Tips For Taking Maternity Portraits With Kids

3 Tips For Taking Maternity Portraits With Kids | Lindsey & Cameron

If you have children, between the ages of 2 and 4, you know how difficult it can be to get them to cooperate when you REALLY want them to. It is just part of being parents to your everyday toddler! Kids test the boundaries and are a master at getting Mom & Dad to give in to their demands 🙂 Here are three tips for taking maternity portraits with kids – featuring images from Lindsey and Cameron’s maternity portraits.

1. Give Them An Incentive

One really great way to ensure cooperation of your child is to give them an incentive for good behavior. It can be a prize that is given to them at the end of the session. Or it can be promising to take them to ice cream at the end of the session. You’ll know what works the best for your child – but giving them a little incentive is usually a solid tactic 🙂 Make sure to mention this to them before the start of the session – so that they are excited. Giving them an incentive during the session may work. But going over it before the start of the session usually works really well.

2. Let Them Have Fun

It is rare that a child, between the ages of 2 and 4 years old, can stand still and pose for the perfect image. Some kids can – but this is typically not the case 🙂 One thing that I find to work – with almost 100 percent accuracy, is to just let them have fun. When children are having fun, you are able to really capture their personalities and it makes the rest of the session a lot easier… one of the poses that Lindsey wanted to have were images of her son kissing her baby bump. Her son did not want any part of it and so we turned it into a little game 🙂 We found a really big rock and then told him that he could jump off the rock right after he gave the baby a kiss. Once he figured out that he could jump, kissing the baby was not even an issue any longer!

I have yet to find a kid that does not like to run. And these can be some really fun and cute images.

3. Bring Something To Occupy Them With

Last but not least, bringing a toy or book to keep them occupied is another good idea. Since they will not be in all of the pictures, giving them something that can grab their attention for just a few moments is important. This will enable us to get a handful of pictures with just Mom & Dad… if you happen to forget, we can usually find sticks and rocks that will keep their attention for a few moments 🙂

I hope these are some useful tips for taking maternity portraits with kids that you can consider for your own session. If you are looking for your own maternity portraits, I would love to hear from you! The best way to reach out to me is through the contact form on my website. Thanks!