Missing shots in the studio

donkeymusic

donkeymusic

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,524
Name
Carlo
Edit My Images
Yes
Hello,

slowly building up my studio experience and doing paid shoots which is great, customers are happy and i am to a point. The only thing i am getting held back on is not completing all my shots.

prior to a shoot, i create a list of shots i would like to have to show the client, up to know the clients have all had children under 2.

When the client comes in a talk them through what i plan and start to pose the child, after a few shots the parents get a bit too excited trying to get the child to smile/look this way which results in the child getting too excited and energetic to the point the wont sit where i want them. so basically just snapping away when they child is looking my way.

Based on this, i have had some good results and as i said clients are happy, but i'm just wondering if i approaching this all wrong, should i just go with the lively approach and snap away? or do i become more firm with the poses?

as a result i feel the clients must leave thinking, we didn't do those shots that were discussed?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thanks
 
Id say have parent stood behind you so the child looks your way all the time, ask the parent to only get the childs attention when you want them too, rather than they get over excited
 
Last edited:
bass_junkie83 said:
Are your customers happy and are they spending money?
Click to expand...

Up to now yes & yes.

My wife says exactly the same, but i want to be able to offer a mass variation of shots so that they buy more and and to show more of photography off
 
Just Dave said:
Id say have parent stood behind you so the child looks your way all the time, ask the parent to only get the childs attention when you want them too, rather than they get over excited
Click to expand...

have moved parents behind me as a new move, i think the next is to ask them to keep quiet until asked, all a learning curve but picking up new tips as we i go along
 
Sorry, that wasn't meant to be a be all and end all comment. But if people are happy, don't go making big changes to what you do. If there is anything you want to do differently, I would try and incorporate into what is already working, than going for a total change around. If you see what I mean.
 
There isn't one recipe to get the images you are craving for....You have discovered that young children do pretty much as they want. It's all about 'kidology'

I guess you are finding that the time slots don't go to plan either...Also that the parents are bringing two or three changes of clothing that wasn't part of the agreement.

All I can say is that you have to be very specific with the customers....I find that if I allow it, the shoot goes way off track...
 
I would say that the best approach is to get the kids relaxed and having fun in whatever way works for that child - and they are all different.

Posing kids that aren't on your side is all but impossible as even if you get them to lie on their tummy, they just look grumpy.

The top tip I have ever been given is to get the child to look for the fairy/pirate/pixie that hides in the camera - if they look carefully they can see the shutter activate and you then get their imagination working with your story telling to get the smiles.
 
As a parent, if I had brought my kids in to you when they were under two and you listed a whole range of poses you planned on getting I would have just laughed.
At that age I think you have to be happy if you get them looking your way and some nice expressions. Having said that most of my favourite shots of my daughter are of her looking nowhere near the camera :)
 
I shoot kids all day and the advice above is all good, but Lisa is spot on... Up to the age of two you are really only going to play peek-a-boo around the camera for sitting shots, tummy shots, crawling etc Nothing really posed as such. After that age it becomes far easier and you can be a bit more creative.

With the younger ones I always start without the camera and with toys, bricks, blocks and the like to have a few minutes play first. Some find it a struggle to even be in the room for a while let alone smile.

Be prepared for one to just refuse anything you try too, it used to bother me but now I just move on.

Have a bottle of water handy for you too, talking stupid at kids all day ruins my throat LOL
 
You're promising stuff and not delivering. Sure people will be disappointed. Disappointed people spend less so this is costing you money.

Either find a way to get the shots (mental check list, timer that tells you to move to the next, sure fire poses etc) OR (and this is a lot easier) stop telling people what they are going to get. Then they will be surprised and delighted at what you deliver ;)
 
JonathanRyan said:
You're promising stuff and not delivering. Sure people will be disappointed. Disappointed people spend less so this is costing you money.

Either find a way to get the shots (mental check list, timer that tells you to move to the next, sure fire poses etc) OR (and this is a lot easier) stop telling people what they are going to get. Then they will be surprised and delighted at what you deliver ;)
Click to expand...

Im not putting down on paper what i shots i want for the client, i just give them an idea of how the shoot will go, so that they have an idea of what i am aiming to do.

Not had anyone come back and say i didnt provide shots that i mentioned, up to know everyone is happy, it was just a query with my own workflow
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top