Planning a Beach Vacation Portrait Session? We can help!

Do you have a big beach trip planned this year? Or maybe a long weekend getaway? Whether your family trip is just the two of you and your best dog, or a long-awaited family reunion with 42 crazy fun aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmas—you can totally get a professional portrait session while you’re there, and it can actually be enjoyable!

You might not be a super advance planner (it’s me, I’m one…it drives my family kinda batty), but it is best to plan ahead as much as possible. If your trip is during peak season—for us here in Topsail Beach peak season is basically May-Sept—you would be advised to book a photographer ahead of time. The last few summers for us were very busy and there were many clients we unfortunately had to turn away, especially during holiday weeks.

Planning ahead will also help you budget accordingly. Family portraiture is intended to be a precious keepsake that lasts a lifetime, both in printed art and digital formats. It is an investment, and like any investment it usually helps to plan ahead for the expense.

Virtually all professional photographers require a partial payment, or retainer, to reserve a session in their calendar. WIth a retainer, your time is locked in and cannot be booked by any other client. Blocking off that date is our commitment to you, to dedicate that time for you and your family alone. Moreover, when you make a partial payment ahead of time, you are able to split up the total cost of the session (leaving more money the week of vacation to spend for souvenirs!).

So now that you’ve booked the beach house and found the BEST photographer, how do you prepare for the session itself? You will want to plan out outfits for sure, but don’t drive yourself insane trying to get every tiny detail coordinated hyper-perfectly.

It’s 2021, everyone does not need to match, and truthfully, in most cases, you do not want everyone to match. Instead, find a color palette that works with your style and fits the vibe of the beach. If your style is formal—formal works on the beach, so think about colors that work well next to the ocean in those suits and gowns. If you’re more of a “poolside chic” person—-work that style! A casual vibe is great too but remember that even when modeling casual outfits you will still want to look put together, and not like you just rolled up to the school drop off in your comfy clothes. Believe me, I seriously love my comfy clothes, but the style you project in your family portraits will help propel your images from an off-handed snapshot to a gorgeous portrait you will want hanging on your wall.

Whatever outfits you choose: The most important part is that everyone looks cohesive and together as a unit (this is also your photographer’s job— to make you look like you actually like each other when they pose and prompt your group for each shot!). Here are some color palette ideas that may be helpful when planning out your outfits— What to Wear for Family Photography: Color Palette Ideas. You can also use Pinterest to search for other color palettes or outfit ideas (try searching “color palettes with coral” or “beach photography outfit ideas”).

If you have all the outfits planned out — well then PHEW!— the hard part is done!

Now you just have to get yourself and your crew to the beach and HAVE FUN. Seriously, have fun. We know photos are totally kid and Dad torture at times, but you could be doing a lot worse things than taking photographs. These are your memories, and you will definitely want to relax, smile and take in the beautiful view. You will remember how happy you were at the beach years from now when you see the portrait you smiled for.

Don’t worry too much if your kiddo is having a moment—generally, it is just that, a moment. We’ve seen all the “I hate photos” toddler tantrums, and all the “i’m on vacation having so much fun but I’m way overtired” kid moods, and if parents start to melt down in reaction to their child, most children will ramp up their mood even more. Give them a moment, love them, and we’ll try again. This almost always works, and parents are usually surprised (and relieved) to see what magical little moments we can create even with even the biggest kid moods. Trust your photographer, they are absolutely used to these situations.

BUT…We want to try to set the photo session up for as much success as possible, so there are a few things to be mindful of to try to keep everyone as happy as possible during the photo session. Kids on vacation at the beach GO HARD. They play all day and stay up all night. And repeat. If your kiddo is a napper, try to make sure they take that daily nap and wake them up in plenty of time before they need to get ready for pictures. Many times, I’ve seen sleepy little ones sooo upset because they were exhausted from the beach and parents wanted to let them nap as long as possible before their photos, except then they were still too groggy and upset to want to participate. Try to get older kids to bed at a reasonable hour the night before (we have 4 kids, I know this is no easy task!), and don’t stay out on the beach too long the day of.

Essentially, try to let your kids rest and sleep as close to normal as possible. If they nap, give some extra time for them to wake up before pictures since they will most likely be extra tired before and after the nap.

SUNSCREEN. Don’t let everyone get burned right before they get portraits taken! Watch out around the eyes as that is the area we see a lot of redness and puffiness during our beach vacation sessions. Besides taking care of the sensitive skin around the eyes, other weird tan lines and strong red splotches on the body cannot be easily edited out. Many photographers will charge extra for extensive editing because a bright red, sunburned forehead will have to be edited for every single image in your gallery.

Our next bit of advice (for any photo session) is: Trust your photographer. You hired a professional because you wanted professional level of service that will deliver an exceptional product. Our job is to paint with light through our sophisticated equipment that we tell how to interpret said light and capture a digital image. Ya, I know you know this but my point is that if we strongly encourage you to meet at a certain location or time of day, there is usually a very good reason for it. Our job is also to pose you in a flattering, genuine manner that best reflects your personality and your connection with each other. Trust our experience when we guide and prompt your family. We may ask you to act a little silly, or stand in a way the seems awkward, but we’ve done this a LOT and know how our camera equipment interprets certain poses—-for the most part, we know what works and what doesn’t.

Which leads us to trusting the time of day recommended by your photographer. Summer beach sessions are usually late in the day because of the harshness of the sun earlier. The light is waaaay more flattering later in the day since there is no shade on the beach to shield from the sun. We wrote more about that here if you’re interested to read about it). Late in the day can be a challenging time with dinner plans and tiny tots, but the light is worth it. Plan dinner accordingly. If your session time is at 7:30pm, everyone will be a lot happier if they eat at least a small dinner beforehand.

All right….so I know this is long but if you made it this far, let’s sum it all up:

Plan ahead (helps for budgeting! Because a custom, boutique photo session that comes to you usually isn’t cheap)

Coordinate Outfits. Start with a favorite outfit and plan everyone else from there. Work with color families, and usually you don’t want everyone super matchy-matchy.

Relax! Have Fun. Do not stress if your kiddo acts out a bit—it is totally normal, especially if they are tired or in vacation overdrive. We can usually give them a moment and still get beautiful portraits.

Take extra care of everyone’s skin before your session. Additional edits from sunburns will likely cost you!

Try to let everyone rest a bit the day of the session, and if little ones nap, be sure to give them a little extra time to wake up before meeting your photographer.

Take your photographer’s advice when suggesting locations, time of day, posing during the session, and prompted actions during the session (even if they seem silly or weird- Just have fun with it and trust them!).

Am I forgetting anything? I’m sure I am, but if I have learned anything at all in my experience —not so much as a photographer, but as a mama who treasures her own family portraits and hires photographers herself— is to stop trying to achieve perfection. This is hard for me, I’m a hyper-perfectionist (its a problem lol)….but rarely when kids are involved will everything turn out precisely as we imagine it. However, if we let go of that perfect vision, we may just discover our family portraits will turn out even better than we ever imagined.

Now go take those photos!