Best time for a photo session

Quickly on in the photo experience we will talk about the time of your session. Typically, I shoot in the morning or evening.

So what’s better?

I ask a few questions to get to the bottom of that question. First, if kids are involved they rule (the world!) and so it’s when they are the happiest. This is key (among other things!) to avoiding meltdowns.

It also depends on the time of year. During late spring and summer the morning and evening times are pretty early and late, respectively. During the late fall to winter the morning and evening times are later and early, respectively. If I really kept to the rule of shooting towards sunset, your two year old might be up until 9pm. So there is some flexibility when choosing times. BUT I do try to shoot around the same time to have a consistency to my photographs. Being a mom, I totally get it. I will never push a certain time on your family. That’d be bad for both of us.

Do I have a preference?

I’m so glad you asked! If I do have a preference it’d be for the morning. There are several reasons for this. The first photography technical side would be that in the morning I’m gaining light instead of loosing light. I love the photos that happen at the end of a photo shoot and so if I’m gaining light then I have more of a chance of getting those great shots.

The morning light is just prettier to me too, if I had to be a poet (which would be the most awful job to me) I’d describe the morning light as innocent and humble. Does that make any sense? That might be such an artsy statement that shows I live on a different planet.

The morning is also less crowded. This comes in handy when photographing at an urban location. I also get the creeps when other photographers and families are around. In asking my families, they don’t like people around either.