Tips for Family Beach Pictures with a Toddler

Tips for Family Beach Pictures With A Toddler | Outfit Details

Dress: Amazon // Jackie's Dress: Hanna Andersson // Alex's Shirt: Target // Alex's Shorts: Target

Tips for Family Beach Pictures With A Toddler | Family Beach Pictures

This is now the second set of family pictures we have taken at the beach. You can see the first set here. The beach is one of my favorite places and Jackie (clearly) loves the water, so it is a fun place for our family to do pictures. After doing this set of pictures, and a few more with the extended family, there are some tips for family beach pictures with a toddler that I wanted to share with you!

Tips for Family Beach Pictures With A Toddler | Use A Photographer You Trust

For us, one of the best ways to get good pictures is using a photographer we trust and that knows Jackie really well. The first set of pictures we did were taken by my dad. Talk about trust. He was able to get Jackie's attention and the pictures turned out amazing.

This time, we had my friend Emma take the pictures. She came to the beach with us and has taken lots of my pictures before. She had been watching Jackie for the last few months and they were buddies. So it as easy for Emma to get Jackie to laugh and smile. Emma was also one more adult to make sure that Jackie didn't go to far out into the water!

Tips for Family Beach Pictures With A Toddler | Be Prepared to Get Wet

Unless your child is terrified of the water, you are probably going to get wet. Maybe not like how we got wet, but you will most likely get wet. So dress appropriately. The last time we did beach pictures, we all dressed up. But Jackie wasn't walking yet and we had a lot more control. This time, I knew that we would have to wear more casual clothes because she would diving head first into the waves, literally. I actually loved how our pictures turned out with the clothes I picked. The bright colors of Jackie's dress stood out against the water and The Husband and I were in more neutral colors.

Jackie did end up in the waves a lot and even took two pretty good falls. Both of which she ended up face down in the water! This didn't phase her at all though and she was pretty happy to keep playing in the water. Luckily this allowed us to get some great pictures.

Tips for Family Beach Pictures With A Toddler | Follow Your Child's Lead

Toddlers can be unpredictable. And when you are trying to take family pictures, they are probably not going to want to do what you want them to do. The thing I have learned is to let the child lead the photoshoot. Forget about poses and how you want the pictures to look. Play with your child in the sand and in the water. Those candid shots are going to be some of your favorites from the shoot anyway.

My favorite pictures from this shoot included the ones where The Husband is holding Jackie upside down and she is soaking wet, or when Jackie was running at the camera and we were out of focus in the background. All of these just happened. And I would have hated to have been fighting Jackie the entire time to get her into poses I had come up with in my head. This way, we all had fun and got some really good pictures.

Tips for Family Beach Pictures With A Toddler | Pick A Time That Works For Your Child

Jackie isn't the earliest riser and tends to be up a little later than most kids. And she isn't a morning person, at all. So when we were deciding the timing of the pictures, we went with sunset. This was just before bed time, and Jackie had taken a really late nap before hand. So she was in an excellent mood and we were able to just have fun.

If your child is an early riser, do a sunrise shoot. You want them to be in the best mood so set the schedule around them. Even if that means you have to get up early to be ready for sunrise pictures. What ever time you choose, make sure you are doing the pictures in good lighting. You don't want to be squinting or have harsh shadows in your pictures!