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Family photo tips
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I will be taking some family photos for a young family (parents + 6 month old) this weekend. They cannot afford to pay a photographer and I told them I will try but have never taken family photos before. I have a canon rebel T3 I will be using. I would appreciate any tips/tricks. This family doesn’t have any photos with the baby yet so I’d like to get a few good ones.
Top Comment: Don't go too wide on the angle. I've seen pictures that are 90% background and 10% subject and you can barely see the people in the picture. If you're taking pictures of just the baby get on their level; don't point the camera down on them. But have fun! You have a digital camera so you can take as many pictures as you want to and good for you for helping them out (and giving yourself some free experience as well).
Posing families
Main Post:
Hey everyone,
For 2024 I'm going to start trying to shoot professionally. I've been doing photography for about 5 years, but I've never tried posing anyone before. Any tips/suggestions/resources anyone can recommend?
Top Comment: Congrats on exploring family photography! Sharing a few tips. Get the "leader" on your side from the start. Figure out who is the leader of the group and try to build a rapport with them and coordinate with them. So they herd everyone for you and put down any resistance. Lenses For group photos it's tempting to go with a wider lens like 35mm or more. However, if you have enough space to step back, I would choose a lens like a 50mm, 85mm or longer (that's for full-frame cameras). On a crop-sensor camera, those would be around 35mm and 56mm. I would actually prioritize finding a location where you can step back and use a long lens. Wider lenses tend to have unflattering distortion of people. Longer lenses tend to have more flattering distortion. Some photographers will use a 70-200mm lens and post themselves really far away to fit the group into the frame. If you can't move the location, some things you can do. Try to keep people away from the far right and far left of the frame, that's where the most distortion happens. Leave some space on each side and try to group people into the center of the frame. In post: apply lens correction by selecting the lens you used on the shoot. You may have to do further adjustments, see the videos below. Lighting and Location Look for a good location in advance, give yourself enough time. Don't just wait until the group assembles wherever or let a bossy aunt pick a location with terrible lighting. Avoid distracting backgrounds. When you pick the location, let the leader know to gather people there for the group pictures. If outdoors, get them under shade someplace like under a covered porch or a tree. Ideally, position everyone just at the edge of the shade, facing out toward the sun. The shade will block the sun from above, so the light will only come in from the front and light them. If no shade, ideally have a white wall, white building, white fence behind you, etc. bouncing sunlight forward onto the group. Neutral colors like gray can work too, the lighter the gray the better. If you're using a flash. If you're under a white porch, you can bounce flash off the ceiling. Or if there's a white wall, bounce the flash behind you. Or point your flash straight up and rubber-band a white index card (unlined side facing forward) to your flash. You're going to love this speedlight modifier! 3 x 5 white index card by The F/Stops Here Focus Stop down your aperture to f5.6, f8 or higher to get enough depth of field so everyone is in focus, especially if you have multiple rows of people. The more people in the photo, the higher the f-stop should be. Do not open your lens to its widest aperture, like f1.8. The depth of field will be too shallow and everyone will be blurry. Get everyone on the same "focal plane." If some people's heads are closer and other people's heads are farther, the camera will have trouble getting everyone in focus. Easy way is tell everyone to line up their feet in a row, so they're all roughly the same distance from the camera. Tell them that anyone's feet who is not in line, will have a blurry face. Focus on the eye of the middle person in the row. Stop down your aperture. Avoid the most wide open aperture of your lens. Depending on the size of the group, you may have to go up to f8 or higher. Take test shots. Check that the people furthest at the back are still in focus if there are multiple rows. Check that people at the opposite ends aren't distorted by being on the edges of the frame. Some wide-angle lenses distort people who aren't in the center. Positioning If you have more than one row, go by height. Shorter people in the front, taller people in the back. Put the heads of taller people between the heads of shorter people. Make sure every face is fully visible. You can announce, "If both of your eyes cannot see my camera, my camera cannot see you." Posing Have people turn and angle their bodies toward the center, "V formation” from above. Slimming effect. For men, don't have them clutch their hands in front of their crotch or crossing arms over their chest. Just have them drop their hands by their sides, or inside their pockets with the thumbs out or only thumbs in the pockets. I don't like men putting their whole hands into pockets because it looks like they have no hands, especially if they're wearing long sleeves and their arms are totally covered. Fun thing to do for families and groups of friends: take pictures, and gradually have the people squish closer together every few shots. By the end, they