Are you a busy photographer who wants to easily take natural, emotion-filled photos of your clients?
Then welcome to the Promptographer Guide: free photo prompt ideas for photographers. You’ve come to the right spot: get free photo prompts for photographing couples, families, weddings, and individuals.
It’s my mission to help you feel confident and capable, easily direct the flow of your session with clients, help them show their true selves, and capture authentic photos filled with real emotion and real moments.
Come get inspired, fill up your idea bucket, and get ready to create new art.
Latest prompt
Check the details: take more professional photos by paying attention
Once you’ve got the basics of posing and prompting under your belt, it’s time to up your...
Browse the rest of the prompts
The Promptographer Guide is organised into two curated Guides: Love Prompts and Family Prompts. Each of these contains five sets of free photo prompts, photo pose ideas and more.
Love prompts
Click one of the following to be taken to just the prompts in that set.
Family prompts
Click one of the following to be taken to just the prompts in that set.
You can also browse by tags.
Active26 App1 Children25 Classic posing9 Couples29 Creative8 DIY1 Documentary29 Engagement18 Flash7 Gear1 High school senior9 Love32 Maternity17 Movement20 Newborn6 Photo prompt47 Playful25 Posing groups15 Posing hands4 Posing tips14 Teenagers11 Toddlers9 Tween14 Wedding29
All the free photo prompts
Act like: funny couple photo ideas for weddings and engagements
Getting laughs during a romantic portrait photoshoot is easy with funny couple photo ideas that...
Hug it out: hugging photo ideas for families and couples
Hugs are family photos 101. Most families will immediately grab each other with the classic...
Newborn baby details: photo ideas for baby sessions
The fine details of baby’s appearance are so important for a newborn shoot because they not only...
Sit stylish: how to pose people for relaxed seated photos
When you get someone in front of your camera who isn’t a model, targeted suggestions on how to sit...
Go adventuring: toddler photo ideas for a family shoot
When photographing toddlers, I find that parents are often worried that their child will misbehave...
Up and down: change your angle for an easy creative photo
99% of the time we shoot photos from the same place: standing height. Break out of the standard...
Celebrate the couple at your next pregnancy photoshoot
At a pregnancy photoshoot, the baby bump is always going to feature heavily. But don’t let it...
Intimate ideas for wedding photos to show romance and love
Capturing romantic moments is wedding photography 101. Most couples are as loved-up as they’re...
Dancing ideas to add movement to wedding photos
If there’s anything that lends itself to big, showy movements, it’s a wedding dress. This prompt...
Walking together: easy ways to add movement to family photos
Movement is great to loosen tension and add dynamism. Simply walking together as a group makes for...
Let them play: capturing photos of kids being kids
Capture kids easily at your next in-home photo session with this prompt: it’s a great low pressure...
Bridal preparation photo ideas for capturing the bride before the wedding
Before the wedding begins, there are a heap of opportunities for photos that better illustrate the...
Have fun with your bridal party photos with these whole group prompts
One of my favorite parts of the wedding day is just after the ceremony. The bride and groom are...
Use hands to show love and connection between family members
Touch is one of my favorite ways to capture the affection and love between family members. This...
Maternity photo prompts to give parents a moment of reflection
Becoming a family, or adding to your family, is an emotional time for parents-to-be. This prompt...
Capture restless kids with these easy photo props
Photo prompts for active kids are easy with a few props in hand. A bubble machine is one of my...
Help your couples laugh and have fun with these comedic prompts
I love working with couples who are just bouncing off each other with humour and laughter. But...
Capture invisible moments to give your clients something new
With Christmas just around the corner (already!) it’s a perfect time to add fresh ideas to your...
Ice breakers to help people relax at a family photoshoot
Helping your clients relax into the process is a first step in any prompted photoshoot, and this...
Help teens and tweens relax by photographing what they love to do
It’s a fact: some young people love being in front of the camera, and others don’t. If you’ve got...
Embrace the chaos in your family shoots with small kids
Ever been to a photoshoot where the kids are just going nuts? Where the parents are freaking out,...
