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| Family Portraits Ideas |
Family portraits are the perfect way to preserve your heritage and are an invaluable asset for passing down our family history. While some family portraits can seem rather hum drum, others gain the well known phrase "that's a great picture", what kinds of family portraits do you have? Professional photographers can sometimes get stuck in the same old groove, same old shots, and shots after shots, family after family portraits.
Be creative with your family poses and encourage all the natural behavior, smiles and laughter that your family is known for. Use natural settings and props that will captivate the unique moment being shared. There are numerous ways to accomplish the natural setting family portraits. Consider the various things that your family does together from playing board games to playing with the family pet.
Family portrait photography tends to be the main example of this phenomena. The background of your photo can be as important as the foreground. One of the more troublesome facets of family portrait photography is lighting. When taking the photo indoors, make sure you use the flash on your camera. Outside photos may not need the flash if lighting is adequate, however if you're positioned in the shade then you should consider making use of the flash. When positioning the people in your photo, it is vital to consider the effect you want attain in the finished photo. Varying the placement of people in your photo from the standard line-up can add some interest and help heighten the relationships you may be trying to create in your photo. You might consider placing your family pets in the photo, however be warned that constant movement by them such as a wagging tail can add some blurring to your photo.
So whether photgraphing indoors in your own home, in a studio environment or somewhere in the beautiful outdoors settings of Perth, make sure you consider all the aspects of your family portrait. Doing this will help to get you that much closer to that perfect family portrait.
Family Portrait Tips
These family portrait tips should be very helpful to use and will aid you in avoiding making what I call Common Photo Mistakes.
1. Who? Find out who is going to be in the family portrait first.
This is sometimes already known, but it is extremely important to know who is getting photographed before your portrait session. Knowing the number of people as well as their ages will determine posing, the location and the time of day for your shoot. Photographing babies or young children may have to be done before or after nap time. Photographing late night owls or party goers may not be wise early in the morning.
2. How? How are you going to pose them?
I find it very valuable to make a few rough drawings of possible poses I might use, based in the number and size of my subjects. This is something I learned to do when I was in photography school doing still lifes. Will you have people sitting on chairs or stools? With the subject that you have, it might make sense to have some folks sitting or kneeling on the ground. Search a few photographers' sites and look for portraits of groups with the same size and numbers. Review some of the rules of composition for group portraits.
3. Where? Where are the portraits going to be taken?
That will determine the kind of lighting to use. Determine if the existing lighting is good or will you have to use fill flash or reflectors. If it is an inside portrait, you may have to use studio strobe lighting. The size of the interior room may effect how you pose your family portrait. If it's an outdoor portrait, you need to have plan B in place ahead of time in the case of bad weather.
4. When? The time of day is important for several reason.
The available time, the sleeping or eating schedule of your subject and the outdoor lighting are all effected by what time of day you shoot.
5. What? What will everybody be wearing?
See one of my other articles on choosing portrait clothing. The clothing for portraits makes a huge impact on how we look in our portraits. The clothing should work well with the background and with the posing. Formal clothing should not be used for casual posing.
6. Why? Last, but not least.
Is to consider the reason the portrait is being taken in the first place. Is it commemorating a special occasion? Find out what's most important to your client. What do they want the portrait to portray?
