Our everyday family life is so thrilling that we often forget to pause and look forward to our loved family. It’s good that there are family portraits! With our 12 tips for beautiful family photo poses, not only snapshots end up in your photo album, but also great photos to give away!
Before the advent of digital photography and smartphones with integrated cameras, many families actually made the pilgrimage to the photo studio they trusted once a year and had themselves professionally photographed as a group. Often these photos were then nicely framed and given away to loved ones at Christmas. And while children and family photos are still a popular gift today, only few of them are taken by professional photographers as Lisa Poseley from Minneapolis.
On the one hand, this has to do with the fact that we simply have so many photos on our hard drives and do not need additional ones from the photographer and, on the other hand, it is partly because family photos from the studio often look terribly placed and no longer correspond to our current aesthetics. Another reason that prevents many families from going to the professional photographer – there are also really great photo studios that take really nice family photos – are the costs, because such a photo shoot with the whole family is very expensive.
Table of Contents
Family photos – only the professional photographer can do that!
If you are satisfied with your photographer, you should of course still have your family photos taken with him or her. If you prefer to save the money and want to press the shutter release yourself (or want to activate the self-timer), we have put together the best tips for your private photoshoot with professional photographer Shannon Reece Jones from Houston. If you still need a camera for your self-taken family photos, we recommend the Sony Alpha 6000 on Amazon. The digital camera is easy to use and takes super professional photos.
12 tips for beautiful family photo poses
Express Yourself
Your family photos should show you just who you are. This is why photos from the studio often seem so terribly posed, as neither the backdrop nor the specially selected clothes are part of your family life. It is best to take photos of yourself where you feel comfortable and also enjoy being in everyday life. This can be your living room or garden, but also your favorite lake or on the playground. Climbing fans might choose the bouldering hall, while museum lovers might choose a beautiful museum (e.g. in front of it on the stairs, in front of the entrance or in a colonnade) as a photo location.
Have a laugh vs. laugh from the heart
If you don’t want to see a forced “cheese” or an obsessively happy “ant shit” in your photos, you have to capture real emotions in your family photo.
If you only take pictures of your children, the easiest way to achieve this is by taking photos of them playing or interacting with them in a playful way. With family photos in which all family members should be seen, series shots and objects to interact are a good way to loosen up the group situation. Uses z. B. balloons, confetti, balls, etc. to have fun as a group and take photos. Of course, such action photos also result in a lot of blurred and unusable photos, but thanks to the series function, there is sure to be a nice family photo in the end that everyone looks good to eat.
The whole family at eye level
For classic family photos in a group position, you should make sure that you are all the same distance from the camera so that one head does not appear huge and the other tiny. This is especially important for selfies, which are also ideal for family photos. If set up correctly, family selfies can also capture a great photo of the whole family. The mood is often relaxed, especially on selfies.
Otherwise, stairs, walls, chairs, tables and natural slopes are suitable to compensate for differences in size. It is best to take toddlers and babies in your arms or join them at floor level. Lying on your back is also a great position to align everyone at the same distance from the lens – because it doesn’t matter that dad is two meters and the offspring is only 70 cm.
What’s that over there?
Classic family photos in the studio are usually shot against a plain background. You can do that at home in front of the white living room wall. But if you want to take photos outside, you should make sure that the background of the image is not too restless and that there are no unpleasant discoveries on the later family photo.
A beach setting is great, but please without naked sunbathers or strange children arguing in the background. Locations such as wide meadows and fields, a light forest (or a forest clearing) and beaches are great for your outdoor family photos.
Lie down
If the weather doesn’t play along, but you really want or have to take family photos, then you can of course also do it indoors. The bed, the sofa or a large carpet offer particularly beautiful backdrops. If you cuddle up on it together, whisper funny things in your ear, start small tickling attacks or even have a pillow fight, the most beautiful dynamic family photos can be created in series picture mode (with self-timer). Even if you just want to take photos of your children, the living room, children’s room or bathroom at home is a beautiful backdrop. Great snapshots are created when bathing, playing or baking together.
