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Tips for Engaging Clients

Lesson 22 from: Lifestyle Family Photography

Emily Lucarz

Tips for Engaging Clients

Lesson 22 from: Lifestyle Family Photography

Emily Lucarz

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Lesson Info

22. Tips for Engaging Clients

Engagement is key in lifestyle portrait photography. Gain valuable tips for creating that engagement, beyond the live shoots. From the details to look for ways to build that engagement, this lesson contains valuable lifestyle portrait photography tips.

Lesson Info

Tips for Engaging Clients

Details during our shoots, okay? We're gonna do things with outside the room peeking in. Always get that view. Above the subject, so standing above the subject. And this is a really good time where... This was my second lifestyle shoot, by the way. This is, that dog has now passed and the baby, I think, is seven. Go above the subject. Go straight on. You know, get low, close up to faces. Change your perspective, okay? And when you're standing over clients like this, clearly you cannot have your 50 millimeter lens on. It's just not gonna work. You need to really have a lens on the 35, the 24, even wider, like a, you know, you just have to be careful with distortion. That's why I'm loving the 24, because I can actually get up high enough and do these sorts of things. I use the 35 outside more frequently now. Just, you have to let go of the rules with some things. This is filling the frame. This is a really good compositional trick to fill the frame, okay? And obviously the focus of this ...

is on the baby and the dog, okay? Okay, activities. How did we implement the questionnaire? How did we implement the questionnaire? Mom told me that she liked, the kids love doing things in threes, so we made sure that we kept the kids in threes during that questionnaire. They loved to read, so we did some reading. They loved, dad loved coffee, so we did the coffee, okay? So we take some of those things that they, that's on their questionnaire and really implemented them into that session the best that we could, you know, for the time that we had. What areas of the whole did I, of the home did I find compositionally cool? That wall, that, right, that was behind on the family room, that was the wall in their bedroom that was really cool, and that was compositionally cool. You need to always look for things like that. Like this wall and this lion. His face is priceless. That's a cool thing. I wanted to use that wall, right? So if you see anything cool like that, use it, okay? Tips to engaging clients. Set up activities the kids love, okay? Have a lovie there. Clients are always so concerned about taking their lovies away. Don't take their lovies away. Please don't take their lovies away. If they have a lovie, keep it. That's part of the family, right? Zachary has Bunny. Bunny will always be in our pictures. He just is part of the family. Say funny jokes. You know, have the kids make funny jokes to each other, okay? Keep them talking. Keep them busy. You know, just keep these kids engaged as much as you can. Tickle 'em. Get, you know, get daddy. Kiss mommy. Play tag in the house. That'll test your camera skills. But what you do is you wait around the corner, you know? And they're coming, they're coming running down the hallway. Now purposely put yourself somewhere that has good light. Everything's on purpose because of light, right? So put yourself somewhere and be ready for that shot, okay? This is why you take a million pictures, because the kids are gonna come running, okay? Or doing peek-a-boo. You're not gonna chase the kids while they're running. I mean, that would be epic, but probably not. Get messy. Get messy with them, okay? So they feel like you're engaging with them. Have dad surprise kiss mom. I do this a lot. I'll say to the husband, "Hey, go grab your wife "and grab her face "and give her a kiss when she's not looking." Best shot ever. 'Cause she's like, "This never happens!" And, like, it's, you know, it's great. (audience laughs) So you get natural reactions, obviously, with that, right? Hug your clients. I hug everybody. I just do. If you're not comfortable hugging people, you're gonna have to get over it, 'cause honestly, even just, like, a gentle, like, back rub, touching their arm, like, get connected to your, I mean, if you have clients that don't wanna hug, don't do it. But if you get close to your clients, you know, get, you know, hip check dad, you know what I mean? Like, hey, like, loosen up a little bit, dude. Like, I do this all the time, and it makes everybody kinda relax, you know? They feel like you're their friend and not somebody, like, invading their home, okay? Keep 'em honest, right? Like, you are 16, right? So that makes kids laugh, too. So if you have a four-year-old, be like, you're 16, right? Or you're a girl, and he's a boy. Laugh, right? So if you say something that's not accurate, it'll make 'em laugh.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Email Template & Family Prep
Family Questionnaire
Bring it Forward Photoshop Layer

Bonus Materials

Gear List

Ratings and Reviews

yeahyeahsyd
 

Emily reignited my passion for lifestyle photography and gave me the tools that I needed to give my business a creative and profitable boost. Seeing how effortlessly she interacted with families and the efficiency of her workflow was inspiring. I'm excited to shake things up and make some positive changes in my business that I know will lead to success. Thank you Emily and thank you Creativelive for this fun and informative class!

Bernadette
 

Watching Emily on CL - I rarely comment, but wanted to pop in and say what a great class it is! Full of helpful information and good content. One of the first classes that moves at a perfect pace, keeping things interesting & engaging. I tend to lose interest quickly when classes drag, but she really does such a fantastic job, which is refreshing. Makes watching the class really enjoyable! Thank you!

robinspalding
 

I was just hoping on here to post how much I loved this class. I used to be a portrait photographer, veered away for a bit to focus on more conceptual art photography but i still am interested in lifestyle photography. Emily is very inspiring, her bubbly personality was a joy to watch how she interacts with families especially the kids. Her work is phenomenal! (in response to one of the bad reviews, about her cutting off children shooting on a live workshop while tethered and teaching can easily explain this away as you can tell from her portfolio that she always has compositionly beautiful images) This class has renewed and inspired my love of lifestyle and i have been shooting so much since the class! Definitely used her tips and tricks to improve my pictures! highly recommend this class!

Student Work

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