There really wasn’t a plan with this photo session. She just really wanted the world to see her outfit and who am I to turn away someone who wants to get their picture taken?
When working with young children, don’t be afraid to work with what ever mood they are in. In this case, she was in a silly mood, so I told her about silly invisible giraffes that were in the room with us. She loved that and of course this got her to do more happy movements which are easily caught. Occasionally, I’d ask her to throw me a serious look which she would do and then go back to giggling and laughing. I do this not only to get a few serious look photos (I don’t think people should shy away from serious looks) but it also helps ground the child a little when they are playing during a photo session. After all, it is still a photo session and there is still heavy equipment around – always remember that as the adult it’s your job to deliver everyone and everything to the end of the session safely.
For this session, I did a two-light setup. I’m trying to brainstorm some ideas for a few photo sessions I have coming up and when in doubt I go back to some basics. I had one light with a snoot acting as a hair light and my key was an octagon with a grid on.