Tuesday, October 11, 2011

8 Tips for Taking Great Family Portraits


8 Tips for Taking Great Family Portraits


1.) Go Close!  It really doesn’t matter what lens you are using but get tight on people’s faces. The subject’s eyes and expressions show the emotions of the moment. This can be of joy, love or embarrassment. All make for great emotive moments and memories people will enjoy looking at for years!


2.) Interact! By far the most boring lifeless things I see are photos of families posed in “perfect triangle composition” in front of some picturesque backdrop. Please! Families are about life and the crazy loving dynamic they all have. Bring this out! People will surprise you: they will hug and kiss each other, play-fight and laugh madly. When you press the button you have a priceless moment that captures them as they really are and really feel!



3.) Shoot photos with the sun behind the subject. I know this seems counter-intuitive but sun hitting a person’s face creates all sorts of issues that ruin photos: squinting, crying children, anxiety with the glare, dark shadows over the eye sockets and nasty wrinkles on Mum! When the sun is behind them they can relax their faces.



4.) Used DIFFUSED fill flash. Soft light is best: it makes people’s complexions appear smooth and most of all: it doesn’t look fake. Using a flash instead of a large bounce reflector is great because the average flash time is about 1/10,000 of a second so it doesn’t cause them to squint. Also flash units nowadays are surprisingly powerful and portable.



5.) Move! Often I will have shot an entire portrait session while another photographer is shooting their umpteenth photo of a family meticulously and scientifically posed in one exact spot and position. Yawn! I’ll be running up and down the beach, lying in the sand and corralling the family. I’ll constantly try different things. Sure they laugh at me and not every shot works but I end up with some magic moments!


6.) Have the Family Dress as Individuals. Please no more matchy-matchy jeans and white shirts. this clone look is cliched and needs to be retired! I ask families to dress as themselves but to make sure they don’t clash.


7.) Shoot RAW mode if your camera has one. RAW mode is great. Basically a jpeg throws away information to compress itself. RAW images allow you to go back after the shoot and correct exposure and fine-tune colors. I prefer to do this technical stuff AFTER the shoot. When I am shooting I want to capture the moment.


8.) Don’t Delete Your Rejects Too Soon!! Years ago I photographed a family portrait and was about to delete some shots that were a little blurry and of the kids falling in the water and crying. I didn’t and the mother was overjoyed. She ordered about 30 8x10 prints and told me I had really “captured the family”! I learned a big lesson: family photos are about capturing the family as they are NOT the background or composition or exposure.



About the author: Jason Wallis of Wallis Photo
wrote The Recession Proof Photographer


About Wallis Photography:


I specialize in commercial photography , advertising photography, corporate photography and family photos serving Southern California, Orange County, Los Angeles

I also photograph the following categories:

On Location or at my studio

Wallis Photo LLC -Photographers in Orange County -769 Newton Way, Costa Mesa CA 92627com

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