Photography Tips For Beginners: 12 Photo Tips for Family Portraits

Put your digital camera to good use! Grab a camera and capture family memories. Here are sure shot tips for your family portrait session…

1. Choose type of family portrait. You can do it in a studio or on your family porch. You could wear costumes or choose a theme like tea party.
2. Be the director. Working with a group can be trying, so be assertive and patient. Plan ahead.
3. Use the burst mode. Set your digital camera to burst mode so you atleave have one framw with everyone paying attention and with their eyes open.
4. Candid shot. Dont be so worked up that everyone is looking at the camera. It’s nice to have a few shots where family members are joking around. You see the personalities of the members and how they react to each other.
5. Lighting is key. If you don’t have a studio go pose your family in the garden under sunlight! Sunlight is the best lighting. Some website suggest that if it is a particularly bright day cover it with a thin veil of material, such as a net curtain or peg a white cotton sheet across to act as a diffuser for softer, more flattering light. If you decide to use flash indoors, perhaps employ a diffuser to soften the effect and avoid bleaching skin or flattening textures.
6. Remember the shadows. A disadvantage of shooting under the sun is the harsh shadows that can fall across the face. However you can be creative, if you shoot the family portrait with the sun behind the family members you can have creative silhouette and yu just have to use a fill in flash to bring back the details.
7. Don’t shoot against the sun. You want to have a lively photo and not a family photo that’s not ghostly which is the washed out effect of shooting against the sun.
8. Color Scheme. Ask your family to wear clothes that are color coordinated. I prefer white shirt and jeans for instant class and professional looking family portrait.
9. Standing or sitting. If you’re a big group you might want some of them sitting down. If you split the group in different levels, it offers a more dynamic image forcing the eye to jump around the scene.
10. Wide angle zoom lens. For big families it good to use a wide angle lens so you’re Uncle Ted doesn’t go with a cut head. Dial is a wide aperture of f5.6 or less and throw out the back drop. This offers the chance to play with whom and what is in focus.
11. Use a different perspective. May do a shooting down by climbing on a ladder and pointing your camera down while your family looks up.
12. Have fun! Don’t be too fussy, the best thing about shooting a family portrait is that, hey, they are family. They will love the photo and the moment whether or not they are picture perfect.