Family Portrait Disaster

iCandi

What do you do when an entire family photo shoot is a bust?

The family wanted photos of mom, dad and daughter together, individuals of daughter and individuals of mom and dad.

Everything was great - until the little girl (who was 2.5 years old) absolutely did not want to photograph with her mom and dad.

EVERY photo I have is a mean face, eyes closed, pouting or looking away.

So I find this 1 photo where she was smiling. Only 1. And to my horrible dismay it's at such an angle that it's not fixable for me at all. They had her on a swing and pushed her and she started to smile. I pulled my camera up so fast to catch that 1 smile, that the angle is just awful.

I tried to correct it, but it was so closely cropped that when I tried to fix the angle, it just didn't work.

Plus it's one of the cheesiest photos... horribly cheesy.

Do I try to salvage the photo and offer it at an angle or do I just offer them another whole shoot earlier in the morning to where the little girl won't be so upset?

Here's the unedited photo.



(Pardon the grainy photo, I uploaded it to Tinypic)

First time I've ever had a disaster.

Art Morgan

I wouldn't bother offering this shot as a one-and-only--too much apologizing to do. (You say the others are a bust.) So I'd say do a re-shoot and catch the little one in a better mood!

ADMIT Photography

I have to agree with Scott. I'd offer a re-shoot.

VayCayMom

I agree as well.

sweet caroline

Yes, just show them the great shots you got. Tell them you realize they didn't get the family shot they had envisioned so you'd be happy to do a short session to focus on getting that shot. They may be completely satisfied with what you've got. Parents of a 2 year old know that kids are unpredictable, and they are unlikely to blame the photographer.

Sam

You post the entire family photo shoot was a bust. Can you define that beyond the little girl not cooperating?

If the rest of your images are clean, crisp and up to your standards you have nothing to apologist for. You are not responsible for the kids tantrum. Maybe an idea for the next time this happens would be to back off, play, buy some ice cream etc. Hopefully someone with more kid experience will chime in, but I don't think you can force a kid to smile and cooperate, you need to find a way for them to want to do it, or do it without realizing they are doing it. Yes, con the little buggers.

Now if on the other hand the images were not up to your standards for other reasons you may want to offer to re-shoot.

If you have all the shots except the kid shots and want to be customer friendly you could offer them an hour to re-shoot only the kid stuff missed on the first shoot. I don't know your location, driving distances, circumstances, etc, but if you can easily do a quick re-shoot I would think the parents would be very grateful.

Sam

ADMIT Photography

Is it possible to see some of the images from the set?

Tim Kamppinen

Can you swap the head from this shot into another shot that's not crooked? Still though, that only gets you one good shot of her.

D'Buggs

I totally busted on a young families group shot just this past friday evening. EVERYTHING was junk because 2 of the 4 kids were fidgety and/or not into it... I thought I had one image that would make the grade but no, sure as hell the little girl was motion blurred.

I felt like a crumb but the family was both appreciative and understanding, and loved the portrait of mom and dad. They actually insisted on me being paid because it was something out of my control. All I missed on was some print sales but will make it back next time; At which time, I'll cut them some slack for being Good Humans.

Crap happens and always will. It's about how the crap is handled.

Sam

Tim Kamppinen wrote: »

Can you swap the head from this shot into another shot that's not crooked? Still though, that only gets you one good shot of her.

Tim,

This is off topic but your photo looks familiar, are you now or have you ever been a serial killer?

Sam

Tim Kamppinen

Sam wrote: »

Tim,

This is off topic but your photo looks familiar, are you now or have you ever been a serial killer?

Sam

My real name is Dexter...

Foques

How would one approach a reshoot in their conversation?

"I believe we could do a reshoot for the better result"?

Tracker

Foques wrote: »

How would one approach a reshoot in their conversation?

"I believe we could do a reshoot for the better result"?

I'd like to shoot your kid again, but with something other than a camera this time. :giggle

Foques

something tells me that parents would be a little less than appreciative of this fantastic idea!

jmphotocraft

I feel for you. Sam and Tim have given the correct answers, it's not your problem. Send the bill.

I did a family session recently and this was what I was up against:



There were -zero- nice candids of him. Fortunately his grandmother and I got him to do a Frame Filler:



I think the key was getting him away from his parents and the group. He seemed to realize that the sooner he cooperated, the sooner he could get back to playtime. However a 2 year old may not be so negotiable.

For the record I don't think your photo on the swing is cheesy, and I think if it were straight the parents would eat it up. But as-is it is unusable except as a head donor.

Joe Dukovac

Hey Mandi,

I've been shooting more and more young children and families as of late. I always recommend doing the shoot as early as possible......2 reasons. Reason #1 and the biggest reason....kids are "usually" always in a better mood before mid-morning. I usually try and schedule my shoots for around 8:30am or 9. Reason #2, your light is less harsh.

I remember when I first started with families and kids, I had a family who INSISTED on doing a shoot late afternoon telling me that her baby would take a nap when ever and be refreshed once she woke up ROFL. They had a 1 1/2 year old, an 8 year old and a 12 year old. Well, the baby wouldn't stop crying or throwing fits (cause she was hungry and tired), the 8 year old could care less, and the oldest boy would complain that he was hungry every 5 minutes and ask when they were done. Needless to say, when the photos were done, she hated them because her baby wasn't smiling in the pictures. I offered to refund her money and walked away, not giving the photos to the client. This might not have been the best course of action, but it was in my earlier days.

In your case, I would talk to the family and ask them if they'd consider doing an early morning shoot. One thing I like to do is if the kids are getting fussy, tell them to just go play, or have Mum and Dad go play with them. You'll probably get some really nice candid shots as well as have the child more relaxed and willing to do a more formal shot.

Just the ramblings of a mental patient,

Joe

zoomer

I use reverse psychology with the kids. I tell the parents to leave the kid out of the pics if they don't want to be in them....then we make it look like we are having lots of fun and completely ignore the kids.
The kids can't stand not getting all the attention and eventually wander back over to be in the photos....almost always works.
Much better than fighting with them the entire time....make it their idea to be in the photo.
The hardest part of this strategy is convincing the parent that it will work .
Less stress for everyone.

With older kids try one for me one for you. One picture they get to make faces and do Whatever. The next picture is for me, where they have to smile. Sometimes works.