Hellobee Boards

Expecting a 3 month old to smile for family photos is pretty much setting yourself up for disappointment. If it happens-- awesome! But it's definitely not a given at that age. I think you should look at the photos more as documenting where you are at this stage of life, rather than looking for 3 smiling faces. I do a lot of family photos and 3-4 mo is my least fav age to take photos of because it is just so hard with them being aware enough to be distracted but not quite aware enough to smile for camera usually. And then you run into the problem of the parents being so concerned about making the kid smile, IF they do its a bad shot of the parents because they are doing something goofy.

Generally what I recommend is first having realistic expectations at this age. Second, take some toys he likes that make noise (like rattle or something) to give to the photog to shake next to the camera so you increase chances of him at least looking at the camera. And third do some photos of just you and just dh with LO so that the other person can stand next to the camera and get his attention and do all those dumb things we all do to make our kids smile.

(And believe me-- I get this from both angles. I've done family shoots almost every weekend of the last several months and I also just had our family photos taken this morning with my 5mo and I assured the photog that I was not expecting magic, even at 5mo, to think that there were going to be many or any photos where all 3 of us were smiling at the camera at the same time!)