 pm
or take long times trying outfits, taking selfies behind the scene all the time

As a photographer

I started to measuring the light as soon as I had my camera on my hands
taking pictures of them to check the temperature is right
so I do candids and let them be themselves for a few minutes
If you are tight on schedule you really do not want to loose time
fooling around,
specially if it is getting dark and you do not have a speed-light, or any other
equipment but your glass mounted on your camera
As I said first thing is

Set your camera settings asap
to be ready just to give directions and compose and shoot

Location
Try to choose wisely, I rather scout for a place with good light
than a great location with many places to use,
if you do not have time all you want to do is to get as many good pics as you can
instead of backgrounds.

Poses vs Actions
This one is a very good one and I think non of the above is a bad idea, both work for me
How many good poses will you be able to shoot if you have no time, assistants, speed-lights?
I don’t know, it could be enough to fulfill your clients needs,
what I like to add to my sessions to make it more interactive between them
and to make them feel good is any action to share that way I capture great candids, actions and if I need or see a good image I ask for the pose.

Bring some examples
to show ideas to inspire or got inspired
you can always create a folder with your images on IG or Pinterest
that way, people can visualize themselves as they want to look and you can guide easier in case that you need this extra help