Family Portrait Ideas and Great Family Photography Poses
Most photographers never stray far from the tried and true family poses that they’ve used successfully over the years. However, if you’ve seen any of these photographs, the layouts are very dry and unimaginative. So when you are looking for great family portrait ideas, let’s take a look at some of the standards so you can jazz them up, add some spice, and change them around to suit your needs.
I’m sure you could come up with numerous family portrait ideas, if left on your own. With that said, let me get the ball rolling with…
Some Family Portrait Ideas for Great Family Photography
First Tip: There’s No Hurry
Unless you’re taking the family photo at a police lineup, take your time composing and arranging all the subjects in the group. Pay close attention to the background and make it work for the group instead of against you. For example, try to frame the family group within the background, whether indoors or for outdoor photography.
For example, what do you notice about this photo? If you’re like me, it might appear as if all those leaves are coming out of these ladies heads, which is a bit distracting.
It should never happen where everything about the family portrait pose is wrong, such as bad composition, unsightly background or distracting people or things in your foreground. You’re not cemented to any location, so simply move.
If you do find yourself in a similar situation, try getting a better pose by using some of these family portrait ideas.
Move the family around, like to a better location. If that doesn’t work, try changing the elevation or angle from which the photograph will be taken. You can also change or adjust the lighting as well. Try having the family turn their heads so that the faces are at a different angle than the direction of their body.
Wait For The Weather To Change
Obviously you have no direct control over the weather, but you may be able to move the location to better sunlight or wait for passing clouds.
You might also try keeping the family in the same position, but the photography moves. This also has the affect of changing the background and foreground.
For the photograph above, a simple move in location would have prevented a photo that appeared like a bush was growing out of the heads of some of the subjects. Do you think the photographer asked them to say “cheese”?
If you have a camera with some manual controls (where you can change the F stop, etc.) try one of the standard family portrait ideas by changing your camera’s shooting mode to Program or Aperture Priority and use as wide an aperture as possible (F/2.0 for example). This should put the background in blur.
Take many, many photographs. You don’t have to settle for the original pose and location. Sometimes, what you thought would be the perfect location for a family portrait turns out to be a nightmare photographic location, making it too difficult to get a great family photograph.
So, rather then trying to improve on a bad original location, take a step back and try something completely different. You may change locations completely, but make the best overall composition of the subject, and move the family around to soot the locale.
If it isn’t carved in stone, try just moving it. If someone or something is interfering with your shot, work with it — move it around. Taking a family group photograph is much like the director of a movie set. You’re in charge, you move the people, the props and adjust the lighting and the background to be the best “shot.” Take on the part of the director; it’s a fun role to play, and you’ll get better results.
Family portrait ideas from the movies!
How often have you seen a group of people having their picture taken without any attempt by the subjects OR the photographer to arrange the scene? If you can’t think of a unique pose, don’t worry. We’ll cover how to find more ideas for poses than you could possibly use. For this family portrait idea, think of a scene from a movie. Everyone has movie favorites.
Whether dealing with children or adults, have them agree on a scene they like, and then move into it. If the scene has a lot of action to it, have them slowly move about within the scene, and when your creative juices move you, have them freeze and take the shot. This approach works especially well for children, even the “antsy” kind who won’t sit still.
It can be quite effective to create a “natural frame” that the subject can be positioned within. There are many opportunities to position your subject(s) so they appear framed by tree branches, a hole in a rock, or any open structure like a gazebo.
If there isn’t anything natural around to use as a frame, use (or make) a suitable object. Try holding a cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper or paper towels, in front of the camera. If done properly, it can produce interesting effects. You may need to use manual focus to avoid the camera’s auto focusing system from getting confused.
Some family portrait ideas are more suitable for children than others.
If you’re trying to take a candid “natural” photograph of a young child, you may need to bore them into it. Children will often get very interested in what you are doing (with the camera) and thus eliminate any chance of getting a natural photograph of them.
Wait them out. If you take a bunch of pictures, eventually the novelty will wear off for them and they will often go off and “be themselves,” thus ignoring you. That’s your goal. Just watch, stay out of their way, don’t talk to them, and capture the masterpieces!
Creative Family Portrait Ideas
Don’t limit yourself to always shooting from the same relative level as your subjects. Go higher and shoot down (ladder, or top of hill). Shoot from below your subject (lay down, or have them on top of a wall, with you below them).
Fast and slow family portrait ideas: Determine the range of shutter speeds you have to work with for your camera.
Play with a very fast shutter speed (1/1000th of a second, for example) to stop the action cold. Or, use a relatively slow speed (depending on the activity) to create a blurred effect, on purpose.
Get outstanding family portrait ideas from the experts! Look through magazines, but not how you normally would. Next time you’re in a doctor’s waiting room, examine the ads and notice how people were posed by professionals.
See if you could modify any poses and create your own family portrait ideas. You don’t need to tell anyone you saw it in a magazine.
Black and White Photography
More than likely, your digital camera is capable of taking some black and white photographs. If you haven’t taken black and white photos before, you’re in for a treat. The same exact scene will often produce a completely different effect in black and white than it does in color.
Photographic Law of Large Numbers
This family portrait idea sounds complex, doesn’t it? All it means is – take lots and lots of photos. Sometimes you won’t find your best shot until after it’s downloaded to your computer and cropped.
