Children's photographers earn every penny of their fee as working with kids takes a lot of skill, patience and sometimes a sense of humour.
Do you have what it takes? You may have fantastic skills with a camera and perhaps you have studied for years.
You may have won a lot of awards and have taken photos of famous people but even with all of this experience you may not be able to cut it in the career working as a children's photographer.
So what skills do the top children's photographers have? They have a certain charisma.
An ability to work with children, gaining their trust and being able to get down to their level without patronizing them is also useful.
Kids tend to take an instant like or dislike to people and it is very hard to change their opinion.
If they like someone they will do their best to work with that person and will listen to their instructions.
On the other hand if they don't like you, nothing you can do will make them cooperate and you could find you end up resorting to bribery.
So how do you find out whether you have the personality and skills to work with young kids? The best way is to join an established children photography practice and get some real life experience.
This is the quickest way to see if you can cut it in this very competitive environment.
Learn from the people who work with children every day.
They will be able to pass on some expert hints on how to stage the photo shoot correctly.
Being small, kids can pose an additional challenge when trying to get that perfect result.
Talk to some children's photographers in your area and see what they think of their chosen career.
Most love it and wouldn't do anything else.