Finding a Family Photographer that will give you pictures that you absolutely love is a process. I’m going to share my process of How to Find a Family Photographer. It’s one of many I’m sure, but I hope it helps!

First, you want to find a photographer that has experience. One that can deliver crystal clear images. And most importantly, one whose portfolio matches your desired aesthetic. You can only expect to get images you love from someone who specializes in the look you want.

Photoshoots are in investment of your time, energy and money, so you want the photographs you pay for and receive to be good enough to share, pass down to your kids and put up on your walls! Below, I will outline the way that I found and booked our photographer for our most recent Family Photoshoot in the Spring of 2021.

Begin Your Search in Facebook Groups

If you have not joined a local Facebook Group for Moms/Dads or just a Local Community Facebook Group yet, now is the time to! You want to start your search with recommendations from this Group.

We moved from Florida to Georgia this year. I had a favorite photographer in Florida. My go to. Sea Flowers Photography, she is amazing! I am usually nervous when someone takes pictures of me (and therefore make weird faces), but with Kristina from Sea Flowers I always relaxed. She has a way about her that just puts everyone at ease, including kids and husbands! She also does beautiful work, I love her editing style. It’s clean and dreamy! She also does Fantasy type photoshoots with kids in Princess themes. Just gorgeous.

So, we moved to Georgia and I had to find a new family photographer. I began researching by posting a request for recommendations in our local group. There was actually an overwhelming amount of responses to comb through! I made sure my request was specific so I got the best recommendations possible. I asked for a mini session with peach blossom trees.

Narrowing Down the Recommendations

I went through all of the recommendations one by one and looked at the photographers website and social media pages. A lot of talented photographers were on that list and it was hard to decide. But, there was one photographer that stood out to me. Plus, she was specifically doing a mini session with peach blossoms, exactly what we wanted! Her Instagram pictures showed a style that was consistent, crystal clear, a little moody with a film like vibe. There was emotion in her photos. Her sunflower pictures in particular were amazing. Check out our Spring 2021 Family Photoshoot to see her style.

Next, Get in Contact with your First Choice

Contact your chosen photographer for pricing, packages available, and to get to know each other a bit. You can tell a lot from the first interaction.

I reached out to Kimberly Minor Photography via Facebook Messenger. She was easy to chat with and responded quickly. I got the vibe that she was friendly but also professional. She took her craft seriously. She was running a special on the package I was interested in that day so we booked a date!

If the pricing or something else doesn’t work out, just go back to your list and chose another recommendation. If you don’t get any recommendations you like from Facebook, head to Instagram.

Another Tip on How to Find a Family Photographer: Searching Instagram

Most photographers have an Instagram account. It’s an easy way to quickly scan through photos until one catches your eye. Your looking for clean, polished images of families. Great poses are a plus! Search using hashtags for photographers in your area. An example would be #miamibeachphotographer to find a photographer that services Miami Beach, Florida. Look through the pictures and start following some accounts. Like and Save some posts to review later.

Pay attention to their editing style!

Raw photos, those that are taken by a professional photographer and unedited, look nothing like the edited versions. Raw photos are usually dark or have a grayish haze. Each photographer takes those Raw photos and edits them in their specific style. Some photographers are more talented at editing than others, and you usually have to pay accordingly. There are many types of editing styles, but here are a few that are trending.

Trending Styles of Photography and Editing

• Light & Airy – Light Filled Photos with a brighter exposure and airy feeling. The look is breezy, happy and effortless.
• Moody – Darker images that emit emotion. They are not necessarily sad looking pictures, just the colors are richer and more dramatic.
• Clean & Natural – colors are true and edits are more minimal.

Pay attention to the way the photos make you feel. If you are looking for a light filled photo that makes you feel the joy, then Light & Airy is probably your best bet. Neutral outfits are a great choice for this type of style.

If you want more emotion to show in your pictures, like these sweet hugs with my kids. I think a more moody, film like editing style is the way to go. Your photos will be darker but in these type of edits I think peoples eyes shine! So, the close ups you get can be amazing. The outfits that work best with this style can vary. It largely depends on where you are having the photoshoot done.

If you prefer to look just as you are, with very little change to colors or the mood of the photo, look for a photographer that has a clean, natural, true to color editing style. Your outfits for this style of photographer will look very close to the real in life color, so you have to be careful when choosing colors to make sure they really coordinate well.

Some More Considerations when choosing a Family Photographer

When researching photographers pay attention to the consistency of the images they share. Is their editing style all over the place? Are they equally good at many styles? Or do they gravitate towards one in particular? Your photoshoot will be similar to their other work products, and is dependent upon the photographers expertise. It is unfair to expect a light and airy photo from a photographer that has an entire portfolio of moody style photos. I think it’s important to be very intentional in your choice of a photographer so that you are in love with the results.

If your expectations are in line with their specific style then it should be a good fit! And always pick a photographer with crystal clear photos. It shows their experience level when they can capture those types of pictures.

Location, Location, Location

One HUGE factor in whether you will LOVE your photos or not, is the location. Check out where the photographer you are interested in is currently shooting. Are they in the city and focusing on vine covered walls, or large wall murals? Do they primarily shoot in nature and are you okay with that? Do you have your heart set on a beach setting?

In Florida, the main choice was the beach. Photoshoots there are just magical. Really hard to beat.

But, when I moved to Georgia, nowhere close to the beach, we had to find a different look and location. I didn’t end up getting my first choice of location, the Peach Blossom farm we originally planned on. You can read more about that in this post. But, there are a bunch of different farms here and we ended up in a clover farm which was beautiful and something we probably never would have found where we lived in Florida.

The location you end up picking is of course dependent upon your location, but some photographers can do more with a backdrop than others. I personally prefer the look of being surrounded in flowers like the photo below. I also like photos where the background is dramatically blurred so the focus is more on the subject. But, those are all personal choices you will have to make. There’s no wrong answer!

If You Get Stuck & Just Can’t Decide

If you are unsure about the style of editing you’d like, take a look at the app Unscripted. It’s an app for photographers but there is a free version available. The app has tons of examples in it on prompts and poses for photographers to use. It’s also a great place to plan for your own photoshoot once you have chosen a photographer. You can share poses that you love with your photographer so that they can attempt to work them into your shoot.

Unscripted is also a great place to look at outfits. The photos they feature are gorgeous and great inspiration for your outfit choices. You can also follow the actual photographers on Instagram and sometimes you get lucky and there is a mention of where the outfits are from.

How to Find a Family Photographer, the Recap…

• Get Recommendations from your Local Facebook Group of their FAVORITE Family Photographer
• Research the recommendations on their Facebook pages or Instagram profiles and find a style that speaks to you
• Contact your first choice for pricing and any other info you need
• If Facebook fails to yield a good result, search Instagram

Things to Decide during your research…

• The type of editing style you prefer
• Outfits you will need to fit the style of photography you choose
• Preferred location of the photoshoot

So thanks for reading! I hope you found it helpful! I’d love to hear from you if you used any of these tips or have some of your own to share. Please leave a comment below!