How to Get Dad On Board for Family Photos | Space Coast Photographer

July 28, 2026 • Leave a Comment

family photos in wooded park in northeast Ohio

How to Get Dad On Board for Family Photos (Without a Fight)

If you're the one who books the family session — and let's be honest, it's almost always the mom — you know the drill. You bring it up. You get the look. Maybe a groan. Maybe, "Do we really have to do this?"

I hear it all the time. And I get it. For a lot of dads, "family photos" means standing stiffly in matching outfits, forcing a smile that never quite reaches the eyes, and counting down the minutes until it's over.

So let me tell you a secret: it doesn't have to look like that. And I'm going to tell you exactly how we make sure it doesn't.

family photos in wooded park in northeast Ohio

Why Dads Dread This

Most dads aren't camera-shy because they don't love their families. They're camera-shy because they've only ever experienced posed photos — the kind where you're told to stand here, tilt your chin there, and smile like you mean it. That's an uncomfortable, unnatural thing to ask anyone to do, let alone a guy who'd rather be doing literally anything else.

Add three kids under five into the mix — a four-year-old who's suddenly shy in front of a stranger, and one-year-old twins who have zero interest in sitting still — and it's no wonder dad walks in a little tense.

family photos in wooded park in northeast Ohio

What I Actually Do Differently

I photographed this family in a wooded park — mom, dad, their four-year-old son, and one-year-old boy/girl twins. Dad told me up front: he's never been someone who takes a good natural photo. Smiling on command just isn't his thing.

So we didn't ask him to smile on command. Instead:

We kept everyone moving. Walking down the trail together, dad carrying one twin, mom holding the other, the four-year-old walking in between
hand-in-hand with mom and dad; no one was posing, they were just going for a walk as a family. That's where the real moments live.

I gave prompts, not poses. Instead of "look at the camera and smile," it was "swing your son on the count of three" or "give your little one a kiss." Real actions get real reactions — and real reactions are what make a photo feel like your family, instead of a photo of your family.

I told bad jokes. On purpose. Yes, even for the dads. Especially for the dads. A silly, unexpected joke gets the genuine laugh-smile every time; the one that actually reaches the eyes. It works better than any "say cheese" ever could. In fact, no one is allowed to say cheese at my sessions!

We let the kids be kids. With a four-year-old and one-year-old twins, there was no version of this session where everyone looked at the camera at the same moment smiling perfectly. And that's good — because the in-between moments, the mid-giggle, the twin looking up at mom, the kids mid-sprint down the trail — those are the photos families end up loving most.

family photos in wooded park in northeast Ohio

The Real Secret: Fun In, Beautiful Out

Here's what I tell every family before their session: the more fun you have with each other, the better the photos will be. It's genuinely that simple. My job isn't to make you hold a pose. My job is to give you a reason to laugh, to play, to be a family together for an hour — and to capture it while you do.

Dads don't need to be "good at photos." They just need permission to just be themselves with their kids. Once that pressure's off, the smiles take care of themselves.

family photos in wooded park in northeast Ohio

What This Means for Your Session

If you're the one trying to talk your husband into a family session, here's what I'd tell him directly: this isn't going to be a stand-here-and-smile kind of afternoon. It's going to be walking through the woods or on the beach with your kids, getting roped into a chase, maybe getting laughed at for one of my terrible jokes, and ending up with photos that actually look like him, not a stiff version of him.

That's the difference between photos you tolerate and photos you frame.

Ready to book a family session for your Space Coast or Central Florida family? [Get in touch here] — I'll take care of the rest, jokes included.

*Note: This session was taken in Northeast Ohio where I sometimes travel. I take a limited number of travel sessions so contact me if you're interested.

Keywords: children, family, toddlers