So you want to capture more of those special moments with your family, but you’re just not getting it right? Try starting with family portraits to get a strong photo but also to practice with your camera and get used to snapping away. If you’ve never done a family portrait before, don’t be intimidated, be honest with your family and tell them you’re just learning, and hopefully, they will be willing participants in helping you out and getting some beautiful photos in exchange, it will hopefully be fun for everyone.
Use a tripod
If you’ve got one, using a tripod for a portrait is an excellent idea as it allows you to get your eye away from the camera so you can make eye contact with your subjects. You can make gestures to get kids’ attention or make faces at them, and you’ll get way better expressions by interacting with them than you will from looking through the viewfinder. Plus it means you can set a timer and jump in yourself.
Stagger the heads
Avoid a boring straight line, row, or column of heads. Diagonal lines are more dynamic and add interest to an image, so try to do that with your family.
If it bends, bend it
This is a general rule from professional photographers when photographing anyone. People tend to stand stiff and rigid when having their, so you need to get them to bend a few body parts to look more natural. Get them to shift their weight to one foot and stick out a hip, or get them to put a hand in a pocket or hook a finger on their belt or a belt loop. There are many positions you can do so try a few and see what works best for everyone.
Let kids be kids
People often tell their kids to be good and smile; however, to get the best out of them say to your kids it’s going to be fun. Bring some props, some of their favorite toys, have some bubbles with you and if your kids don’t want to sit and smile, don’t force them, instead let them run around and be kids for a while and get some great snaps of that. Play with them and have some fun.
Have fun with it
The last tip is not to take yourself so seriously. Create a few whacky shots, tell everyone to do a group squish, do a pile on in the grass, ask everyone to jump in the air or make silly faces and you’ll be sure to get some cracking shots.
Use a good quality camera
While phones are great these days if you want to get some good photos of your family then invest in a decent quality camera. There is so much more you can do with it, and you’ll have high-resolution images which you’ll be able to send to people using a large file sharing service or make copies and resize to share on social media for everyone to see.
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