What time should I schedule my family photo session?
What time should I schedule my family photo session? What’s the best time to take pictures? Or why do we have to do our session so late? Are all questions I get asked when families are looking to schedule their sessions (especially in summer). I’m here to answer all these questions and MORE!
The short answer to what time is the best time for photos is about an hour to an hour and a half before sunset. This is called golden hour, and it makes for beautiful, dreamy photos like the one directly above.
But that’s so LATE! Is a complaint parents with young children commonly have. And that’s true, at the height of summer sessions often don’t start until after 7 pm. With littles that can be super tricky, and here’s some suggestions.
Let’s plan your session for earlier in the evening! We can choose locations that are shaded and still capture beautiful images. Note, we don’t get the sunset/golden hour images - they will still be beautiful but they will have a different tone and feel.
Wait until later in summer or early fall to book your session. As the days shorten golden hour comes earlier as well!
Wing it! Plan the session anyway - I will help keep the kids engaged and active during the session. Feed the kiddos supper a little later than normal and give them an extra snack or treat before the session to help keep energy levels up.
The season, time of day, weather and location will impact the images you receive during your session. For example - the wooded image on this page was taken during the morning in late Spring (with rain threatening the whole time), the field picture with the little kids was taken mid summer at golden hour, and the picture below was taken in the afternoon during fall. All these sessions were amazing, and yours will be too! Each of these families had a different vision in mind for their session, I’d love to hear what yours is! :)
