Soon I'm going to be shooting a portrait session for an almost one-year old. I have very little experience photographing children so I've been reading lots on it and looking at the work other photographers do with children and thinking about how to decrease any stress the session will cause to the child. Because a stressed child doesn't make for a good portrait sitting.

These are a few general guidelines and questions I've come up with:

1. Shoot where the child is comfortable. You're going to be a stranger, holding strange looking equipment, trying to get the child to focus his attention on you. You don't need to add any more differentness or uncomfortableness to the equation. If it were warmer I'd strongly suggest an outdoor shoot, perhaps the backyard or a familiar park. Since we're stuck with winter though the parents and I have agreed that shooting in the child's bedroom or playroom is the best option.

2. Work with the child's schedule Although lots of grown people generally say "oh mornings work best for me" or "mornings are awful for me" little kids are actually on pretty strict schedules that have concrete effects on their mood and energy level. Meet up with a toddler shortly before his morning nap time and you may quickly learn where the "terrible two's" label came from.

So for this shoot I've asked the parents to think about and observe their son to see when he has the most energy, what times of day he tends to be happiest, when he tends to be crankiest, when they are most likely to be able to get him to sit still for 2 minutes, etc.

3. Work with the light The best scenario is to scope out where you're going to be shooting before the actual shoot. You can look at the primary light sources (windows for natural light), evaluate shadows and dark spots, and see how the light works with the colors and tones in the space you're shooting in. Unfortunately that's not an option for me with this shoot. So I'm having to trust the parents to give me some solid information. I'm asking for information like how many windows are in the room, what directional wall are they on, when is the light brightest in this particular spot, etc. These are smart people so I'm sure they're going to give me good info but I'm prepping as though they might not. For example I'm planning to cover my bases by bringing flash, an alternate light source and having the parents choose an alternate portrait location within the house.

4. Help the Parents Go With the Flow I am not a big fan of traditionally posed portraits. I like more candid, naturally looking poses and setups. The parents already understand this and we've agreed to do a mixture of shots with poses and setups that I think will work best and some more "traditionally posed" shots that they're used to seeing. In addition to this though I'm making sure the parents know that some of the best stuff comes from the least expected moments. Perhaps the child will be really distracted by a stuffed animal in the corner. Mom would normally try to pull him back to the chair since that's where she wants him to be shot, but a picture of him cuddling that stuffed animal may be the cutest child pictures since this one. Go with the flow.

Those are some of the most important ones that I've thought of but let's look at it from the flip side, the parent's perspective. The above questions that I, as the photographer, am asking are the same ones that parents need to be asking when hiring someone to shoot their child's portrait. You want to make sure that you and the photographer do everything possible to get the best shots of your child and get the kind of shots that you want.

1. Are you going to work with my child's schedule?
2. Are you going to shoot where my child is comfortable?
3. Are you going to shoot the kind of poses and setups that I want?
4. Are you going to allot enough time for the shoot to deal with my child should he get cranky or distracted?
5. Anything else you feel I should know or consider?

Don't feel nervous about asking a lot of questions. Not only are you paying the photographer for her services but trust me, she wants to to do a good job and make you happy. And the best way for both the photographer and the client to be happy is for both sides to have lots of information, including knowing exactly what the expectations and requirements for each side are.