Dawn and sunset
Especially in summer the daylight in the morning and in the evening is the most beautiful for your photos. Which time of day is best for you depends on your daily routine and habits. If you like to be active in the mornings, go out with you to the happy family photo shoot. Those who only get going in the afternoon should choose the early evening for their photo session.
The current weather can also influence the quality of your photos: “Contrary to popular belief, slightly cloudy days are better for outdoor photos from bright summer days. On sunny days, it is better to take photos in the shade than in the blazing sun, so the illumination is more even. Direct sunlight creates excessive contrasts, ”reveals professional photographer Anne Friedrich.
So there is no reason to be sad if the sun isn’t shining at your photo session – maybe that’s why you get the most beautiful photos.
Attractive – wear what you want
For group photos, experts like to recommend uniform or coordinated clothing. Of course, it looks nice when everyone wears the same colors or all stripes – but it also looks very staged. Professional photographer and mom of two boys Anne Friedrich therefore advises rather to move in the same color or shade space and to make sure that the children in particular wear something that they also like to otherwise have. So all family members fit well together, but no one looks disguised. And there is nothing worse in photos than the little daughter who looks sullen the whole time or pulls on her dress collar because she would have preferred to wear jeans and a shirt like her brother instead of the fancy dress.
On the other hand, what you should really try to avoid are wild patterns and screaming prints. These stand out too much in the pictures and distract the eye from the main actors in the photo – you – too much!
At eye level
In addition to the classic frontal shoots and the idea of taking the photos from a bird’s eye view, especially with children, taking pictures at eye level is a great chance for sugar-sweet children’s photos. To do this, as a photographer, depending on the size of your child, you have to sit or even lie on the floor. The effort is certainly worthwhile if it results in natural photos in game situations.
Me with you, you with him, she with me
Group photos are great, but only in a collage with different pairings does a visually beautiful dynamic and realistic depiction of your family emerge. It looks great, especially on the wall or on greeting cards, when you arrange photos with different pairings of family members: everyone together, the children together, mom with the kids, dad with the daughter, the parents alone, etc.
If you want to bring even more dynamism to your photos, experiment with depth of field, which can be used to define the main and supporting actors in a visually beautiful way. Professional photographer Anne Friedrich explains: “Very nice family photos also result when one or more children are in focus and the parents or one parent can be seen blurred in the background. That depicts real life, we are always together as a family, but we are not always the focus of attention. If you take your photos with your smartphone, portrait mode is best for many models. However, since the camera first has to focus on a face, it usually takes a little longer when the shutter is released. You have to plan that for successful family photos when taking photos! “
The effect is called the bokeh effect in technical terms and ensures that the background of a subject (for example a portrait) merges into the blurred area. The bokeh effect highlights the actual motif and ensures particularly aesthetic and impressive (close-up) shots. Most newer smartphones can use bokeh. According to the experts at Chip, the iPhone XR for around € 780 and the Google Pixel 3XL for around € 690 (both via Amazon) * can take particularly good family photos with depth of field.
Where is the little bird?
Your child looks everywhere but not at the camera? If you want to take classic frontal shots, whether as a single portrait or as a family photo, it is nice when everyone looks towards the camera. This is not always easy with babies and toddlers. If someone is using the camera for you, rattles and cuddly toys can draw your children’s attention. For older children and also for photos with a self-timer, it can help to position a tablet or smartphone with a children’s film next to the camera. Your little ones are guaranteed to look into the lens!
Lightning wear off
It shines so nicely and children are usually very enthusiastic about the bright flash (or get frightened and start crying), but photography with flash should be left to the professional. Hard flash light creates excessive contrasts and sharp edges. In most cases this doesn’t look nice. That is why most photo studios also work with indirect flash, but very few amateur photographers are equipped with something like this. Therefore, it is better to take photos outside or near the window to ensure sufficient lighting.
Children at the handle
Special family photos can also be created when you let your children pull the shutter button. Children bring their own perspective and view of things with them and with a little luck, very special family photos can be created.
