Tips for Creating Great Family Portraits
Tips For Creating Great Family Portraits
Use a tripod whenever possible
A tripod cramps your style. It’s too heavy and cumbersome,
whereas your style is more free-flowing.
That all may be true, and in some cases (like when photographing
kids running or doing more documentary-style photography), it may
be better to shoot handheld.
Shoot in Manual mode
To keep your exposures consistent throughout the whole shoot,
use Manual mode. Just remember that each time you change the pose,
location, etc., you need to check the exposure again. I just fire
off a quick test shot, review the histogram, adjust if necessary,
and continue.
Lock the focus
Just as you do not want the exposure to change from frame to
frame, neither do you want the focus to be adjusted. Assuming
you’re using a tripod, you will not be moving. And if you’ve posed
your group in a relatively static position, they should not be
moving, either. Not much, anyway. Here, we are only concerned with
moving closer to the camera, or further away from the camera.
Stagger the heads
What you want to avoid here is a boring straight line, straight
row, or straight column of heads. Diagonal lines are more dynamic
and add interest to an image, so try to do that with the people in
your portrait group.
Imagine there is a line drawn from each face to the next. Try
and position your subjects so that no head is directly on top of,
or beside (on the same level), another. Make diagonal lines, not
flagpoles.
If it bends, bend it
This is a general rule for photographing people, and it’s a good
one. People tend to stand stiff and rigid when you position them,
so you need to get them to bend a few body parts to look more
natural. Nobody naturally stands stiff as a board.
Let kids be kids
I’ve found that often parents will tell their kids, “You need to
be good and smile” before a photo session. For many kids, this puts
too much pressure on them to perform. I usually prepare parents by
getting them to tell their kids this instead:
Pose people to flatter them
If Mom thinks she looks fat, then she isn’t going to like the
photos, no matter how great the lighting and expressions (see the
next tips). So you’ve got to get the posing right.
Lighting is king; get some in their eyes
Light can make or break any photograph, and portraits are no
different. The biggest thing you want to make sure you do for
portraits is to get light into your subjects’ eyes. There are many
ways to do that, and it’s a huge topic, but here are a few things
you can do to start off with good light:
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