Essential photos for your lifestyle newborn photoshoot
The newborn days at home are a magical mix of exhaustion and incredible love, as a new family...
Toddler tactics for getting great photos of young kids
Capturing photos—good photos—of toddlers is challenging. They move fast, they don’t follow...
Direct your photographs like movie scenes
This is an underlying skill that you can use as a foundation to working with prompts. It’s a good...
Shoot in the dark (and don’t use a flash)
Low key photography is hugely popular and successful at the moment (a lot of competitions are...
Find the unexpected for a fast variety boost
Setting yourself apart from other photographers and booking clients who are attracted to your...
Get imaginative for your next couple photoshoot
When planning a prompted shoot with a couple, it’s important to consider the sequencing of...
Intimate photo prompts for genuine emotion between couples
This week’s prompt is designed to give couples a quiet moment of reflection during a shoot, and to...
Essential photo opportunities for the wedding ceremony
The ceremony is the most meaningful part of the wedding day. After all, that’s why your couple is...
Posing individuals: fundamental posing tips for flattering photos
Prompted photography is somewhere in the middle of the posed-documentary spectrum, taking the best...
Capture the details of family resemblances in multi-generational portraits
There’s something so special about getting all the family together for a multi-generational photo...
Prompts for getting laughs from high school seniors and teens in family shoots
In Australia, where I live, it’s only a few short months until Year 12 students wrap up the year...
Newborn photography safety: protecting the tiny ones
If you’ve haven’t been around newborns much, your first photoshoots with a brand new human might...
Capturing the emotion of becoming parents
Whether it’s your first baby or your fifth, there’s nothing like the emotion of welcoming a new...
Take a tip from the stage in your next photoshoot
Stage left, stage right, break a leg. Stage actors have their own lexicon, and they’re very good...
Pump up the energy in your couple photography
Whether you have a couple of bubbly, fun-loving extroverts in front of your camera, or a quiet,...
Using flash in your photography, on and off-camera
We’re continuing our adventures in flash this week, perhaps a little reversedly (that’s a word,...
How to take creative light painting photos for less than $15
If you’ve ever shot a wedding, you know that things can, and do, run over. Often it’s the romantic...
Use your senses so you don’t miss the moment
This technique was inspired by a story a photographer I met in passing years ago shared with me....
Create intimate photos of couples walking hand-in-hand
This is one of my go-to prompts for weddings and engagement photoshoots. I am particularly fond of...
Photo prompts for photographing family events and milestones
Birthday party photography, wedding anniversary celebrations, and Christmas photos all have one...
Document family life with a photojournalistic photoshoot
The magic of photojournalistic family photography comes from the realness of the moments you...
Easy photo prompts for beautiful bridal portraits
Bridal portraits are a beautiful memento of a wedding day. These are the solo portraits of the...
Make your maternity clients feel beautiful with these maternity photoshoot basics
It’s one of the most exciting times we go through as women: expecting a new baby. I don’t think...
Hugs and kisses: how to pump up the old-fashioned romance in your next couple shoot
OXOX: some couples are so crazy in love that it leaps into the lens with no effort on your behalf....
Look at the camera! Adults, we’re talking to you
Some adults find this week’s prompt completely impossible to do. No matter how you try to stop...
Ready, set, get wet! Ideas for using water in family photos
Summer fun, spring rain and overcast autumn days are all filled with opportunity to include water...
What do I do with my hands? Answering the age-old question
You know it’s coming. The moment someone steps in front of your lens, you get the question: what...
Three ways throwing stuff can make your family photoshoot pop
I know, I know, we don’t usually want to encourage small children to throw stuff, especially at...
Add quick creative lighting effects to your wedding portraits using Fractal filters
I recently invested in a set of the stunningly cool Fractal filters to add creativity to...
Two rules for posing couples that will instantly improve your photography
When using photo prompts with couples, applying some fundamental “house rules” to the whole...
The original free posing prompt and portrait idea cards for photographers
This was where it all began. I originally posted this free posing prompts DIY on my wedding...
Get silly: five photo prompt ideas to get kids smiling
When it comes to photo poses for kids, it’s all too easy to resort to bribery. “Smile at the...
