WHAT TO EXPECT AT YOUR PORTRAIT SESSION

Scheduling

As a photographer, I'm an artist, but instead of using paint, charcoal, or clay, light is my art medium. My number one priority when I'm shooting is to find the best light possible. This is why scheduling is one of the most important aspects of our shoot! The best light for a portrait session is sunrise or two hours before sunset. The least desirable time of the day is high noon when the sun will be directly above casting unflattering shadows on faces which accentuate imperfections!

Location

Location is another important decision to consider prior to our shoot! I give all of my clients the opportunity to choose their location but I do have some favorite places to suggest if you are having a hard time deciding on the perfect spot! Some things to consider when deciding on a location are:

  1. Choose a place with plenty of options for backgrounds. The more opportunities we have, the more variety your photos will have.

  2. Busy areas are more challenging with young children who get distracted easily. For example, the beach is beautiful but it is often a popular place with many people around, waves are crashing and the sand is so tempting to play with!

  3. I love shooting in open fields, along hiking trails, and other nature parks! I feel my photographic style shines in these types of locations!

What to Wear

I encourage my clients to choose a color palette to coordinate their outfits and often it is easiest to choose one outfit that has a pattern with this color palette, then choose the other family members' outfits based on this one outfit. I don't recommend everyone "matching" outfits (everyone wears jeans and a black shirt), instead I would suggest that everyone subtlety coordinate. Here is an amazing article that gets really deep into color theory to choose your outfits!

https://beccajeanphotography.com/colors-to-wear-for-family-photos/

Since I edit with a “warm and earthy” aesthetic, I recommend choosing earth tones, neutrals and rustic colors. Check out these examples! 

What to Bring

Please bring yourselves rested and fed! Grumpy and "hangry" show up in photos! Bring a positive attitude and your smiles. My goal of our photo session isn't to just take a stiff, posed, unnatural photograph of your family. I want to capture who you are together and the love that you all share! Don't feel like the kids need to be perfectly smiling in every photo, I like to capture their unique emotions and expressions in all situations. Parents - bring your patience as it's not a flattering photo when you're getting frustrated with the kids and trying to get them to say "Cheeeese!". Children will begin to feel the pressure of having to look a certain way in the photo and it will look anything but! My goal is to capture who you really are, if your kids refuse to pose, I will suggest more candid situations like walking together. So have fun, let loose, I want to see what an awesome family you are!

I generally do not use props but you're free to bring some. If you have some in mind, let me know before the shoot so I can come prepared with some ideas as well!

I do collect your final payment the day of the shoot so please bring a cash, a check made out to: "Malia Moana Photography" or send a Venmo payment to: @maliaallen.

After our Shoot

I will e-mail a link to your gallery within 2 weeks.  Your gallery will be live for 60 days. I highly recommend you save your images to TWO separate locations:  on your computer and on an external hard drive. Even better is to back up your photos on a cloud drive. There will be options to save all of your images or just one at a time. If you need a professional lab to print your photos, there is an option to do so in the gallery, however, you may download and print your images anywhere you would like!

Finally, I ask for these things when you share your images:

  • Please do not crop, edit or alter the images in any way.

  • Please give photo credit to "Malia Moana Photography" on every image you share. My business survives off of referrals and I would really appreciate this!

Looking forward to our shoot! See you soon!

Malia