After you and your family decide to get professional photos done, you have set up the date and time but now what? When you come to a photo shoot (and you find your photographer) you can expect to do a little meet and greet, the photographer will take a little time to get to know everyone by name and ask a little about their interests and what sort of photos they would like to see of themselves.
Then the photographer may tell everyone some of the ideas that he/she has for everyone so that if your not sure what you want you may like some of the creative input.
Next the photographer will gather all their gear if they have not already and everyone will head off to the first location.
Sometimes the entire shoot will be in one place but other times the photographer will move everything to get a different background or look for the photos.
The most important point to remember when working with a photographer are: relax- the photos will look contrived and stiff if all you do is pose and look at the camera.
The photographer will give everyone instruction as to when is best to look right at the camera, but for the most part just stay in range of the lights and interact with the people around you.
The term "candid photography" does not necessarily mean a person is going around taking pictures of random people, it means that the model was in a posed position but the photographer was able to catch a natural unexpected look.
The best thing to do is constantly talk to your photographer.