Do you feel like you have too few family photos? And have nothing to put on a mantelpiece or use to make a cute postcard? Luckily, you can easily fix it and enrich your family archive. Just have yourself a little family photoshoot!
No, you don’t need to book a costly photographer that will boss you around the set. You don't even have to only resort to using a tripod. All you need to end up with amazing family pictures is a friend who is at least modestly confident with a camera, a bit of your time, a sea of inspiration, and just a few tips that will help you make it all work. While we hardly can help you with the former requirements, we are more than capable of delivering you the latter. So without further ado, let’s have a look at a handful of tips that will help you produce pro-level quality family photos.
Practice Your Poses
Since it’s unlikely that any of your family members have experience in modeling, you might find it hard to feel relaxed in front of the camera. You can easily overcome this by practicing with a mirror. Just look up a few surefire poses for a photoshoot and spend a couple of hours in front of the mirror until you nail them. Also make sure to find the best way to position all the family members within the frame. With a few trial shots you’ll get the gist of how to place everyone. A bonus tip - sometimes there is no actual need for posing, because the best pictures are the ones that were shot in motion while the family members were just having fun.
Go Easy on Your Kids
Children are tricky models to work with. They throw tantrums, get bored easily, and can be plain uncooperative. Natalie Chiles San Diego photographer shares that the wisest decision would be to shoot for short periods of time with considerable breaks between. This way you’ll make sure you don’t end up with stiff poses and sulky faces in your pic. Make sure to have snacks nearby if your youngest models get hangry and cranky. Having a photoshoot with your pet as well? Want it to look directly into the camera? Then have the photographer dangle its favourite toy behind the camera. Then you’ll have the most engaged gaze from your furry friend.
Find the Perfect Location
They say that a wisely chosen location makes up half the success of a photoshoot. You have two options here. First, find a location with a lot of detail and objects that your family can interact with. These can be steps, fences, trees, benches, old armchairs, fireplaces, basically anything that can be touched and speaks of coziness and comfort. Alternatively, you can go with a plain location with a subtle background - a stone wall, for instance. But in this case you will need to mind your poses because there won’t be that many details for the eye to wander off to.
Coordinate Your Outfits
This is a seemingly unimportant detail, but it can take your family photoshoot to a next level. Make sure to pick outfits that would match. You don’t have to pick outfits of only one color - it would only create a bright spot at the center of the picture, ruining it. Instead, you can choose colors that play well off each other. Or go with subtle colors that you can jazz up with bright coordinated details. Also be sure to stick to one style to add real swagger to your family photos.
Edit Your Images Yourself
This step is usually either skipped or delegated to some professional. But why rob yourself of a wonderful opportunity to post-process your images yourself and be in charge of all the edits? By the way, there is no need to have pro-level expertise to edit your images. There are tons of photo editing software for beginners that will help you do the trick. With these programs, you’ll be able to easily fix any flaws of your images, enhance and stylize them to your liking. Post-editing is a very engaging and rewarding process. See it for yourself.
So don’t waste another minute - get your family all dressed up and ready and go there to make some precious photo memories all by yourselves.
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