Whether or not you specialize in portraits, as a photographer, you may be asked to take some family portraits. The task at hand can be quite daunting when you have a family as your subject, particularly if they have children. Here are some tips that will help you take the best family portraits:
Choosing the right location is very important. Outdoors is almost always a better option as compared to indoors when you are dealing with a large group, unless the lighting setup is complicated. When you are not dealing with a messy backdrop and everyone’s face is equally aglow, it’s hard to go wrong.
Sunset and sunrise are the best times to take pictures. At these times, the light is pretty, soft, and golden. So, it is highly recommended that you schedule shoots for a couple of hours on either side of dawn and dusk. These are also the times when the lighting changes a lot, so there are several opportunities to take varied shots out of a single setting. Move your objects to properly take advantage of the light and ensure quality family portraits.
When you are trying to make a photo wall out of one shoot or make the photo spread, it’s going to be very dull if all you have is thirty shots of the same group of people looking in different directions. So, mix-and-match people, Get just the children, parents together, one of the parents with a child, etc. The entire shoot will look much better as a collection in this way.
Whether taking group photos or individual portraits, creating a candid look is one of the best ways to produce a unique and different kind of image. Get the family laughing or engage in certain activities – engaging people in an open, friendly manner will get you the shots where the family members have stopped being self-aware!
The general rule for family portraits is to set a wide aperture to keep the subjects/faces sharp, focus on the eyes, and throw the background out of focus. Although this is standard in the context of photography, consider using centre point focus and seldomly photographing the subjects from different viewpoints and angles. Sometimes changing your view helps emphasize the mood and express the photograph better.
Many experts in family portrait photography agree that tripods really come in handy when it comes to family portraits. Not only does the tripod do a great job keeping the camera steady, but it also makes your subjects more comfortable. By using a tripod, you can mess around with the camera settings and still make eye contact with the family members. It’s a win-win.
When taking family portraits, it is recommended that you make sure to consider all the above-listed tips as these can go a long way toward helping you capture the perfect family portraits.