should be laughing and squishing really close. Be ready to fire every time you say, "Squeeze closer!" to catch the laughter. Gets great candid shots. Ideas for family posing prompts: "Kids: mom and dad just said they're taking you to Disneyland." Brace your ears for loud screams, lol. "Dad: time to pick a favorite kid." Get the kids at each side to pull on his arms and look at him with cutely begging expressions. "Mom and Dad: Kiss! Kids: Kissing is gross!" "Power pose: act like you're the family that runs this town." This makes them look like a Mafia family to me, ha ha. But families like that they look badass. "For the birthday/boy girl: everyone get in close and smother him/her with love!" Could be birthday or some other occasion where one kid is the center of the event. Aww. Table shots You don’t have to take pictures at a table. If the restaurant has a big grand entrance, the waiting area has a long bench, if there is a nice staircase, or the building has a nice outside facade and landscaping, those can be better locations for group photos. As much as possible, avoid table shots where everyone is sitting down. The people closest to the camera will be too big and too bright, and the people farthest away will be too small and too dark. If you have to take table shots, get everyone on one side of the table, maybe some people standing up and sitting down. For big or long tables and people don't want to get up, take pictures of sections of the table, 2-3 people at a time. Shooting ratio Take a lot of pictures. A rule of thumb is to take 1 picture for every person in the group if it's a small group of 5 or less. For bigger groups, take as many as you can until the group gets impatient. lol. Some people will blink, some people will look away at the camera, some people will have weird facial expressions, some people will be shouting directions at other people, etc. Give yourself lots of shots so you can get a few keepers where everyone is looking at the camera with good expressions. Videos Tips and Tricks for BIG Family Portraits + Photoshop CC tutorial by Science Filmmaking Tips 5 Simple Tips For Taking More Natural Family Portraits by SLR Lounge 25 Travel Photography Tips for Non-Photographers by Top Flight Family Taking Group Photos With Your 50mm Lens by Photography Goals - Great tips even if you don't use a 50mm lens. Family Portrait Photography by E Squared Posing Families Photography Poses for Great Group Shots by Lindsay Adler Family and Group Posing Tips by Omar Gonzalez How to capture photos with peak emotion by Omar Gonzalez How to Create Dynamic Portraits by Omar Gonzalez 6 Tips To Capture Creative Family Portraits by SLR Lounge How to Pose Families During a Photoshoot | B&H Event Space Posing Kids How to Pose Everyday People: Omar Gonzalez's 5 Tips by Omar Gonzalez Pro Photography Posing Tip: 3 Poses in ONE! by Omar Gonzalez Photographing Children with Lindsay Adler Posing Prompts for Kids that WORK - Family Photography by E-Squared Photography Posing Tips for Young Kids - Behind The Scenes by E-Squared Photography Behind The Scenes - Kids Photography by E-Squared Photography Lenses and Settings 5 Tips for Taking Group Photos (How To Get Everyone In Focus) by Anthony Toglife Portrait Photography Settings - Where to Focus for Tack Sharp Images by E-Squared How to Take Better Family Pictures with ANY Camera by MarkusPix Best lens focal lengths for large group portraits by Omar Gonzalez Lighting and Editing 5 Tips for Creating Authentic Natural Light Family Portraits | Master Your Craft by Pye Jirsa On Camera Lighting for Family Portraits | Lighting 101 by Pye Jirsa Direct Flash vs. Bounce Flash for Beautiful Light Anywhere | Mastering Your Craft by Pye Jirsa Wide Angle Edge Distortion Fix in Photoshop - This is a bit old and it uses a landscape photo as an example, but can apply to group photos. Business Mini Sessions for Family Photography by Stacey Potter Hope this helps.
Are family photos a popular thing in America?
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I mean when you book a professional photographer and dress up and all that stuff.
You do it? How often? How many relatives are you gathering?
Are your photos more serious or informal?
This is important for you? Do you have any traditions associated with family photos?
In Europe, some people do this, but I don't think it's particularly common. I think for many this will seem old-fashioned.
Top Comment: We do professional ones once every couple of years. Some people more often. Others, never. Most of our family photos, of which we have dozens hanging over an entire wall at our home, are more candid or informal and of family vacations, fishing trips, golf outings, etc.
Family Photoshoot Tips
Main Post:
Just got asked to take family photos for a friend of mines family and I'm looking for any and all advice.
The gear I have to use is a Sony A6300, 85mm F1.8, and an 18-105mm F4 zoom lens. I also own a Manfrotto tripod and some Aperture MC Lights as well but no reflector or speedlight.
We plan on shooting for 1-2 hours after sunrise outside and it's a family of 4 which it seems that most people would shoot at an F4 for that so that everyone is in focus. I'll also be taking photos of 3 people, the two people by themselves, and single portraits. Any lighting advice, exposure advice, and camera settings I should use for the different amounts of people in the photos would be greatly appreciated. Do I expose for my subject or background?
I'm a videographer so photography is a weak point for me but I want to at least try and get a few good photos if not more.
My camera has eye autofocus and aperture preview so that should help me with getting the shots.
