First Family Portraits from Rexburg

Note: There's still time to ask questions on Monday's post. Click here if you missed it.

I'm not an experienced formal portrait photographer. I don't know all the tricks and angles and lighting and stuff. And anyone who has ever had formal pictures taken with little kids knows that it's difficult at best to get kids to sit still long enough for an acceptable picture, let alone a really good one.

Most photos turn out like this:

 Where's Nathan? And please put down your dress!

Or like this:

Everyone wants to hold the baby!

Some shots have eyes closed or fingers in noses or tantrum-throwing toddlers, and they're all vetoed, one by one. I kept telling Heidi: "We only need one or two good ones, right?"  She didn't care much. You know how you feel a week post-partum and the last thing you want is a photograph forever reminding you of your black-rimmed eyes from lack of sleep, still-stretched-out body, and hormonally charged emotions. Am I right?

She did recognize that she wanted a photo of her family, and that she's part of the family so her presence was required.  I will note here that as soon as we were done shooting, she changed right back into pjs, which is where she still needed to be.

In the end, I got two shots of their entire family that were acceptable.

The one above is my favorite, even though Nathan needed something to keep busy, so I handed him my tripod.  It matches Ellie's dress. Funny, huh?

These two are amazing parents. Going from man-to-man to a zone defense is tough. Most parents will say that from two to three kids is the hardest transition, but Sam and Heidi are two of the best parents I've ever seen. And I'm not just saying that because I'm the grandma, either.

We also tried just the kids with the parents' legs.

Jonah just hung there while Nathan squirmed and fought his daddy's grip. Ellie didn't know quite what to think about this arrangement.

Strangely enough, shooting just the kids yielded the best shots of the morning.

 Do you see any resemblance between the two older kids? Ellie is a Denton and Nathan is definitely his daddy's boy.

 Jonah was so patient, even when precariously balanced on Ellie's lap.

 I think Nathan is going to be a photographer.  Here he's playing with my lens cap.  Anything to keep him still, I say.

 This last shot is my favorite. It captures their personalities the best. Ellie loves people and loves to interact with anyone who will listen. Nathan, on the other hand, is a little more reserved, a little more shy, but the cutest little boy I ever did see.

Love these guys.

Which are your favorites? What tricks have you used to successfully photograph young kids? Tricks that don't involve straight jackets or copious amounts of candy are preferred.