Loving Life with Little Ones: A Christmas Photoshoot with the Little Ones

Now you know the saying, children are difficult to work with, well you would not believe how many attempts it takes to photograph the three Little Ones in order to get a picture of them all looking the right way, happy, no fingers up noses or children trying to shove each other off the spot. You do have to be quick as they lose interest and quite a lot of my pictures recently have ended up with a toddler shaped blur as Little 3 bolts out of the picture.

We wanted to take a photo of the Little Ones together to print out and send to far away family and friends in their Christmas cards and a lovely framed one for Great Granny's Christmas Present as she hasn't got one of the three of them together. Nanny had asked for a new photo keyring with all three on and we wanted to get some updated Christmas tree photo decorations as well.

Snapfish, the online photo company recently got in touch with us, they reckon a great way to wish a Merry Christmas to family and friends is to have a family photoshoot and create your own personalised photo Christmas cards and photo gifts. They offered us a few pointers and asked us to share our top tips for a family photoshoot, so here they are:-

1. Timing- Pick your time of day carefully, especially with toddlers! A hungry toddler shortly before nap time is not going to make a great photo subject! Ensure everyone is happy, willing (see bribery) and not hungry or tired.

2. Lighting- If you are going to do a shoot indoors pick the right spot, lighting is crucial, try a spot near a window for natural light or better still get outside and enjoy the winter sunshine!

3. Looking good- Pretty red dresses and Christmas jumpers look great but what about Santa hats, fairy lights and a smattering of tinsel to add that further festive touch.

4. Taking photos when people least expect it can have amazing results, try telling jokes or funny stories even sing a few carols and see what happens. You might avoid the posed grins and cheesy smiles and end up with natural laughter instead. (Just don't say 'Who wants a chocolate coin then' or you get a photo like this one below, I don't think I could have got them to pose this if I'd tried!).

5. Bribery- A large bag of chocolate coins works wonders with the Little Ones, it helps keep their interest and they'll do anything for a bit of chocolate. Happy faces and chocolatey smiles make cute pictures too.

6. Keep it fun- Get the children involved, ask their ideas, they may surprise you. It might make them more willing to join in and when the fun stops, try again another time, grumpy children don't take good photos!

So with these top tips in mind we picked a Saturday morning when everyone was willing and gave it a go.....

There were some dodgy cheesy smiles and eyes closed shots, I am not quite sure what Little 2 was doing with her hands in several of them either, I think being a reindeer was mentioned! Little 3 didn't like the tinsel and lights on his lap and pushed them off after the first couple of photos but eventually after the 10th shot or so I got one of all three looking and smiling (well, two of them were smiling) before Little 3 wanted to get down and our two minute photoshoot was over!

This was the best one I think, at least they were all looking.

Little 1 really likes having her picture taken and was happy to sit for a few more pictures after the other two had disappeared, she would sit and pose for ages she would.

Once I had chosen which photo I wanted to use for my Christmas picture I hopped over to Snapfish and ordered my christmas present photo gifts. A keyring for Nanny, some updated tree decorations for the grandparents (and one for us) and a large print for Great Granny.