We will be shooting next to a garden and an old white building if that helps with lighting/reflecting.
Any good YouTube videos about this topic would be greatly appreciated as well.
Should I look for open shade and have them face me with their back to the sun for backlighting?
Top Comment: Congrats on exploring family photography! Sharing a few tips. Get the "leader" on your side from the start. Figure out who is the leader of the group and try to build a rapport with them and coordinate with them. So they herd everyone for you and put down any resistance. Lenses For group photos it's tempting to go with a wider lens like 35mm or more. However, if you have enough space to step back, I would choose a lens like a 50mm, 85mm or longer (that's for full-frame cameras). On a crop-sensor camera, those would be around 35mm and 56mm. I would actually prioritize finding a location where you can step back and use a long lens. Wider lenses tend to have unflattering distortion of people. Longer lenses tend to have more flattering distortion. Some photographers will use a 70-200mm lens and post themselves really far away to fit the group into the frame. If you can't move the location, some things you can do. Try to keep people away from the far right and far left of the frame, that's where the most distortion happens. Leave some space on each side and try to group people into the center of the frame. In post: apply lens correction by selecting the lens you used on the shoot. You may have to do further adjustments, see the videos below. Lighting and Location Look for a good location in advance, give yourself enough time. Don't just wait until the group assembles wherever or let a bossy aunt pick a location with terrible lighting. Avoid distracting backgrounds. When you pick the location, let the leader know to gather people there for the group pictures. If outdoors, get them under shade someplace like under a covered porch or a tree. Ideally, position everyone just at the edge of the shade, facing out toward the sun. The shade will block the sun from above, so the light will only come in from the front and light them. If no shade, ideally have a white wall, white building, white fence behind you, etc. bouncing sunlight forward onto the group. Neutral colors like gray can work too, the lighter the gray the better. If you're using a flash. If you're under a white porch, you can bounce flash off the ceiling. Or if there's a white wall, bounce the flash behind you. Or point your flash straight up and rubber-band a white index card (unlined side facing forward) to your flash. How to Make a $10 Bounce Card for your Flash or Speed Light by 30FIVE Millimeter Focus Stop down your aperture to f5.6, f8 or higher to get enough depth of field so everyone is in focus, especially if you have multiple rows of people. The more people in the photo, the higher the f-stop should be. Do not open your lens to its widest aperture, like f1.8. The depth of field will be too shallow and everyone will be blurry. Get everyone on the same "focal plane." If some people's heads are closer and other people's heads are farther, the camera will have trouble getting everyone in focus. Easy way is tell everyone to line up their feet in a row, so they're all roughly the same distance from the camera. Tell them that anyone's feet who is not in line, will have a blurry face. Focus on the eye of the middle person in the row. Stop down your aperture. Avoid the most wide open aperture of your lens. Depending on the size of the group, you may have to go up to f8 or higher. Take test shots. Check that the people furthest at the back are still in focus if there are multiple rows. Check that people at the opposite ends aren't distorted by being on the edges of the frame. Some wide-angle lenses distort people who aren't in the center. Positioning If you have more than one row, go by height. Shorter people in the front, taller people in the back. Put the heads of taller people between the heads of shorter people. Make sure every face is fully visible. You can announce, "If both of your eyes cannot see my camera, my camera cannot see you." Posing Have people turn and angle their bodies toward the center, "V formation” from above. Slimming effect. For men, don't have them clutch their hands in front of their crotch or crossing arms over their chest. Just have them drop their hands by their sides, or inside their pockets with the thumbs out or only thumbs in the pockets. I don't like men putting their whole hands into pockets because it looks like they have no hands, especially if they're wearing long sleeves and their arms are totally covered. Fun thing to do for families and groups of friends: take pictures, and gradually have the people squish closer together every few shots. By the end, they should be laughing and squishing really close. Be ready to fire every time you say, "Squeeze closer!" to catch the laughter. Gets great candid shots. Ideas for family posing prompts: "Kids: mom and dad just said they're taking you to Disneyland." Brace your ears for loud screams, lol. "Dad: time to pick a favorite kid." Get the kids at each side to pull on his arms and look at him with cutely begging expressions. "Mom and Dad: Kiss! Kids: Kissing is gross!" "Power pose: act like you're the family that runs this town." This makes them look like a Mafia family to me, ha ha. But families like that they look badass. "For the birthday/boy girl: everyone get in close and smother him/her with love!" Could be birthday or some other occasion where one kid is the center of the event. Aww. Table shots You don’t have to take pictures at a table. If the restaurant has a big grand entrance, the waiting area has a long bench, if there is a nice staircase, or the building