How to Get a Two Year Old to Pose for Professional Portraits- Monsey, NY Photographer

So, how do you get a 2 year old to pose? The short answer is, you don’t. Two year olds don’t take direct instruction from strangers (actually, from ANYONE) very well. Rather, my strategy is to treat the session as one big fun game. I use a mix of little games such as catch, hide and seek and playing with puppets to get them warmed up to me and laughing. Once I have their attention, I then subtly start putting them where I want them to be, all while continuing the funny games. Big chairs are great for this age because once you sit them on it and quickly distract them you can get some great shots with them in one spot. The key here is to work super quickly, and go from one thing to the next so you don’t lose their attention. I act crazy sometimes using puppets or stuffed animals just to keep them engaged. I’ll hide behind my softbox and then jump out at them, or toss them a ball and have them throw it back. Once they begin getting bored it’s very hard to continue the session- they will simply walk away and refuse to come back.

So in summary, the trick to photographing 2 year olds: be quick, engage and distract!

I used all the above techniques to photograph adorable Y. at his 2 year portrait session. I adore all the different expressions we captured, and those big brown eyes made me melt!