has a nice outside facade and landscaping, those can be better locations for group photos. As much as possible, avoid table shots where everyone is sitting down. The people closest to the camera will be too big and too bright, and the people farthest away will be too small and too dark. If you have to take table shots, get everyone on one side of the table, maybe some people standing up and sitting down. For big or long tables and people don't want to get up, take pictures of sections of the table, 2-3 people at a time. Shooting ratio Take a lot of pictures. A rule of thumb is to take 1 picture for every person in the group if it's a small group of 5 or less. For bigger groups, take as many as you can until the group gets impatient. lol. Some people will blink, some people will look away at the camera, some people will have weird facial expressions, some people will be shouting directions at other people, etc. Give yourself lots of shots so you can get a few keepers where everyone is looking at the camera with good expressions. Videos Tips and Tricks for BIG Family Portraits + Photoshop CC tutorial by Science Filmmaking Tips 5 Simple Tips For Taking More Natural Family Portraits by SLR Lounge 25 Travel Photography Tips for Non-Photographers by Top Flight Family Taking Group Photos With Your 50mm Lens by Photography Goals - Great tips even if you don't use a 50mm lens. Family Portrait Photography by E Squared Posing Photography Poses for Great Group Shots by Lindsay Adler Family and Group Posing Tips by Omar Gonzalez How to capture photos with peak emotion by Omar Gonzalez How to Create Dynamic Portraits by Omar Gonzalez 6 Tips To Capture Creative Family Portraits by SLR Lounge How to Pose Families During a Photoshoot | B&H Event Space Lenses and Settings How to Take Better Family Pictures with ANY Camera by MarkusPix Best lens focal lengths for large group portraits by Omar Gonzalez Portrait Photography Settings - Where to Focus for Tack Sharp Images by E-Squared 5 Tips for Taking Group Photos (How To Get Everyone In Focus) by Anthony Toglife Lighting and Editing 5 Tips for Creating Authentic Natural Light Family Portraits | Master Your Craft by SLR Lounge w/ Adorama On Camera Lighting for Family Portraits | Lighting 101 by SLR Lounge Wide Angle Edge Distortion Fix in Photoshop - This is a bit old and it uses a landscape photo as an example, but can apply to group photos. Business Mini Sessions for Family Photography by Stacey Potter Hope this helps.
family photos
Main Post:
I had someone send me an article once that said that taking photos during social activities reduces our capacity to remember those events. The other day I had to get a medical test and I saw a tattoo of a camera on the nurse's arm and asked her about it. She said her dad was a photographer, and had taken a lot of pictures when they were kids. He died after a 10 year battle with cancer, and they were going through all the photos and realized just how important they all were to them now that he was gone. Then she said, that oddly, the photos of just dumb, everyday things meant so much to them. I was getting a prostate biopsy, and when she left the room I thought of my kids looking at my stupid photos one day after I'm gone and started sobbing.
Maybe there is something to even our mediocre pictures.
Top Comment: Yeah, it's the everyday pics that move. Not the boring headshots
How many of ya'll are paying for family photos? These prices are insane.
Main Post:
Our photographers around me are asking $220 for a 10 minute shoot. That seems crazy to me.
Just to be clear, I don't care that the photographer is charging that much. I know they do work behind the scenes and if the market is willing to pay that, then that's the price. But personally, to me, I find it hard to justify the cost.
Most of the photos we have around the house are all candid photos. Taken with our iphones or at an event that had a photographer. For some reason -- mostly price -- my wife and I have never really considered professional photography.
For those that have -- do you find it worth the cost?
Top Comment: Our experience with “self employed” photographers has been stellar and I don’t mind paying around that price. We usually spend about 30-45 min shooting with DOZENS of poses and candids and then we choose 6-8 from those. We also know the photographer personally so that helps What I think is a racket (since it’s Fall Pictures time in the US) is companies like Lifetouch (and subsidiaries) that take four pictures where the kids really aren’t smiling or flattering, then charge $80 for digital rights. THEN they have the nerve to charge $15 for a 4-pack of prints. Our child’s class has 12 students, so they made $1000 on 4 quick pictures over the course of the day, assuming parents ONLY bought the digital rights. I believe in paying for someone’s time but fuck corporations.
Tips for family portraits?
Main Post:
Hey everyone! I just had a client contact me requesting me to do some nice family portraits for them. I do lots of portrait work for other clients....but ive never shot a family. Any tips would be a big help! Also any tips for pricing? Thanks!
Top Comment:
- Get to know the mom's top priority and what she wants in terms of photographic style and vision.
- Have them dress in outfits that they already own so they look and feel natural, but to try to coordinate colors a little bit.
- Tell them to squeeze together. Like, really, really tightly together.
- Tell the parents to not threaten the kids or make them nervous. Have them be relaxed. Natural and fun makes it natural and fun.
- Don't expect kids to follow directions. Let them be themselves and capture them as they are.
No idea about pricing, because my husband and I are just hobbyists. :)